A Semiotic Analysis of If we are holding hands, whose hand am I holding?

Abstract

This paper presents a system which asserts understanding of complex utterances by semiotic analysis. The question in the title was chosen because: it enquires about a conceptual state of affairs, referring to in two ways; and reaches an answer by subtracting I from we to get the unspoken you. The system introduces concepts, that about which we can speak, defined by repertoires in natural language, including phrasal analysis patterns. The repertoire conceptualization grounds it on a state of affairs against which reasoning can be performed. On matching an utterance, associated intentions are internally vocalized; thus, concepts are informed by more specific concepts. The repertoire conceptualism allows hypothetical states of affairs to be constructed, such as in the title question.