Hi John -
I'm glad I changed the title of this excellent discussion from "RDF
reification" to "Semantic Layers" (;-)
At 04:04 PM 3/29/2006 -0800, you wrote:
For "pragmatics", read
"purpose", "relevance", and "intent".
I certainly admit that current methods of NLP don't do a
good job of deriving that kind of information from ordinary
language. On the other hand, they don't do a good job of
deriving the syntax and semantics either.
I hope you are excluding the Internet Business Logic system from your
distaste for "current methods of NLP".
As you know, the system takes an unconventional approach, and it
actually works.
The system is online at the site below, and you can use it to write rules
in open vocabulary English into a browser. The English
reliably takes its meaning from its context. To see this, you can
use your browser to run your rules and to get English explanations of the
results.
The design of the system is in no way a contribution to conventional NL
research, or semiotics, etc. It just quietly gets the job
done, so perhaps it's reasonable that NL researchers are not interested
in it.
Then again, perhaps they should be interested (:-)
Cheers, -- Adrian
Internet Business Logic (R)
Executable open vocabulary English
Online at
www.reengineeringllc.com
Shared use is free
Adrian Walker
Reengineering
PO Box 1412
Bristol
CT 06011-1412 USA
Phone: USA 860 583 9677
Cell: USA 860 830 2085
Fax: USA 860 314 1029