The rules which bind the schema of ADEPT LION into permitted forms are related to how the relational channels both create and convey some ontological purpose that is bound up in the meaning of the channels themselves and to how they are inter-related. A very small part of the bound meaning we are looking for is immediately apparent from the initial defined aspects of the channels themselves: concepts like intrinsic [thing] / extrinsic [use], symbolic [variety] / semantic [word], individual [subject] / group [object] and context [source].
What has to be developed - and is really quite surprising - is the extent to which inter-relatedness is ultimately more productive of diverse expressions of meaning than is the direct enumeration of some set of desired concepts within a specific domain.
This is surprising because it is counter-intuitive to how most languages will go about deriving meaning through conventional means within a community. The needs of the community, and subsequently the feature requirements of the language, reflect a more direct and pragmatic approach to meaning than a systematic and exhaustive exploration into a system of pattern seems to immediately afford. One must first hope that the desired expressive pattern emerges from the system.
This latter approach is therefore, in many ways, an exercise of faith because one must wait for the meaning to emerge from the system of patterns rather than simply assigning a desired meaning to some arbitrary or conventional symbol and then achieve community consensus or an intuitive axiomatization for its use.
It is a goal of this site to move as quickly as possible to this emergence of meaning from pattern so as to generate interest in this approach but the groundwork must first be done if we are to understand and have confidence in how we arrive at useful expressions of meaning grounded in pattern. Familiarity with the ADEPT LION notation and a grasp of its rules is this necessary groundwork.
A general introduction in the format of slide presentations on the ADEPT LION constructs can be found here or use the links below to explore a specific component.
