Astrolinguistics: Design of a Linguistic System for Interstellar Communication Based on Logic

Description

In linguistics, one of the main areas of modern research involves the capabilities and possibilities of there being a "lingua cosmica," a LINCOS, a universal language that could be used to communicate with non-human intelligences. This book touches on the area of the development and use of a "lingua universalis" for interstellar communication, but it also presents concepts that cover a broad area of linguistics. Chomsky's paradigm on universal properties of natural languages, for a long time a leading general theory of natural languages, includes the strong assumption that humans are born with some kind of universals stored in their brains. Are there universals of this kind of language used by intelligent beings and societies elsewhere in the universe? We do not know whether such languages exist. It seems to be impossible to determine, simply because the universe is too large for an exhaustive search. Even verification will be hard to obtain, without quite a bit of luck. This book uses astrolinguistic principles in message construction and is helpful in clarifying and giving perspective to discussions on existential questions such as these. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Front Matter....Pages 1-2 Types and Declarations....Pages 3-7 Functions and Induction....Pages 9-21 Hypotheses....Pages 23-28 Higher Orders and Inductive Structures....Pages 29-38 Front Matter....Pages 39-40 Simple Facts....Pages 41-46 Compounds....Pages 47-52 Aristotelian Theatre....Pages 53-63 Wittgenstein’s Theatre....Pages 65-74 Front Matter....Pages 75-75 Logic Contents of Texts....Pages 77-84 An Astrolinguistic Experiment....Pages 85-91 Aspects of Truth....Pages 93-100 Human Altruism....Pages 101-108 Front Matter....Pages 109-110 Self-interpretation....Pages 111-116 Pictorial Representations....Pages 117-121 Representation of Music....Pages 123-130 Signature of LINCOS....Pages 131-135 Front Matter....Pages 137-138 Representing Processes....Pages 139-145 Cooperating Sequential Processes....Pages 147-151 Hamlet in LINCOS....Pages 153-159 Front Matter....Pages 161-161 Basics....Pages 163-168 Front Matter....Pages 161-161 Relativistic Particle Motion....Pages 169-175 Two-Body Motion....Pages 177-180 Front Matter....Pages 181-181 Certain Existence....Pages 183-188 The Uncertain Alien....Pages 189-194 Back Matter....Pages 195-248