3blue1brownModal Logic Cannot Encode Vowel Harmony
Audience:
Tags: linguisticslogicmodal-logicphonologylogical-transductionstheory-of-computation
An explanation of why using modal logic to encode vowel harmony is a bad idea. Not that this is a commonly held belief but it provides a good way to introduce phonological analysis and its connections with logical transductions as well as some of the model theory of modal logic to a general audience. Written as a Substack post with associated stylistic flourishes.
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I found this very difficult to get through, both in content and in style. It felt as though it needed a very focused edit that narrowed the surface area of the piece. Novelty, very high, and very interesting for that, but I didn’t feel respected as a reader even though I was bought in on the motivation.
All I can take from this is some linguistics and a bit of logical play. Not that I didn’t like it so much, but really not for the math. Also I would like to see more examples, more step-by-step explanations (and introductions to new topics/definitions).