RE: XML 1.0 is simple. was: RE: almost four years ago....

["Bullard, Claude L (Len)" <clbullar@ingr.com>]

If XML is becoming a metaphor, specs just 
became poetry for sure.  From some research 
in semiotics by Daniel Chandler:

***************************************

Metonyms are based on various indexical relationships between signifieds, 
notably the substitution of effect for cause. 
'metonymy is the evocation of the whole by a connection. It consists in
using for 
the name of a thing or a relationship an attribute, a suggested sense, or 
something closely related, such as effect for cause... the imputed 
relationship being that of contiguity' (Wilden 1987, 198). It can be seen 
as based on substitution by adjuncts (things that are found together) or o
n functional relationships

Metonymy includes the substitution of: 

effect for cause ('Don't get hot under the collar!' for 'Don't get angry!');


object for user (or associated institution) ('the Crown' for the monarchy, 
'the stage' for the theatre and 'the press' for journalists); 

substance for form ('plastic' for 'credit card', 'lead' for 'bullet'); 

place for event: ('Chernobyl changed attitudes to nuclear power');
 
place for person ('No. 10' for the British prime minister); 

place for institution ('Whitehall isn't saying anything'); 

institution for people ('The government is not backing down'). 

Lakoff and Johnson comment on several types of metonym, including: 

producer for product ('She owns a Picasso'); 
object for user ('The ham sandwich wants his check [bill]'); 
controller for controlled ('Nixon bombed Hanoi'). 

synedoche - 'the substitution of part for whole, genus for species or vice
versa' 
(Lanham 1969, 97). Thus one term is more comprehensive than the other

part for whole ('I'm off to the smoke [London]'; 'we need to hire some more
hands [workers]'; 'two heads are better than one'; 'I've got a new set of
wheels', the American expression 'get your butt over here!'); 
whole for part (e.g. 'I was stopped by the law' - where the law stands for a
police officer, 'Wales' for 'the Welsh national rugby team' or 'the market'
for customers); 
species for genus (hypernymy) - the use of a member of a class (hyponym) for
the class (superordinate) which includes it (e.g. a mother for motherhood,
'bread' for 'food', 'Hoover' for 'vacuum-cleaner'); 
genus for species (hyponymy) - the use of a superordinate for a hyponym
(e.g. 'vehicle' for 'car', or 'machine' for 'computer'). 

Any attempt to represent reality can be seen as involving synecdoche, since
it can only 
involve selection (and yet such selections serve to guide us in envisaging
larger frameworks). 
Whilst indexical relations in general reflect the closest link which a
signifier can be 
seen as having with a signified, the part/whole relations of synecdoche
reflect the most 
direct link of all. 


Len
http://www.mp3.com/LenBullard

Ekam sat.h, Vipraah bahudhaa vadanti.
Daamyata. Datta. Dayadhvam.h


-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Jelliffe [mailto:ricko@allette.com.au]

Is it "metathesis" where a part is substitution for the whole (like "sail"
being used for ship)?  It is just a normal part of English. So we cannot
expect people won't use XML for the whole thing. That confusion between
poetical use and the specific use cannot be banished.