# KEHOME/knowledge/theory/NaturalSemanticMetalanguage/prototype.html
# Oct/10/2003
Prototypes and Invariants
Prototypes and Invariants
Basic Ideas
-
When people think of concepts, they think of prototypes.
But the invariants of a prototype
are not the invariants of a concept.
-
Matching a prototype is a sufficient, but not necessary, condition
for a unit to be subsumed under a concept.
Examples
- bird prototype
-
X is a typical bird =
X can fly
X has feathers
...
- bird definition
-
X is a kind of bird =
when people think of X, they think of a typical bird
some X can't fly
some X don't have feathers
...
References
-
Anna Wierzbicka, "Semantics: Primes and Universals",
Oxford University Press, 1996.
Chapter 4.
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