This tutorial provides an example of modifying a 'Created' term
using the elements from the Description layer of a glyph. The
images are taken from the Instrumentation game.
The blue or black elements in the examples below are present
while the yellow or invisible elements are absent. The 'hint'
colors (blue and yellow) indicate that adding or removing that
element will lead to another valid term.
The 'dots' in the examples below show the locations of absent
elements. The dots are a typographical aid used while creating a
glyph (with a mouse). The dots are not really part of a glyph and
can be ignored when reading glyphs and omitted when drawing glyphs
on paper.
FYI: Ideally, you should read this tutorial on a "full
sized" device (like a personal computer) and follow along by
duplicating the glyphs (on a hand-held device or using the game in a separate tab or window)
for each example.
Let us start with a simple basic term from the Creation layer. The
Creation layer 'Creates' singular entity nouns. This first step uses
the only image in this tutorial that shows the hint colors and
octant types for the Creation layer. The names of elements are bold for emphasis.
A 'record' is an Object
that involves both Thought
and Meaning. This can be a
record of anything. It can be written (a journal), visual (a picture
or movie), audible (a 'recording'), something else (telepathic
perhaps) or some combination thereof.
The glyph for record
To get the plural of 'record' we add the Dimension lath and make
'records'. The Dimension lath implies an increase in the number or
magnitude of the term.
This image and all the following images of glyphs in this example
show the octant types for the Description layer.
The glyph for records
To get the person, place or thing that uses,
creates or embodies a 'record' we add the Action lath and make the
'active noun' (recorder) from the entity noun (record). The Action lath specifies the
intent to 'do' something.
Incidentally, adding the Dimension
lath to the glyph below would make the active plural 'recorders'.
'Recorders' would be pronounced "KUH BO KAY" because RAY (#8000)
plus WAY (#4000 see example above) equals KAY (#C000). You can
verify this using the game.
The glyph for recorder
To get the adverbial form from the active form of 'recorder' we add
the Format lath to make
'recordingly'. The Format
lath implies that this term actually describes (or is subservient
to) some other term. This would be used in a sentence as, "The
shopkeeper recordingly followed my movements." (it loses something
in the translation)
The glyph for recordingly
To get the
adjectival form from the adverbial form of 'recordingly' we
subtract the Action lath
to make 'recorded'. This is the same as saying that adding the Format lath to the entity noun
form of 'record' makes the adjective 'recorded'.
The glyph for recorded
To get the comparative degree form of the adjective (recorded) or
the adverb (recordingly) we add the Dimension lath and make 'more recorded' (or more
recordingly). The Dimension lath implies an increase in the number
or magnitude of the term. This is the same lath that would give us
the plural form of the active and entity nouns.
The glyph for more recorded
To get the superlative degree form
of recorded we add the Absolute
lath to the comparative form. The Absolute lath represents the (alleged) end of
changes. This turns 'more recorded' into 'most recorded'. Adding
the Action lath to this would signify 'most recordingly'.
The glyph for most recorded
To get the 'less positive' degree
form of recorded we subtract the Dimension
lath from the superlative form. This turns 'most recorded' into
'less recorded'. Adding the Action lath to this would
signify 'less recordingly'.
The glyph for less recorded
Let's review
the adverbial and adjectival degree forms. The four degree forms
are:
Form
Example
Laths
less positive
less recorded
Format+Absolute
positive
recorded
Format
comparative
more recorded
Format+Dimension
superlative
most recorded
Format+Dimension+Absolute
We can see that the two 'higher' forms both have the Dimension lath which signifies their increased
nature. The two endpoint (the top and the bottom of potential
variation) both have the Absolute
lath which signifies the limit of change. Since these qualify
either adverbs or adjectives they all have the Format lath which signifies
that the resultant terms are subordinate to some other term.
That completes the plural and the adverbial and adjectival degree
forms of 'record'.
Combinations of the remaining unused laths (Relative, Value, Sensationand Time) are
used to get fifteen other singular entity nouns that are related
to 'record' in some way. For example, if we add the Relative lath we make the
singular entity noun 'record' into the singular entity noun
'journal'.
The glyph for journal
We could then get the active noun, plural, adjective, adverb and
assorted degree forms of 'journal' in the same way that we modified
'record', as shown previously in this tutorial.
In the image above, the Time
lath is transparent instead of yellow because there is no (currently
defined) variation of 'record' that corresponds to Time.
The nouns which have the Absolute
lath without the Format
lath have no adverbial or adjectival forms (they are called
non-descriptive nouns) and are often multi-word terms (known as
'conversational phrases'). The Absolute
lath represents the (alleged) end of changes. An example of a
non-descriptive noun is shown below.
A glyph for a handy conversational phrase
Adding the Interrogation
Spoke from the Articulation
layer (#10, in Layer 3) would make this into a proper
question.
This is really only a "singular entity" form in name. Adding the Action and Dimension laths would only
create active and plural forms if the phrase could reasonably
support the operations. Otherwise, they would create other related
terms. The four standard forms of a 'conversational phrase'
are:
Laths
Purpose
Example
None (passive)
question
do you have a record of it
Dimension
question, plural subject or object
do you have a record of them
Action
statement
I have a record of it
Action and Dimension
statement, plural subject or object
I have a record of them
However, non-descriptive noun morphology is somewhat irregular
because some conversational phrases cannot follow these changes. For
example, what would be the reasonable plural form of "will you marry
me" or the active form of "what happened next"?
Also, the current prototype vocabulary doesn't always follow this
convention because I hadn't really solidified the convention when I
started creating the vocabulary. And, as always, user input will be needed to find the
best phrases for common conversations.
Summation
The 256 Described variations, of each of the 256 Created singular entity nouns,
break down as shown below. This means that Instrumentation will
have a total of 4096 (or 16 X 256) "singular passive descriptive
nouns" in the entire vocabulary of its first three layers. Any
other singular entity nouns (like penicillin) will have to be
shoehorned into the eight billion word Specialized vocabulary.
The Description index ranges below are included to provide a
feeling for the way that these sub-tables (or banks) overlap. The ranges are
interlaced because the laths are used according to their meaning
and not according to their numeric value. I have labeled the
ranges as only containing even indexes (nouns) or odd indexes
(adjectives and adverbs) to help clarify how the overlap occurs.
These numbers would be followed by 01-FF in a full glyph index.
The adjectives and adverbs reflect the 'descriptive' passive and
active nouns respectively, they are independent of the
non-descriptive nouns (because adjectives and adverbs are
descriptive).
This completes the tutorial. You can find all the details about the
Description level in
the design document. The 'Hypodescriptive'
design shows how the Description of the basic terms 'true' and
'false' (or 'on' and 'off') is handled.
