Thursday, June 11, 2015

The difference between "although" and "but"

Still trying to bring home the proto semantic bacon:

"X but Y" is notated as:
X+Y, [X::Y*]*
 (i.e. X did not cause the exclusion of Y).

"X although Y" is notated as
X+Y, [Y::X*]*
(i.e. Y did not cause the exclusion of X).

Update: Hence "although" and "but" are forms of double negative. 
Update2: You might wonder then: "what is the purpose of "but" and "although". They prepare the listener for a contrast.
Update3: In the algebra that sits over proto semantics, we could write [X::Y*]* => [X::Y].

1 comment:

  1. I am VERY pleased with this result. I have struggled with the meaning of "but" since I was misinformed about it in a BU symbolic logic course.

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