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Do you think written Standard English is less ambiguous than any other English, or written language? Because I don't see why that would be the case.

Dylan16807 10y ago
>Do you think written Standard English is less ambiguous than any other English Definitely. Things are clearer when you write formally and strictly adhere to grammatical rules. When I'm speaking casually I omit words and (ab)use punctuation much differently, and while that is perfectly acceptable to do, it is more complex and ambiguous to parse. As far as I'm aware the same pattern exists in a lot of languages and dialects, and it's possible to define formal AAVE too.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- gugagore 10y ago
  I don't think there is anything "formal" about Standard English. Can you give an example of what you're talking about? Which grammatical rules do you have in mind? I don't know what you mean by formal black English (AAVE) vs. ... casual black English?
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  To your comment that was detected as a duplicate: >I don't think there is anything "formal" about Standard English. "Standard" English as she is spoke? No. But a3n was specifically talking about the formal version often called "Standard written English". It is very prescriptive and less flexible, which makes it easier to parse. > Can you give an example of what you're talking about? Which grammatical rules do you have in mind? Let's start with "every rule involving punctuation".
  - gugagore 10y ago
    I'm not trying to be dense, but I still don't see it. Punctuation helps with identifying boundaries of clauses, whether they're dependent or not, whether a sentence is a question. Is this what NLP struggles with? I don't think so. One of the big unsolved problems is understanding the referents of pronouns (and other proforms, like "I will [do so] too"). Style guides and generally prescriptivism does not help that. Another ambiguity is parse ambiguities like " I saw the girl with the telescope." What does "formal" English say about that?
    - a3n 10y ago
      That's where AI comes in. Unless there's a human at the ready.
morgante 10y ago
> Do you think written Standard English is less ambiguous than any other English, or written language? Absolutely. It follows a strict set of formal rules and you can readily find sources to learn those rules. Heck, copyeditors regularly debate the specific nuances of how to consistently write Standard English. Other dialects (and spoken language) are far less formalized. Where is the AP Stylebook or Strunk & White for AAVE?
- gugagore 10y ago
  Can you give an example where Strunk and White or a style guide vhelp to disambiguate some expression? I can't think of any.
  - morgante 10y ago
    The Oxford comma is the most obvious case I can think of.
- gugagore 10y ago
  Can you give an example where Strunk and White or a style guide vhelp to disambiguate some expression? I can't think of any.

Dylan16807 10y ago

>Do you think written Standard English is less ambiguous than any other English Definitely. Things are clearer when you write formally and strictly adhere to grammatical rules. When I'm speaking casually I omit words and (ab)use punctuation much differently, and while that is perfectly acceptable to do, it is more complex and ambiguous to parse. As far as I'm aware the same pattern exists in a lot of languages and dialects, and it's possible to define formal AAVE too.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
gugagore 10y ago
I don't think there is anything "formal" about Standard English. Can you give an example of what you're talking about? Which grammatical rules do you have in mind? I don't know what you mean by formal black English (AAVE) vs. ... casual black English?
Dylan16807 10y ago
To your comment that was detected as a duplicate: >I don't think there is anything "formal" about Standard English. "Standard" English as she is spoke? No. But a3n was specifically talking about the formal version often called "Standard written English". It is very prescriptive and less flexible, which makes it easier to parse. > Can you give an example of what you're talking about? Which grammatical rules do you have in mind? Let's start with "every rule involving punctuation".
- gugagore 10y ago
  I'm not trying to be dense, but I still don't see it. Punctuation helps with identifying boundaries of clauses, whether they're dependent or not, whether a sentence is a question. Is this what NLP struggles with? I don't think so. One of the big unsolved problems is understanding the referents of pronouns (and other proforms, like "I will [do so] too"). Style guides and generally prescriptivism does not help that. Another ambiguity is parse ambiguities like " I saw the girl with the telescope." What does "formal" English say about that?
  - a3n 10y ago
    That's where AI comes in. Unless there's a human at the ready.

morgante 10y ago

> Do you think written Standard English is less ambiguous than any other English, or written language? Absolutely. It follows a strict set of formal rules and you can readily find sources to learn those rules. Heck, copyeditors regularly debate the specific nuances of how to consistently write Standard English. Other dialects (and spoken language) are far less formalized. Where is the AP Stylebook or Strunk & White for AAVE?

gugagore 10y ago
Can you give an example where Strunk and White or a style guide vhelp to disambiguate some expression? I can't think of any.
- morgante 10y ago
  The Oxford comma is the most obvious case I can think of.
gugagore 10y ago
Can you give an example where Strunk and White or a style guide vhelp to disambiguate some expression? I can't think of any.