A: cuz it was too weird
A: and we didn't even know , like , what we were talking about <comment> exactly ,
A: what the object of study was .
B: Um - mmm .
A: So .
C: Yeah . Well , if if I mean , i part of of what the exercise is , t by the end of next week , is to say what are the things that we just don't have answers for yet .
A: Yeah .
C: That 's fine .
A: Yep .
C: I mean
B: Mm - hmm .
E: Well , if you if you do wanna discuss focus background and then get me into that
E: because I mean , I wo I w scientifically worked on that for for almost two years .
A: Yeah .
A: OK , then certainly we will .
B: Yeah , you should definitely , um be on on that A: Good .
B: maybe maybe by after Monday we 'll y you can see what things we are and aren't A: Yeah . w We should figure out what our questions are , for example , to ask you .
B: Yeah . Yeah .
A: So .
B: OK .
A: OK .
C: Wel - then t Hans .
C: Has I haven't seen Hans Boas ?
B: He 's been around .
A: Yeah .
C: OK . So has he been been involved with this ,
B: Just maybe not today .
C: or ?
B: Eh . with us ?
B: Yeah .
A: Yeah .
C: Yeah .
B: I would say that tha that those discussions have been primarily , um , Keith and Keith and me ,
B: but um
B: like in th the meeting I mean , he sort of I thin like the last meeting we had , I think we were all very much part of it
A: Yeah .
B: but um
A: Sometimes Hans has been sort of coming in there as sort of like a devil 's advocate type role or something ,
B: but different perspec
B: Yeah .
A: like " This make you know , I 'm going to pretend I 'm a linguist who has nothing to do with this .
A: This makes no sense . "
A: And he 'll just go off on parts of it which definitely need fixing
B: Right .
A: but aren't where we 're at right now ,
B: Like like what you call certain things ,
A: so it 's
B: which we decided long ago we don't care that much right now .
A: Yeah .
C: Right .
C: OK .
B: But in a sense , it 's good to know that he of all people B: you know , like maybe a lot of people would have m much stronger reactions ,
B: so , you know , he 's like a relatively friendly linguist
A: Yeah .
B: and yet a word like " constraint " causes a lot of problems .
A: Yeah .
B: And , so . Right . So .
C: OK . This is consistent with um the role I had suggested that he he play ,
B: Ah .
A: Mm - hmm .
C: OK , which was that o one of the things I would like to see happen is a paper that was tentatively called " Towards a formal cognitive semantics "
C: which was addressed to these linguists uh who haven't been following this stuff at all .
A: Yeah .
C: So it could be that he 's actually , at some level , thinking about how am I going to communicate this story A: Yeah .
A: Yeah .
C: So , internally , we should just do whatever works ,
A: Yeah .
C: cuz it 's hard enough .
A: Yeah .
C: But if he g if he turns is is really gonna turn around and help t to write this version that does connect with as many as possible of the other linguists in the world um <comment> then then it becomes important to use terminology that doesn't make it hard B: Mm - hmm .
A: Mm - hmm .
A: Yeah .
A: Yeah .
B: Mm - hmm . Sure .
C: I mean , it 's gonna be plenty hard for for people to understand it as it is ,
C: but y y you don't want to make it worse .
A: Yeah .
A: Yeah .
C: So .
A: No , right . I mean , tha that role is is , uh , indispensable
A: but that 's not where sort of our heads were at in these meetings .
C: Right .
C: Yeah , yeah . No , that 's fine .
A: It was a little strange .
C: I just wanted t to
C: I have to catch up with him , and I wanted t to get a feeling for that . OK .
A: Yeah .
B: Mm - hmm .
A: So I don't know what his take will be on these meetings exactly , you know .
C: OK . Good .
A: Cuz sometimes he sort of sounds like we 're talking a bunch of goobledy - gook from his point of view .
B: I think it 's good when we 're B: when we 're into data and looking at the some specific linguistic phenomenon in in English or in German , in particular , whatever , that 's great ,
C: Yeah .
A: Mm - hmm .
B: and Ben and and Hans are , if if anything , more you know , they have more to say than , let 's say , I would about some of these things .
C: Right .
B: But when it 's like , well , w how do we capture these things , you know , I think it 's definitely been Keith and I who have d you know , who have worried more about the C: Well , that 's good . That 's I I I think that should be the the core group
A: Mm - hmm .
B: s Which is fine .
A: Yeah .
B: Mm - hmm .
C: and um
C: that 's , you know , I think very close to the maximum number of people working together that can get something done .
A: Yeah .
B: Yes .
B: Yeah . We actually have I think we have been making progress ,
B: and its sort of surprising .
A: Yeah .
C: I I I I definitely get that impression . Yeah .
B: You know , like C: That 's great .
A: Yep .
B: Yeah .
B: So anyone else would like uh <comment> ruin the balance of B: Anyway .
C: Well , but Well . But th th then w then we have to come back to the bigger group .
B: Right .
A: Yeah .
C: Yeah . <comment> Great . And then we 're gon we 're gonna C: because of this other big thing we haven't talked about is actually implementing this stuff ?
C: So that I guess the three of us are gonna connect tomorrow about that .
B: Yeah , we could talk tomorrow .
B: I was just gonna say , though , that , for instance , there was you know , out of a meeting with Johno came the suggestion that " oh , could it be that the meaning constraints really aren't used for selection ? "
B: which has sort of been implicit in the parsing strategy we talked about .
C: Right .
B: In which case we w we can just say that they 're the effects or the bindings .
B: Which uh , so far , in terms of like putting up all the constraints as , you know , pushing them into type constraints , the when I 've , you know , propo then proposed it to linguists who haven't yet given me you know , we haven't yet thought of a reason that that wouldn't work .
B: Right ? As long as we allow our type constraints to be reasonably complex .
C: Well , it B: So Anyway , to be to talk about later .
C: Yeah , it has to in the sense that you 're gonna use them eventu
C: it 's you know , it 's sort of a , um , generate and test kind of thing ,
B: Mm - hmm . Mm - hmm .
C: and if you over - generate then you 'll have to do more .
C: I mean , if there are some constraints that you hold back and don't use uh , in your initial matching then you 'll match some things B: Mm - hmm . Mm - hmm .
C: I mean , I I d I don't think there 's any way that it could completely fail .
C: It it could be that uh , you wind up C: I mean C: The original bad idea of purely context - free grammars died because there were just vastly too many parses .
C: You know , exponentially num num many parses .
C: And so th the concern might be that not that it would totally fail , but that B: Mm - hmm .
B: Mm - hmm .
B: That it would still generate too many . <comment> Right ?
C: it would still genera
B: So by just having semantic even bringing semantics in for matching just in the form of j semantic types , right ?
B: Like " conceptually these have to be construed as this , this , and this " might still give us quite a few possibilities
C: Yeah .
C: We don't know ,
B: that , you know And and it certainly helps a lot .
C: but , yeah .
B: I mean , le let 's put it that way .
C: No question . Yeah .
B: So .
C: And I think it 's a it 's a perfectly fine place to start .
C: You know , and say , let let 's see how far we can go this way .
B: Mm - hmm . Mm - hmm .
C: And , uh D: Well it definitely makes the problem easier .
C: I 'm I 'm in favor of that .
C: Uh , cuz I think i I think it 's As you know , I think it 's real hard and if w if we C: Right .
B: So Friday ,
B: Monday
A: Yeah .
B: Monday .
A: Yeah .
B: So . OK , that 's Tuesday .
C: Yeah .
A: Yeah .
B: Like <comment> th that 's the conclusion . OK .
E: So , you your dance card is completely filled now ?
D: Mm - hmm .
A: Shoot .
B: Yeah , and I have nothing to do this weekend but work .
E: Why don't B: No , that 's not really true ,
B: but like A: Bummer .
D: What about What about DDR ?
B: It 's almost true .
B: Oh , I don't have it this weekend ,
B: so , tsk <comment> don't have to worry about that .
D: Mmm .
C: DDR , he asked ?
B: Speaking of dance ,
B: Dance Dance Revolution
B: I can't believe I 'm B: It 's a it 's like a game , but it 's for , like , dancing .