Explore what language knows that code does not.
A cabinet of linguistic mechanisms and the computational possibilities they contain. Every entry keeps three questions open at once — what a language does, how it is structured, and what software would gain by borrowing it.
Eighteen capabilities of human language.
Each capability names a distinction that some human languages preserve grammatically. The diagram beneath each name shows the shape of that distinction — not the language, the mechanism.
- No. 01Evidence and Knowledge
Evidentiality
How do we know this?
Under review · Interactive graftInteractive → - No. 02Participation and Agency
Inclusive and Exclusive Participation
Does "we" include the listener?
Under review · ConceptualisedRead → - No. 03Time and Action
Aspect and Event State
Is the action beginning, continuing, repeated, attempted or completed?
Illustrative · ConceptualisedRead → - No. 04Relationship and Responsibility
Relationship and Social Authority
What relationship exists between the participants?
Source required · DocumentedRead → - No. 05Meaning and Context
Classifier Systems
What kind of thing is this in the current context?
Illustrative · DocumentedRead → - No. 06Analogy and Conceptual Transfer
Analogy and Metaphorical Mapping
Which relationships can transfer from one domain to another?
Contested · ContestedRead → - No. 07Relationship and Responsibility
Modality, Obligation and Possibility
How certain, permitted or required is this?
Under review · ConceptualisedRead → - No. 08Relationship and Responsibility
Benefactive and Affected-Party Marking
Who benefits from or is affected by this action?
Source required · DocumentedRead → - No. 09Participation and Agency
Switch-Reference
Is the subject of this action the same as the subject of the previous one?
Source required · DocumentedRead → - No. 10Evidence and Knowledge
Mirativity and Unexpected Information
Is this new or surprising information?
Under review · DocumentedRead → - No. 11Meaning and Context
Topic and Focus
What is this statement really about?
Under review · DocumentedRead → - No. 12Space and Orientation
Spatial Frames of Reference
Is direction expressed relative to me, to a landmark, or to the world?
Source required · DocumentedRead → - No. 13Meaning and Context
Grammatical Number
How many are there, and does that count matter here?
Under review · DocumentedRead → - No. 14Meaning and Context
Negation and Scope
What exactly is being denied here?
Under review · DocumentedRead → - No. 15Participation and Agency
Causativity and Agency
Who caused this to happen, and how directly?
Source required · DocumentedRead → - No. 16Relationship and Responsibility
Politeness and Register
What is the appropriate way to say this here?
Source required · DocumentedRead → - No. 17Time and Action
Temporal Reference
When, relative to what, did this happen?
Under review · DocumentedRead → - No. 18Time and Action
Reduplication, Repetition and Intensity
Is this happening repeatedly, intensely, or in a diminished way?
Under review · DocumentedRead →