|
| |
FAQ
INDEX
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Connotative
Intelligence" technology?
 |
It's a new technology that enables the creation of
databases of coded emotional responses and "connotative engines," which
in turn enable anyone to access emotional meaning in words, images,
songs, advertisements, and practically anything else that evokes
emotional responses in humans.
|
|
|
For example, Connotative Intelligence technology makes available to
writers an entirely new "parallel universe" of language content, based on the
emotional impact of words. Such access
to the emotional responses that words evoke has never before been available
in the history of written language – not only the English language, but any
language.
|
|
|
The application of
Connotative Intelligence technology
will result in the creation of a large body of new intellectual property, marketable
online, in software format, and in print format. Examples include
an emotional dictionary
and emotional thesaurus. |
Who would use an emotional (connotative) dictionary
or thesaurus?
|
|
Anyone who uses a regular (denotative) dictionary
or thesaurus. It's worth noting that Shakespeare wrote all of his masterpieces before
the first English dictionary was published. But that does not mean dictionaries are
useless. Otherwise, Merriam-Webster and Oxford University Press would have gone out of
business long ago. Roget's Thesaurus has been published continuously since 1852
and continues to sell millions of copies annually in print and software formats.
Worldwide, there has always been a strong demand for language reference tools. |
What makes this new technology so important and
its application so commercially valuable?
|
|
Written language is easily the world's most
important technology. The value of Connotative Intelligence technology lies in its exclusive
capacity to make available new, highly marketable reference content for all languages.
|
|
|
Consider this:
without written language, there
would be no schools and universities. There would be no language-based art such as novels,
poetry, film scripts, and creative non-fiction.
|
|
|
Moreover, there would be no electric power, no
telephone, no television, no computers, no airplanes, no automobiles. All of these
technologies rely on educated people and written documentation for their existence and
maintenance.
|
|
|
Facility with
written language is vital. After achieving
literacy, most people spend additional time and money maintaining and upgrading their
language skills throughout life. |
[To
FAQ Index]
What drove the creation of
Connotative Intelligence technology?
|
|
Skill with language means being able to handle two
kinds of meaning that words convey simultaneously: |
- Intellectual meaning, called
"denotative"
- Emotional meaning, called
"connotative".
|
|
Each comprises an equally important component of
the full meaning of any word or phrase. These two kinds of meaning reflect the
intellectual-emotional duality of the human mind.
|
|
|
To help with denotative (intellectual)
language skills and meaning, people rely on a variety of "denotative" language
tools such as dictionaries, thesauruses, and grammar checkers (software, online, and
print).
|
|
|
But no such language tools currently exist to help
with connotative language skills and meaning. This is especially significant for
writers of fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction. |
What are people missing by not having
connotative tools?
|
|
Word processors such as Microsoft Word and
WordPerfect have built-in denotative thesauruses and grammar checkers. But they do not
have connotative thesauruses or "connotation-checkers." And they don’t have
connotative dictionaries either.
|
|
|
Today's software, hardware, and print-based
language tools have no way of dealing with the radically different connotative meanings in
phrases such as "please go", "get out", and "fuck off" (even
though these are denotative synonyms).
|
|
|
Similarly, the legendary clumsiness of
computer-based language translation owes its inadequacy to its total failure to cope with
connotative meaning.
|
|
|
Artificial intelligence applications also have no
way of dealing with the emotional or connotative aspect of language.
|
|
|
Connotative meaning is the soul of all literary
symbolism. Metaphor, simile, and other figures of speech spell the difference between
great writing and ordinary writing. Among other things, connotative tools will provide
writers with access to countless new, fresh, meaningful, powerful, and accurate
literary symbols. |
[To
FAQ Index]
There are lots of ordinary denotative
dictionaries and thesauruses on the market. So why aren’t there any connotative
dictionaries and thesauruses?
|
|
The reason there have never been connotative
language tools on the market is that formidable technical obstacles have always prevented
the development of connotative language tools in any format – software, hardware,
online, and print. These technical obstacles include:
1) identifying the many emotional
variables associated with each word by part of speech and context, and
2) accurately quantifying intensity of feeling. |
How were the technical problems solved?
|
|
They were solved by using a combination of advanced
measurement techniques and computing technology. The overall solution, called
Connotative Intelligence technology, is actually an assemblage of coordinated systems developed over a
period of more than 20 years. The technology amounts to a robust "operating
system" that makes available, for the first time in the history of language, the full
range of emotional (connotative) meaning of all words by part of speech and context. |
Is Connotative Intelligence technology a
software program?
|
|
Yes and no. It is an enabling infrastructure
technology. You can think of it as a kind of "operating system", like Windows or
Linux, except that it is adaptable to print format as well as software and online formats.
As an infrastructure technology, Connotative Intelligence technology makes emotional meaning
accessible and editable, just the way dictionaries, thesauruses, and grammar checking
software make objective meaning accessible and editable. |
How will I be able to use
Connotative Intelligence technology?
|
|
You won't use the technology directly. Instead, you
will be able to use new emotional language tools that will be produced by various
companies using the technology under license. These tools include the world's first
emotional dictionaries, emotional thesauruses, connotation-checking software, connotative
language translation, and other new emotion-based language tools.
|
|
|
These connotative tools will provide writers with
the first new content in language reference to become available in
more than 150 years (since
the invention of the thesaurus in 1852).
|
|
|
These tools will form a vast new "parallel
universe" of connotative language reference works. That is, for each type of
denotative tool that now exists (e.g., denotative dictionary, denotative thesaurus), there
will be a corresponding type of connotative tool (e.g., connotative dictionary,
connotative thesaurus, etc.).
|
|
|
Like denotative tools, connotative tools will be
available in software, online, and print formats. |
Will emotional/connotative language
reference tools eventually be available in languages other than English?
|
|
Yes.
Connotative Intelligence technology makes it
equally easy to produce connotative language tools in any language. |
Are English-language "emotional
dictionaries" and other connotative language reference tools available now?
|
|
Not yet. One product is at the stage of "working
prototype" for the Windows environment. |
Who invented Connotative
Intelligence
technology?
|
|
Wayne Chase, of Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada. See History. |
[To
FAQ Index] |
|
