yorick@nmsu.CSNET (01/21/88)
Appeal for references/pointers to a possible literature on comparative structures of natural and formal languages. We propose to investigate the possible relationship between (1) the minimum structures of natural language, and (2) the minimum structures of programming languages, and seek help in the form of references to work already done. There are two ways to approach the minimum structures necessary to a natural language -- formal and empirical. The formal structure of natural languages is still under debate, and that debate is easily found in grammar studies. As for the empirical, lists of phenomena common to all known natural languages are known, such as NP's, VP's, direct objects, interrogation, negation, and sentences. What are the standard, and even non-standard, references for such lists? Lastly, is there existing work on the relationship itself? Has anyone compared: a) subject and predicate to data and control structures, or b) declarative, imperative, and interrogative utterances, to types of accesses to a variable (declaration, definition, and reference), or c) phonemes, morphemes, and comprehension in speaking, to tokens, objects, and compilation in programming? Thank you for any suggestions or references, even those which seem obvious. Please reply to rhill@nmsu.csnet