in one of my word languages, there’s no distinction between nouns and adjectives
There are Australian Aboriginal languages that work a lot like this, and in some ways go further. The equivalent of the sentence “Big is coming” would be perfectly grammatical in Dyirbal, with the big thing(s) to be determined through the surrounding context.
In some other languages, there’s little or no distinction between adjectives and verbs, so the English “this car is pink” would be translated to something more like “this car pinks”
Basically what I’m saying is that a large number of the more obvious “extra-radical possibilities” are already implemented in existing languages, albeit not in the overstudied languages of Europe.
By the way, in that word language, I simply have a group of 4 grammatical particles, each referring to 1 of the 4 set operations (union, intersection, complement, and symmetric difference). That simplifies a few of the systems that we find in English or whatever. For example, we don’t find intersection only in the relationship between a noun and an adjective; we also find it in a bunch of other places. Here’s a list of a bunch of examples of where we see one of the set operations in English:
There’s a deer over there, and he looks worried. (intersection)
He’s a master cook. (intersection between “master” and “cook”)
The stars are the suns and the planets. (union)
Either there’s a deer over there, or I’m going crazy. (symmetric difference)
Everybody here except Phil is an idiot. (complement)
Besides when I’m doing economics, I’m an academic idiot. (complement)
A lake-side or ocean-side view in addition to a comfortable house is really all I want out of life. (intersection)
A light bulb is either on or off. (symmetric difference)
It’s both a table and a chair. (intersection)
Rocks that aren’t jagged won’t work for this. (complement)
A traditional diet coupled with a routine of good exercise will keep you healthy. (intersection)
A rock or stone will do. (union)
I might be wrong about some of those, so look at them carefully. And I’m sure there are a bunch of other examples. Maybe I missed a lot of the really convoluted ones because of how confusing they are. Either way, the point is that there are a bunch of random examples of the set operations in English. I think simply having a group of 4 grammatical particles for them would make the system a lot simpler and perhaps easier to learn and use.
Are there any natural language that do anything like this? Sure, there are probably a lot of natural languages that don’t make the distinction between nouns and adjectives. That distinction is nearly useless in a SVO language. We even see English speakers “violate” the noun/adjective system a lot. For example, something like this: “Hand me one of the longs.” If you work someplace where you constantly have to distinguish between the long and short version of a tool, you’ll probably hear that a lot. But are there are any natural languages that use a group of grammatical particles in this way? Or at the very least use one of them consistently?
Note: Perhaps I’m being too hard on the noun/adjective system in English. It’s often useless, but it serves a purpose that keeps it around. Two nouns next to each other (e.g., “forest people”) signifies that there’s some relation between the two sets, whereas an adjective in front of a noun signifies that the relation is specifically intersection. That seems to be the only point of the system. Maybe I’m missing something?
Another note: I’m not an expert on set theory. Maybe I’m abusing some of these terms. If anybody thinks that’s the case, I would appreciate the help.
There are Australian Aboriginal languages that work a lot like this, and in some ways go further. The equivalent of the sentence “Big is coming” would be perfectly grammatical in Dyirbal, with the big thing(s) to be determined through the surrounding context. In some other languages, there’s little or no distinction between adjectives and verbs, so the English “this car is pink” would be translated to something more like “this car pinks”
Basically what I’m saying is that a large number of the more obvious “extra-radical possibilities” are already implemented in existing languages, albeit not in the overstudied languages of Europe.
By the way, in that word language, I simply have a group of 4 grammatical particles, each referring to 1 of the 4 set operations (union, intersection, complement, and symmetric difference). That simplifies a few of the systems that we find in English or whatever. For example, we don’t find intersection only in the relationship between a noun and an adjective; we also find it in a bunch of other places. Here’s a list of a bunch of examples of where we see one of the set operations in English:
There’s a deer over there, and he looks worried. (intersection)
He’s a master cook. (intersection between “master” and “cook”)
The stars are the suns and the planets. (union)
Either there’s a deer over there, or I’m going crazy. (symmetric difference)
Everybody here except Phil is an idiot. (complement)
Besides when I’m doing economics, I’m an academic idiot. (complement)
A lake-side or ocean-side view in addition to a comfortable house is really all I want out of life. (intersection)
A light bulb is either on or off. (symmetric difference)
It’s both a table and a chair. (intersection)
Rocks that aren’t jagged won’t work for this. (complement)
A traditional diet coupled with a routine of good exercise will keep you healthy. (intersection)
A rock or stone will do. (union)
I might be wrong about some of those, so look at them carefully. And I’m sure there are a bunch of other examples. Maybe I missed a lot of the really convoluted ones because of how confusing they are. Either way, the point is that there are a bunch of random examples of the set operations in English. I think simply having a group of 4 grammatical particles for them would make the system a lot simpler and perhaps easier to learn and use.
Are there any natural language that do anything like this? Sure, there are probably a lot of natural languages that don’t make the distinction between nouns and adjectives. That distinction is nearly useless in a SVO language. We even see English speakers “violate” the noun/adjective system a lot. For example, something like this: “Hand me one of the longs.” If you work someplace where you constantly have to distinguish between the long and short version of a tool, you’ll probably hear that a lot. But are there are any natural languages that use a group of grammatical particles in this way? Or at the very least use one of them consistently?
Note: Perhaps I’m being too hard on the noun/adjective system in English. It’s often useless, but it serves a purpose that keeps it around. Two nouns next to each other (e.g., “forest people”) signifies that there’s some relation between the two sets, whereas an adjective in front of a noun signifies that the relation is specifically intersection. That seems to be the only point of the system. Maybe I’m missing something?
Another note: I’m not an expert on set theory. Maybe I’m abusing some of these terms. If anybody thinks that’s the case, I would appreciate the help.