speaking from experience, there hv been many cases where im trying to explain smth to someone and i hv to "group" words to make its meaning clear (dw if this doesnt make sense yet, i'll get to it), and i also do this a lot mentally when i process text. and whenever i hv to "group" things, i'll always use the notion of parentheses (like, the mathematical notion to group terms, not like the brackets ur seeing rn) and it always helps lol. so like, with that in mind, how about we just literally introduced parentheses in linguistics? obv this is just theoretical but idk i'd like to know if others think it's necessary that it's worth implementing, or if there are any drawbacks to it :P ### (1) the need for parentheses the thing is, it's honestly kinda hard to think abt scenarios where this is necessary at the top of my head, so i'll def edit this post when i can think of more scenarios, but for now here are some cases where it could have use (click the dropdowns):

and + or

when i was in primary school, i rmbr in bm class, we learnt smth like "awak makan dengan sudu atau garpu?" (i dont rmbr if it was bina ayat or wut but yea), and i rmbr thinking like... "well, i could answer "sudu", but isn't "yes" also a valid answer?" so yea that's my first example... 1: do you eat with a (fork) or (spoon)? 2: do you eat with a (fork or spoon)? see how the parentheses change the meaning of the question? "or" is very confusing in that sense. this isnt an issue in mandarin tho where 还是 (or) is typically used for questions like "A or B?" in which a valid ans would be "A", while 或者 (also or) is typically used for statements when indicating options like "u can have coffee or tea". japanese has smth like this too i think, but i don't believe the distinction between the 2 "or"s is a feature of most languages?? so yea. and similarly, "and" is confusing as well. now keep in mind that at this point, i hvnt figured out the best way to parenthesise stuff... but here are some examples i can think of and how parentheses make a distinction in their meanings, i think the use of parentheses are somewhat understandable: 1: i like (small dogs) and (cats) 2: i like small (dogs and cats) sentence 2 has a "distributive" property like in math!! 1: (all students) and (teachers) were present 2: all (students and teachers) were present again, the "distributive" property in sentence 2 indicates all students and all teachers were present... while in sentence 1, it's not necessarily implied that all teachers were present 1: i'll (send the files) and (call u tmr) 2: i'll (send the files and call u) tmr sentence 1 doesn't necessarily imply that the files will be sent tmr, while sentence 2 does 1: u shd (not litter) and (recycle) 2: u shd not (litter and recycle) 1: i didnt eat (rice) and (chicken) 2: i didnt eat (rice and chicken)

descriptors

descriptors can get hella confusing omg. i'll just jump straight into examples: 1: she saw (the boy at the mall) 2: she saw the boy (at the mall) in sentence 1, she saw the boy who she presumably has seen/met before at the mall, while in sentence 2, the mall is the location where she saw the boy. pls tell me that makes sense and that im not crazy LMAO 1: she spoke to (the man on the phone) 2: she spoke to the man (on the phone) 1: she didnt call her friend (bcs she was sad) 2: she didnt (call her friend bcs she was sad) agh im so sorry i literally cant think of good examples now :(

ah well those are just some simple sentences i can think of that demonstrate how parentheses can clarify its meaning, so yea in these cases they might not seem that relevant, but there are definitely sentences (especially if more complex) that would greatly benefit from grouping stuff ### (2) the possibility of implementation so does this notation rlly seem reasonable to adopt? i mean, first of all, is it really necessary? NOW, obvsly in many cases, ambiguity can be overcome with better phrasing, but i still think parentheses shd be an option for eliminating ambiguity in writing. and on top of that, i actually think grouping terms is a pretty natural thing to do (or is it just me that mentally does that when i process text?), so it's natural to introduce this grouping system?? IDK. also, small issue to address, but how will we distinguish between the current/traditional bracket notation we have, vs this new parenthesis concept, u ask? simple, we can just evolve backwards and swap out all our current round brackets with the first brackets used in english i.e. angle brackets i.e. ⟨ ⟩, while parentheses for grouping can use the round brackets i.e. ( ) to match with the notation in math. well anyway back to the bigger picture... realistically, if it were to be implemented, i don't expect it to be used that often in writing, but i think the mere fact it exists is nice, and can actually aid writing in many cases. not just when ambiguity is involved!! but even in grouping phrases simply to make reading/understanding easier. cuz like i said, i thinkkk (?) grouping words when reading text is natural, so why not just introduce it in writing, even if it doesnt hv to be used all the time IDK HAJDHSAJ i guess that's all i hv to say for now and im def interested in hearing other ppl's opinions on this so do share if u hv any thoughts heh. i get that it seems unnecessary but i think i'd totally use it HAHAHAH. but mybe there are drawbacks i hvnt thought of yet idk. also, to my knowledge (and aft a brief internet surf), i dont think this concept/notation of grouping things exists BUT CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG CUZ I'D LOVE LOVEE TO HEAR ABOUT IT IF ONE ALREADY EXISTSS ---

thoughts (2)

tag: thoughts

polymathy vs monomathy

proposal: parentheses in linguistics?