Articulating Strategically 

(or, Sudoku with words)

This is a partial listing of the terms in the Articulation (or Syntactic) layer. Verbs are not included because they are already well covered in the design document (and I didn't think they really really really needed fixing).

The Articulation layer is really the heart and soul of Instrumentation's humanitarian communication capabilities, because everything else is just lists of entities and qualities (or things and descriptions). Articulation assembles and animates conversation.

The terms listed in the design document are a first approximation of the type of English words that are needed to connect the parts of a sentence. Unfortunately the use of prepositions, conjunctions, articles, etc. tends to be very idiomatic to a given language. (idiomatic for a given language,  idiomatic in a given language,  idiomatic with a given language,  idiomatic by given language; ... you get the idea?)

Instrumentation attempts to avoid idiomatic confusion by only using words or conversational phrases that are unequivocal representations of universal relationships. These terms have been influenced by the "types of relations" defined by Gellish (Appendix A parts one through four), by the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and by the six "subdivisions of Universe" (Synergetics - 400.011) of R. Buckminster Fuller. 

These charts will not be considered truly stable until they have been tested in many conversations in many different situations between many people who speak many different languages. I have tried to consider all aspects of physical, logistical, technical, mental, philosophical, personal, social, organizational and commercial discourse, but I'm sure I've missed something of vital importance to someone, somewhere, somehow.


A note on Usage:

The Articulation layer always modifies the glyph of which it is a part. As an example, let us describe the following series (where A, B and C are any three objects).

A    B    C

"B inside .|  A to the left of .| C to the right of."

#2428F7 .| #2582F7 .| #26A6F7

In this sentence fragment 'B' is the subject and we are showing its position by describing the positions of 'A' and 'C'. We are not specifying that 'C' is necessarily to the right of 'A' (although this is true), because we are only describing the subject. If we need to describe the relationship between 'A' and 'C', we should do it in a separate sentence.

Instrumentation sentences should always be kept as simple and clear as possible to facilitate communication with people who speak different languages (or with computers, who are magnificently stupid). If the example above were more complicated, it would be better to break it into multiple sentences and avoid any confusion.


Table Layout

The headings before the three tables below show the major Syntactic divisions and the (unique) spoke combinations that define each table's purpose. The four dark rows within each table separate the four minor Syntactic divisions (the sub-categories or sub-tables (or banks)) and contain the (repeating) spoke combinations that define the meaning of each individual cell.

The sub-category names (such as Time, Class, Logic, etc.) are primarily a synthetic distinction intended to aid users in learning the locations of the terms. So, for example, there is no reason to avoid using a 'Social' term in a situation that actually deals with time or space. The 'Social' qualification simply implies that the terms primarily relate to some aspect of group dynamics. These 'Social groupings' need not have anything to do with relationships between humans.

In practice, any Syntactic term can be used in any situation where the meaning 'feels' appropriate. Mathematical and Logical terms, however, do tend to have more precise meanings when used rigorously as opposed to their casual usage in everyday speech.

Within each cell below, the first set of words following the index number are the words within the current vocabulary. Any second set of words (after an asterisk) are new suggested terms.

NB: an asterisk (*) denotes a term which has been marked to be changed. An asterisk following the first set of words is a proposed change, an asterisk preceding the second set is an accepted change. If there is no current word at that location within the vocabulary (shown as a blank line), the asterisk may be (semi-randomly) omitted.

Also, the index numbers shown below would be followed by 0000 (or some other four hexdit number) to create the actual Instrumentation indices. A 'hexdit' is the equivalent of a 'digit', but for hexadecimal instead of decimal (and 'hexit' is for 'heximal' or base six).


Qualifiers: (neither intention nor interpretation spokes)

Qualifiers create clauses that describe or organize one or more things. The relationship described is primarily static at the time of description, although the 'things' may be changing in other ways.

(a 'thing' might be a verb or a noun or something else, depending on the situation, so the 'clause' may be adverbial, adjectival, coordinate, subordinate, etc. without regard to any English grammatical suffixes shown in the chart below)

Time

(no spokes)

Recollect
Recognize Both

#00 -
(nothing, the default
Articulation doesn't
modify Creation or
Description)
#01 - at that time
#02 - now
#03 - the often
Interpolate
#04 - the existing
#05 - the habitual
#06 - the occasional #07 - during
Extrapolate
#08 - the unlikely #09 - before
#0A - after
#0B - the ongoing
Both #0C - the never
#0D - the transitory #0E - the unique
#0F - the always

Social

interrogation


Recollect Recognize Both

#10 - ??
(signifies uncertainty
within a single glyph)
#11 - remembered as
#12 - in role of
#13 - accompanied by
Interpolate #14 - among
#15 - most #16 - few
#17 - provided by
Extrapolate #18 - many
#19 - the collected
#1A - associated with
#1B - influenced by
Both #1C - any
#1D - all
#1E - across
#1F - created by

Place

depiction


Recollect Recognize Both

#20 - here
#21 - located at
#22 - at that place
#23 - near
Interpolate #24 - inside
#25 - to the left of
#26 - to the right of
#27 - towards
Extrapolate #28 - outside
#29 - below #2A - above
#2B - away from
Both #2C - through
#2D - behind
#2E - in front of
#2F - pervading

Logic

interrogation
depiction


Recollect Recognize Both

#30 - therefore
#31 - already proven at
#32 - otherwise
#33 - the value of
Interpolate #34 - supported by
#35 - quote end
#36 - block end
#37 - such that
Extrapolate #38 - suggests
#39 - quote start
#3A - block start
#3B - regardless of
Both #3C - however
#3D - ordered by #3E - constrained by
#3F - criterion of

Operators: (interpretation spoke)

Operators define or create relationships between multiple things. The relationship described is either transformational or already active at the time of description.

Time


Recollect Recognize Both

#40 - approximately at
#41 - repeating
#42 - current
#43 - contemporary with
Interpolate #44 - exactly at
#45 - ending at
#46 - starting at
#47 - synchronous with
Extrapolate #48 - discontinuous with
#49 - previous
#4A - next
#4B - transcending
Both #4C - with amplitude
#4D - with duration
#4E - with frequency
#4F - with waveform

Social

interrogation


Recollect Recognize Both

#50 - perhaps
#51 - including
#52 - excluding
#53 - enabling
Interpolate #54 - could
#55 - can
#56 - must
#57 - learning from
Extrapolate #58 - might
#59 - would
#5A - should
#5B - training
Both #5C - ignoring
#5D - echoing
#5E - honoring
#5F - because

Math

depiction


Recollect Recognize Both

#60 - equals #61 - minus
#62 - plus
#63 - dot product
Interpolate #64 - divide by

#65 -  is within range (inclusive) of #66 - is directly proportional to
#67 - is less than
Extrapolate #68 - multiply by

#69 - is outside range (inclusive) of
#6A - is inversely proportional to
#6B - is greater than
Both #6C - exponentiate
#6D - modulo
#6E - is similar to
#6F - cross product

Logic

interrogation
depiction


Recollect Recognize Both

#70 - if

#71 - and (intersection)

#72 - or (union)

#73 - xor (exclusive disjunction)
Interpolate #74 - while
#75 - else
#76 - on case of
#77 - continue
Extrapolate #78 - until
#79 - else if
#7A - with parameter of
#7B - break
Both #7C - for
#7D - on end
#7E - on error
#7F - return

Specifiers / Modifiers: (intention+interpretation spokes)

Specifiers identify single things. Modifiers change single things or distill single things from collective entities. Objects are all Specifiers. Classes are mostly Specifiers. Purposes are mostly Modifiers. Operations are all Modifiers.

Object


Recollect Recognize Both

#C0 - the original
#C1 - refers to
#C2 - represents #C3 - describes
Interpolate #C4 - this
#C5 - my
#C6 - our
#C7 - these
Extrapolate #C8 - that
#C9 - your
#CA - y'alls
#CB - those
Both #CC - requires
#CD - its
#CE - their #CF - replaces

Class

interrogation


Recollect Recognize Both

#D0 - is a member of
#D1 - the known
#D2 - the discovered
#D3 - the expected
Interpolate #D4 - is subtype of #D5 - is dependent on #D6 - for each
#D7 - is composite of
Extrapolate #D8 - is supertype of
#D9 - is a set of #DA - is outlier of
#DB - is pattern of
Both #DC - is utility for
#DD - is remnant (remainder) after
#DE - for some

#DF - for all

Purpose

depiction


Recollect Recognize Both

#E0 - function

#E1 - keyword

#E2 - is focal point for
#E3 - is interface for
Interpolate #E4 - end sentence
#E5 - constant
#E6 - induce as
#E7 - is minima of
Extrapolate #E8 - start paragraph
#E9 - variable
#EA - deduce as
#EB - is maxima of
Both #EC - @ (a piece)
#ED - is feature of
#EE - is algorithm for
#EF - satisfies

Operation

interrogation
depiction


Recollect Recognize Both

#F0 - standard deviation is #F1 - post-increment #F2 - pre-increment #F3 - factorial is
Interpolate #F4 - derivative is #F5 - median is #F6 - mean is #F7 - mode is
Extrapolate #F8 - integral is
#F9 - sine is #FA - cosine is #FB - tangent is
Both #FC - determinant is #FD - in combination by
#FE - in permutation by
#FF - transform is


The Four Internal (Yin) Articulation types Delineated

To get here, you either read all of the Articulation terms above or skimmed and skipped to the bottom. In either case you haven't gone away yet, so we'll delve a bit deeper into the meanings of Extrapolation, Interpolation, Recognition and Recollection. The Articulation spokes were introduced on the page just before this section (page up once) in the design document.

The Yin spokes will have the greatest effect on a users ability to memorize and select Articulation terms because they differentiate individual terms within each of the banks. The external (Yang) spokes are at least as important overall, but their influence is diffused across an entire table or sub-table because they operate at higher levels.

I'm not presenting a similar review of the Yang spokes because I think that anyone who expects to change the major Syntactic divisions or the sub-categories needs to demonstrate proficiency in the placement of individual terms first. After all, everything has to fit together in the end. 



Extrapolation covers flights of fancy, including imagination and inspiration. Imagination uses existing data (from Recollection) to project a trend while inspiration uses new connections between data (from Recognition) to conceive an unexpected event. Extrapolation is associated with things that are outside the current boundaries of one or more events.

Interpolation is the act of examining something closely with the intent of imposing a finer graduation or classification upon it. This evaluation may usually be intended to drive some dependent event, but it can also be a pure act of art, science or philosophy.

Interpolation includes both classification and codification. Classification uses connections between data (from Recognition) to organize the relational structure of a data store. Codification uses existing data (from Recollection) to implement hierarchical indexing within a data store. Interpolation works within the boundaries of one event and usually evaluates multiple sub-events.

Recognition involves the identification of relationships, both among the data sources maintained by Recollection and also with new incoming data. Logically, Recollection must always provide at least one data source, but this may be implicit or ignored in a given Articulation vocabulary term. Recognition identifies things that cross the boundaries of multiple events or sub-events.

Recollection is the lowest (and therefore the foundation) of the Articulation spokes. It involves things that are already stored in memory. This implies that the events were either experienced personally in the past or can be located in some extant data store (such as the Internet, your home computer, etc.). Recalled things may not be real things, but they should be accessible for examination (unless they are stored inside your head, assuming insufficiently advanced technology). Recollection continually re-defines the boundaries of the events and sub-events under consideration.

Functionally: the term in the #00 cell of each sub-table is filtered through all remaining fifteen combinations of the four objects (or 'states') outlined above. This process changes the term's meaning from the basic generic mode of the sub-category to the ultimate expression of the relationship type.

As an example, in the Place sub-table, Cell #20 - "here" evolves to cell #2F - "pervading" after the final interpretation by all four Articulation Yin spokes.


Guidance for Articulation Updates

The Articulation tables must contain the most common relationships used within all communication. Once a needed term has been identified, it should be placed into a sub-table in a location that strengthens that term's memorability and complements the surrounding terms. 

  1. New terms must represent unique, specific and useful relationships
  2. New terms are preferred when they represent ubiquitous relationships
  3. New terms should have both rigorous technical denotations and concise casual connotations where possible

The combinations of the spokes above should be the guiding concern when placing Articulation terms within a sub-table, but practical or situational considerations may also apply. For example, Recollection often gets used to take up the slack when Recognition has a matching term that's too good to pass up. It is also occasionally useful to consider the absence of the above types when trying to fit a term into the overall pattern.

When relationships or predicates from natural languages can be arranged to follow the consistent structures of Instrumentation's Articulation layer, a student should be able to master Instrumentation's Syntactic vocabulary with minimal rote memorization. Conversely, when Instrumentation's ontological hierarchy (or Syntactic patterns) subsume the existing structures within natural languages, situating useful relationships and predicates within Instrumentation's Syntactic vocabulary (should logically) become simpler. These complementary goals are the underlying focus of this web page.



  1. Articulating Strategically    (or, Sudoku with words)
    1. Table Layout
      1. Qualifiers: (neither intention nor interpretation spokes)
        1. Time
        2. Social
        3. Place
        4. Logic
      2. Operators: (interpretation spoke)
        1. Time
        2. Social
        3. Math
        4. Logic
      3. Specifiers / Modifiers: (intention+interpretation spokes)
        1. Object        (3 Spec / 0 Mod)
        2. Class          (2 Spec / 1 Mod)
        3. Purpose     (1 Spec / 2 Mod)
        4. Operation  (0 Spec / 3 Mod)
      4. Verbs: (intention spoke)



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