4 ms·
I've made the analogy of function calls before, it's a pretty cool way to think about it. But I think your example is slightly off. The verb is the head of the
by mcaruso 10y ago
I've made the analogy of function calls before, it's a pretty cool way to think about it. But I think your example is slightly off. The verb is the head of the phrase, and would thus be the function (or command) itself:
miru --topic=Taro --object=Noriko # Taro sees Noriko
This uses "miru", the plain non-past form of "to see". Conjugating the verb is a little trickier to translate, but I think it would be analogous to higher-order functions, functions that modify the verb to create a new verb. Using a Python-like syntax:
formal(past(miru))(topic="Taro", object="Noriko")
# Taro wa Noriko wo mimashita
I'm trying to think of a way to include relative clauses in this analogy, but it's a little harder. A relative clause is of the form "[verb-phrase] [noun]", e.g. "doresu wo kiru Noriko" (Noriko who wears a dress). Maybe we could use positional arguments for this:
formal(past(miru))(topic="Taro", object=kiru(object="doresu", "Noriko"))
# Taro wa doresu wo kiru Noriko wo mimashita ??
EDIT: or maybe currying would be a nice way to solve this. So each verb would be a function that takes arguments, and returns a new function that takes a noun to apply that verb to:
formal(past(miru))(topic="Taro", object=kiru(object="doresu")("Noriko"))
# Taro wa doresu wo kiru Noriko wo mimashita
- stephengillie 10y agoCould this situation be described by nesting sentences? "Taro saw (Noriko wears a dress)." To extend your example: formal(past(miru))(topic="Taro", object="Noriko") "Taro saw Noriko." formal(present(kiru))(topic="Noriko", object="doresu") "Noriko wears a dress." Nested: formal(past(miru))(topic="Taro", object=(formal(present(kiru))(topic="Noriko", object="doresu")) ) "Taro saw (Noriko wears a dress)." "Taro saw Noriko wear a dress." "Taro wa (doresu wo kiru Noriko wa(?)) wo mimashita" "Taro wa doresu wo kiru Noriko wo mimashita" Does that make sense? *Please help correct any errors, as I have never formally studied the Japanese language.
- mcaruso 10y agoIt wouldn't type-check, since `object` is expected to be a noun and not a verb. :)
- stephengillie 10y agoIt's a difficulty inherent in describing one unfamiliar language with another unfamiliar language. :) This could work in Powershell. The function would have to be written to expect nested recursive calls, to remove the omitted particle. Construct-Sentence -verb miru -Formal -Past -Topic Taro -Object ( Construct-Sentence -verb kiru -Formal -Present -Topic Noriko -Object doresu ) "Taro saw (Noriko wears a dress)." "Taro saw Noriko wear a dress." "Taro wa (doresu wo kiru Noriko wa(?)) wo mimashita" "Taro wa doresu wo kiru Noriko wo mimashita"