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Unlike words in most other languages, each MediaGlyph has a single meaning.
Sometimes this meaning could be considered broad, since in some languages it can be translated by many words. But the concept, although broad, is one and defined.
Its unique definition comes from the image - of course - that we try to make as unambiguous and immediate as possible, but also from the curated translations:
If - for example - a glyph has two translations in English, it means the concept conveyed is the union of those two concepts. By intersecating this semantic space with the ones coming from additional translations, it's possible to reconstruct the exact idea of the concept represented.
Morphological and Semantic codes also help in pinning down the exact meaning of a Glyph.
For example "tell" is translated in Italian as "raccontare, dire" and in English as "tell, relate" and in Chinese as "[su4 shuo1] or [gao4 su5]". The morphological code indicates that this MG-verb can be used as "verb somebody something" or as "verb something".
The fact that it can have two objects is an aspect missing in the Italian translation (since there is no equivalent verb in Italian with two objects for this meaning) while it is present in English.
The fact that it cannot have the form "tell somebody to do something" indicates that the verb cannot be used as "I tell you to shut up" but only as "I tell a story" or "I tell you that my mother's car is broken". It can be used as "to do something" only in the way "I tell my friend she should visit her father".
In this case Chinese "gao4 su5" is the closest in transitive structure.
Semantic codes indicate relations of opposition (for example marking that Big is the opposite of Small), synonym, abbreviation, membership (e.g. child is a member of the concept of person, "red" belongs to "colour").... and further clarify the M-G meanings.
By combining Glyphs in composites, new meanings (usually very specific and narrow) can be created, to achieve the possibility of expressing everything while keeping the number of Glyphs low.
First appearance:
Sun Jun 30 01:02:03 BST 2002
- | - Last modified:
Mon Jul 20 23:32:30 CEST 2009