# KEHOME/knowledge/theory/NaturalSemanticMetalanguage/SemanticPrimesMKR.html
# Oct/19/2003
Semantic primes in the MKR language

Semantic primes in the MKR language

This note is an edited version of my Oct/17/2003 letter to Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka.

Introduction

I have invented a knowledge representation language, MKR (http://rhm.cdepot.net/), which I think may be of interest to you because

I originally conceived of MKR as a "simplified English", with no ambiguity, no inflections, etc. For example, "contexts" resolve all ambiguities, and "quantifiers" supply all singular/plural/number information.

In MKR, the most important relations are implemented as verbs/conjunctions, e.g. "has". Because of its emphasis on semantics, MKR has different verbs for different types of properties of entities/existents, e.g.

is alias, definition
isa kind hierarchy
haspart parts (static)
has attributes (static)
rel,isin relations (static) between entities/existents
do entity actions/events
causes interactions between entities/existents

NSM vs. MKR

This table summarizes the mapping between NSM and MKR. Note that the MKR grammar categories are very different from NSM categories. The end of the table contains concepts which have no obvious NSM category or semantic prime.

Verbs/conjunctions like "before" and "after" were not originally predefined in the MKR language. I added them explicitly to make sure that MKR covers all of the NSM primes.

"Missing" Primes

The most important MKR concepts not included in NSM are

purpose This is an important concept which is
implicit in DO ... BECAUSE ... WANT.
I would expect it to be a semantic prime.
method Even in "primitive" cultures, I would
expect parents to teach their children
the methods of hunting, cooking, etc.
script A generalization of method which formalizes
the interactions of common situations.
I have not yet worked on any complicated
scripts. The only interaction that is currently
built into MKR is causality.
every I would expect the iteration concept to be
universal.
means Symbols are only implicit in NSM.
is...with Definitions are only implicit in NSM.


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