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HeadFirst

From:Ed Heil <edh@...>
Date:Friday, May 5, 2000, 19:14
OK, I've just put the finishing touches on the hyper-simple syntax of
what I was calling MostlyNoun and now am calling HeadFirst.  It's a
grammar without a language, based on a love-hate relationship with
AllNoun.

Like AllNoun, it only has one part of speech, which one might as well
call a noun.  Er, at least, it has one open category; it also has a
few co-ordinating words that figure in the grammar, much like AllNoun
does, but unlike AllNoun it does not hide them in unpronounceable
punctuation marks. :)

This is the grammar, so far, subject to change at my whim:

HEADFIRST.

HP => H(1) [with M [and M [and M....]]]

M => [[inverse] HP(3)] HP(2)

Where H(1) is a noun that describes the entire HP, HP(2) is another
noun or noun phrase that stands in some relationship to H(1), and
HP(3) is a noun or noun phrase that describes the relationship HP(2)
holds to HP(1).  Or, if the word "inverse" precedes HP(3), it instead
describes the relationship that HP(1) has to HP(2).

Examples:

"I have a brother, Steve."

Me with brother Steve.

Or....

Steve with inverse brother me.

Or....

Having with agent me and patient brother with name Steve.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

Creation with time beginning and agent God and patient heaven with
number plural and patient earth.

Crap.

I just noticed that there's a big ambiguity in this grammar.  It's not
clear except from context that "and patient earth" is supposed to
coordinate with "and patient heaven" rather than with "with number
plural."

Looks like HeadFirst needs a little more work. :(

I was going to ask for translation exercises, but it looks like I'm
not ready for that yet.

Any suggestions?