Reading word definitions
Let us consider transitive verbs and prepositions in English, specifically the word go. This word is a transitive verb, meaning that it takes a subject and an object.
I go there.
SUBJ-1PS go OBJ-there
One may generalize this and define go as such:
go: x1 goes to x2
This is the manner by which Eberban's vocabulary is defined. Each predicate has one to four parameters which can be "filled" by arguments. Let us look at the definition of an Eberban word, usually called a predicate.
fuir : (E-Xd) knows fact [A-P0] from source (O-Xd).
What do the letters and numbers in the parentheticals mean? The first component is a letter -- E, A, O or U, corresponding to the first, second, third, and fourth places of the predicate respectively. The second component refers to the type of argument the parameter accepts.
- X parameters refer to concretes -- specific entities or an events. We shall focus on X parameters exclusively for now.
- P parameters refer to propositions -- a particular abstract concept, property, or relation. These are covered in P chapter
- S parameters (not seen here) refer to sequences -- lists of X, P or S arguments. These are covered in S chapter
- N parameters refer to numbers. These are covered in N chapter
One does not need to worry about the third component as of now, but they will be listed here for completeness. The third component refers to the distributivity or collectivity of arguments for X parameters; the number of variables bound by the proposition in P parameters; or the type of arguments to be listed in S parameters.
We will only cover predicates with X parameters from now until P0 chapter. However, reading predicate definitions should be learned now, even if the other three places will not be covered until later.
"filled" is quite a misnomer as one will see in later chapters, but it suffices for now.
Eberban is based on second order logic -- all root words are predicates.
Do you know why the parameters are labeled such? Ans: it is Eberban's alphabetical order.