Robin van Spaandonk wrote:
>"Enter the undefined"
>
>That's all it says. Kind of mystical.
>
>- Jed
...enter "the undefined".
Not sure where I should enter that. There are no blank fields. Maybe
for my name?
You can parse that statement several ways:
* Enter that which is undefined.
* As stage directions: the undefined enters here ("Enter KENT,
GLOUCESTER, and EDMUND")
* By attending this conference, you enter the undefined, which is
kind of like entering the Tunnel of Love only boring and confusing.
English often parses in wonderful ways, more freely than languages
with more strictly defined word order (syntax). Spoken English in
particular can mean just about anything. That's good to keep in mind
when you teach English as a second language. The classic example is
the spoken phrase "telephone poles" which as I recall can be parsed
into more than 20 different meanings, such as:
Telephone polls. (Polls to support telephone wires -- the original
meaning, which is clear in writing. Sort of clear.)
Telephone polls. (Public opinion polls conducted by telephone)
Telephone Poles. (Telephone people in Poland.)
Tell if own polls. (Tell me if you own polls.)
Tell if own polls. (Tell me if those are your polls or someone else's.)
Tell if own polls. (Emphasis on the first word. Tell me X
conditionally, that is, if you happen to own polls. Otherwise don't tell.)
Tell a phone, Poles (Tell your telephone: "Polish people." This makes
little sense but just because a phrase makes no sense, that never
stopped a native speaker from uttering it -- Jorden's dictum)
. . . and so on, with various permutations.
Given the ambiguities, you should not wonder why voice input and
computer speech analysis has taken so long to develop. It is a
miracle that computers can do these things at all!
- Jed
