On 2/10/2023 9:43 AM, Roger L Costello wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> A couple days ago Michael Kay gave this great post:
> --------------------------------------------------
> Consider three English sentences:
>
> (a) There are tomatoes in the fridge.
>
> (b) Go to the shop and buy more tomatoes.
>
> (c) How many tomatoes are there in the fridge?
>
> English is flexible: A sentence can provide information, give instructions, or ask questions.
>
> XML is equally flexible.
> --------------------------------------------------
> I showed that to a colleague and he replied:
>
>> I don't remember details, but there are some things that English
>> can't do well linguistically that e.g., I think Chinese can do.
>> It would be interesting to see if XML can do those things.
>
> Is that true? Is there something that can be expressed in Chinese that is not a statement of information, not an instruction, and not a question?
English is not limited to those three kinds of expressions. In
addition, English - and most if not all other natural languages - often
use context and emphasis to fill in understanding, but the way in which
they do it will differ.
Consider (this example is from memory from long ago), where *...* means
emphasis:
- Do I have a car?
- Do *I* have a car?
- Do I *have* a car?
- Do I have *a* car?
- Do I have a *car*?
- *Do* I have a car?
They all look like questions, but they all suggest some different
relationship between me and a car. Some of them are statements
disguised as a question. Many of them could have different meanings
depending on context.
It could be an interesting question whether Chinese has more flexibility
or ambiguity than English, but your question is way too limited.
And anyway, which of the seven or more main groups of Chinese will you
choose (https://www.daytranslations.com/blog/chinese-languages/)?
