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1 
THE CHEMISTRY OF SEMANTICS
Yuri Tarnopolsky
2005ABSTRACT
This preliminary e-paper continues the examination of language as a quasi-molecular system from the point of view of a chemist who happens to ask, “Whatif the words were atoms?” The general principles of atomism, locality, simplicity,and transition state are applied to the unobservable structure of thought, regardedas a configuration in Pattern Theory (Ulf Grenander). The non-linear thoughtinterconnects maximum three atomic observables and the coordinate of change inthe configuration. The thought is subject to linearization in order to be translatedinto an utterance. The verb is regarded as the lexical marker of the coordinate of change.
KEYWORDS: semantics, thought, idea, meaning, language acquisition, protolanguage,Navajo, language, pattern theory, chemistry, chemical nomenclature, speech generation, Ulf Grenander, Leonard Talmy.
 
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What if the words were atoms?
 
THE CHEMISTRY OF SEMANTICS
Yuri Tarnopolsky
2005
 Now I am addingcitric acid to sodium bicarbonate
 
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 1. EXAMPLELeft side
: Horemheb gives drinks to Hathor.
A copy of a picture from the tomb of Horemheb,who became pharaoh around 1321 BC.
 
Right side
: Written representation of the ideaof giving in Egyptian, Chinese, English,Swahili, Russian, Navajo, and Hungarian.I see
the
 
pharaoh
,
the
 
goddess
, and
the
 
drinks
. But where is
the
 
give
? And whatabout
the to
?
2. INTRODUCTION
It is quite remarkable that the subject of meaning, with which everybody is intimatelyfamiliar, is so evasive. The mind is still an open frontier for thought.The literature on semantics and its various aspects is enormous [1] but not reallycontentious. It seems that any contributor to it is able to offer his or her own system andnotation to represent meaning, without joining an army, however.
give
kupaдать
nikaah
ad
of 00

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