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From: dr@tovna.co.il (Daniel Radzinski)
Subject: Re: Definiton for NL & NLP
Message-ID: <D231z6.Csp@tovna.co.il>
Organization: Tovna Translation Machines Ltd.
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Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 10:47:29 GMT
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Michael Covington (mcovingt@ai.uga.edu) wrote:
: Daniel Radzinski (dr@tovna.co.il) wrote:
: : Michael Covington (mcovingt@ai.uga.edu) wrote:

: : : Important properties of human language include:
: ...
: : :   (2) spoken (with the human articulatory apparatus);
: ...

: : Now (2) above is clearly inaccurate, though perhaps statistically salient.
: : There is a wide consensus that sign languages, e.g. American Sign Language
: : (ASL), are full NLs. They have all the properties you mention, with the
: : exception of (2). A human language may thus be spoken or signed.

: Where I come from, the consensus is that ASL is closely related to spoken
                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: language and is of interest to linguists (of course), but is not quite the
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: same thing.  The "phonology," for instance, is totally different.  This is
  ~~~~~~~~~~
: not to denigrate its status, but merely to classify it -- there are important
: differences between ASL and spoken language.

Indeed, ASL and SPOKEN language are non-trivially "not quite the same thing".
And you are right that "there are important differences between ASL and spoken
language." Few would disagree. The point is that the class of SPOKEN LANGUAGES
and the class of SIGN LANGUAGES are both proper subclasses of the class of
(human) NATURAL LANGUAGES. As a consequence, a property that appears in only
one of the classes and not in the other cannot be one of the general defining
characteristics of human language.
--
Daniel Radzinski
Tovna Translation Machines
Jerusalem, Israel
dr@tovna.co.il
