Natural Artificial Languages: Low-Level Processes.
Abstract
An artificial language is one created for concise and precise communication within a limited domain such as mathematics. A natural artificial language is one that people find easy to learn and use. The author discusses low-level properties of natural artificial languages, especially those in which names are chosen for concepts, and symbols are chosen for names, a class of artificial languages he calls linguistically mediated artificial languages. These properties include choosing mnemonic symbols for names, and suggestive names for concepts, and using both internally and externally consistent syntax. He outlines a model of processing linguistically mediated artificial language and present results from experiments in support of the model. The results of the experiments are applied to the design of a user interface to a programming system, demonstrating their practicality along with their theoretical interest. The research shows the tradeoffs in designing natural artificial languages: naturalness in a specific domain is gained at the cost of generality for other domains. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA125800
Entities
People
- Gary Perlman
Organizations
- University of California, San Diego