What type of natural or formal languages? Natural language

Historically, the formation of language took place in various forms, different languages ​​created various groups, cultural characteristics of different structural components languages ​​have been preserved to this day.

All languages ​​are usually divided into 2 large groups:natural and artificial languages.

Natural languages ​​arose in the conditions of human development in various natural-geographical and socio-historical conditions. Being one of the main ethnic characteristics ( general territory residence, language, culture, mentality), natural language became a means of integration of people in the early stages of the formation of human society. With complication social life and the settlement of people across vast areas of the globe, linguistic differences arose, which led to the formation of many national languages. Currently on globe There are approximately 5,000 languages ​​spoken in just over 200 countries.

Historical features of the formation of natural languages ​​have led to the fact that the same language
consider the peoples living in different countries and even on different continents, for example, the British, Americans and Australians. Russian is the native language for many people born during Soviet Union in national republics. Their number includes Belarusians, Ukrainians, and representatives of various ethnic groups of vast Russia, etc.
In natural languages ​​there are various shapes. The main ones are:

1 dialects, including social dialects,
2 professional speech,
3 vernacular,
4 literary language.

Dialect is a language consisting of local names of objects and phenomena of everyday life, verbal designations of everyday actions, simple concepts known to every person from birth. Different ethnic groups, and even people belonging to the same ethnic and national entity can speak different dialects. In addition to differences in conceptual structure, dialects are often built on different phonetic bases (the same letters and syllables are pronounced differently). Each locality may have its own dialect.

Dialects are not part of the literary national language, since they are not used everywhere, but only in certain territory. Under the influence of changing living conditions and the spread of linguistic literacy cultivated by the media, dialect words are gradually falling out of use. Some are replaced by the words of the literary language, others are forgotten as the phenomena and objects denoted by them disappear from everyday life.

Social dialects is the language of various social groups, which, for various reasons, in certain socio-historical conditions, can act as the creators and bearers of a separate subculture. This subculture can take shape in various linguistic forms. The main difference between social dialects and other forms of language is either the use of special words to denote phenomena known only to that social group, for example, the language of criminals, thieves “Fenya”; or in changing the meaning of ordinary words, for example, “laces” - parents in youth slang; in the use of ordinary words in a modified context, for example, in the language of the aristocracy “dinner party, dinner”, etc. are interpreted not as an invitation to a meal, but with the word “specific” (person, man, guy), new Russians (like new Belarusians) call a person who corresponds to their image of a business and successful person.

A type of social dialect is professional language. Its main difference from natural language is that it is the language of a separate socio-professional group, the specialized activities of which are associated with the need to use special terms to designate specific phenomena and objects included in this professional activity.

Depending on the linguistic conditions in which a specific professional activity, terminology may develop, which in this case is borrowed. Thus, in the Russian language of sociologists, geneticists, cyberneticists and in general those associated with computer science, there are a lot of foreign language terms, mostly in English, because in the former Soviet space these sciences for a long time were banned. And classical medicine traditionally operates with terminology in Latin - already dead- language.

Professional language is the means of existence of professional culture. And if it is sometimes deliberately complicated in order to distance professionals from the “uninitiated,” then this may be evidence of not very high level professional culture. In the modern “knowledge society”, development is carried out not only by increasing the educational, “knowledge” level of all members of civil society, but also by bringing the scientific professional knowledge base closer to every active member of society, which is also achieved through the openness of professional knowledge in their linguistic design.

Vernacular- this is a special form of natural language, which is characteristic of people who do not know the norms of the literary language. Vernacular speech differs from both the literary language and the dialect. It has a number of typical features in the field of vocabulary, morphology, phonetics, and syntax. For example: words such as “always”, “from there”, “opposite”, “theirs”, etc. are forms of vernacular. Their use in everyday speech is sometimes ironic, sometimes used in literature to express the sociocultural characteristics of a character, sometimes they are used by politicians to get closer to their electorate, who speak the vernacular. However, in general, vernacular is the language of people who are not entirely familiar with the standard language, for various reasons. Nowadays, vernacular language is actively being replaced by literary language. However, some of its features are very tenacious.

Unlike dialects, which are characterized by territorial fixation, vernacular speech is extraterritorial. It does not have its own strictly defined norms, which is why it differs from both the literary language and dialects.

Literary language- the language of official business documents, education, science, journalism, fiction, all manifestations of culture expressed in verbal form. The study of a literary language is closely related to the study of literature, the history of language, and the history of the culture of the people. It is one of the most effective tools of enlightenment, touching upon the objectives of education.

The main feature of the national literary language is its normativity. Language norm - this is a central concept in defining the national literary language in both its written and spoken form, it means the way it is customary to speak and write in a given society in a given era. Language norms are formed objectively in the process of centuries-old language practice of cultural people. Norms are historically fluid, but they change slowly. If there were no norms, the literary language could not exist. Literary speech would be mixed with streams of dialect speech and vernacular, losing its normative functions.

Constructed languages ​​- These are special formalized languages, constructed according to a specific plan for specific purposes, for example, shorthand, Morse code, computer languages.

World (international) languages- the most common languages ​​spoken by representatives different nations outside the territories inhabited by people to whom they are originally native. These are languages ​​accepted as working languages ​​of the UN and other international organizations. Today these include: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese. The leading place belongs to English language, native to 350 million people, which is studied in almost all countries of the world.

There are auxiliary international languages, for example Esperanto - an artificial language created in 1887 with the aim of simplifying communication between people speaking different languages. Esperanto got its name from the pseudonym of its creator: Esperanto means “hopeful.”

Natural language- in linguistics and philosophy of language, a language used for human communication (as opposed to formal languages ​​and other types of sign systems, also called languages ​​in semiotics) and not artificially created (as opposed to artificial languages).

The vocabulary and grammatical rules of natural language are determined by the practice of use and are not always formally recorded.

Natural Language Features

Natural language as a system of signs

Currently, consistency is considered the most important characteristic of a language. The semiotic essence of natural language consists in establishing a correspondence between the universe of meanings and the universe of sounds.

Based on the nature of the plane of expression In its oral form, human language belongs to the auditory sign systems, and in its written form – to the visual.

By type of genesis natural language is classified as a cultural system, thus it is contrasted with both natural and artificial sign systems. Human language as a sign system is characterized by a combination of features of both natural and artificial sign systems.

Natural language system refers to multi-level systems, because consists of qualitatively different elements - phonemes, morphemes, words, sentences, the relationships between which are complex and multifaceted.

Regarding the structural complexity of natural language, language is called the most complex of sign systems.

By structural basis also distinguish deterministic And probabilistic semiotic systems. Natural language belongs to probabilistic systems in which the order of elements is not rigid, but is probabilistic in nature.

Semiotic systems are also divided into dynamic, moving and static, stationary. Elements of dynamic systems change their position relative to each other, while the state of elements in static systems is motionless and stable. Natural language is classified as a dynamic system, although it also contains static features.

Another structural characteristic of sign systems is their completeness. A complete system can be defined as a system with signs representing all theoretically possible combinations of a certain length from the elements of a given set. Accordingly, an incomplete system can be characterized as a system with a certain degree of redundancy, in which not all possible combinations of given elements are used to express signs. Natural language is an incomplete system with a high degree of redundancy.

The differences between sign systems in their ability to change make it possible to classify them into open and closed systems. Open systems in the process of their functioning can include new signs and are characterized by higher adaptability compared to closed systems that are not capable of change. The ability to change is inherent in human language.

According to V.V. Nalimov, natural language occupies a middle position between “soft” and “hard” systems. Soft systems include ambiguously coding and ambiguously interpreted sign systems, for example, the language of music, while hard systems include the language of scientific symbols.

Main function of language - constructing judgments, the possibility of determining the meaning of active reactions, organizing concepts that represent some symmetrical forms that organize the space of relations of “communicators”: [source not specified 1041 days]

communicative:

stating(for a neutral statement of fact),

interrogative(for a fact request),

appellative(to encourage action),

expressive(to express the mood and emotions of the speaker),

contact-making(to create and maintain contact between interlocutors);

metalinguistic(for interpretation of linguistic facts);

aesthetic(for aesthetic impact);

function of indicator of belonging to a certain group of people(nation, nationality, profession);

informational;

educational;

emotional.

Constructed languages - special languages, which, unlike natural ones, are designed purposefully. There are already more than a thousand such languages, and more and more are constantly being created.

Classification

Distinguish the following types artificial languages:

Programming languages ​​and computer languages- languages ​​for automatic processing of information using a computer.

Information languages- languages ​​used in various information processing systems.

Formalized languages ​​of science- languages ​​intended for symbolic notation scientific facts and theories of mathematics, logic, chemistry and other sciences.

Languages ​​of non-existent peoples created for fictional or entertainment purposes, for example: the Elvish language invented by J. Tolkien, the Klingon language invented by Marc Okrand for the science fiction series Star Trek (see Fictional languages), the Na'vi language created for the film Avatar.

International auxiliary languages- languages ​​created from elements of natural languages ​​and offered as an auxiliary means of interethnic communication.

The idea of ​​​​creating a new language of international communication arose in the 17th-18th centuries as a result of the gradual decrease in the international role of Latin. Initially, these were predominantly projects of a rational language, freed from the logical errors of living languages ​​and based on the logical classification of concepts. Later, projects based on models and materials from living languages ​​appear. The first such project was the universalglot, published in 1868 in Paris by Jean Pirro. Pirro's project, which anticipated many details of later projects, went unnoticed by the public.

Next project international language became Volapuk, created in 1880 by the German linguist I. Schleyer. It caused quite a stir in society.

The most famous artificial language was Esperanto (L. Zamenhof, 1887) - the only artificial language that became widespread and united quite a lot of supporters of an international language.

The most famous artificial languages ​​are:

basic english

Esperanto

interlingua

Latin-blue-flexione

occidental

solresol

Klingon language

Elvish languages

There are also languages ​​that were specifically developed to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence. For example - Linkos.

By purpose of creation artificial languages ​​can be divided into the following groups:

Philosophical and logical languages- languages ​​that have a clear logical structure of word formation and syntax: Lojban, Tokipona, Ifkuil, Ilaksh.

Supporting languages- intended for practical communication: Esperanto, Interlingua, Slovio, Slovyanski.

Artistic or aesthetic languages- created for creative and aesthetic pleasure: Quenya.

Language is also created to set up an experiment, for example, to test the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (that the language a person speaks limits consciousness, drives it into a certain framework).

By its structure Artificial language projects can be divided into the following groups:

A priori languages- based on logical or empirical classifications of concepts: loglan, lojban, rho, solresol, ifkuil, ilaksh.

A posteriori languages- languages ​​built primarily on the basis of international vocabulary: Interlingua, Occidental

Mixed languages- words and word formation are partly borrowed from non-artificial languages, partly created on the basis of artificially invented words and word-formation elements: Volapuk, Ido, Esperanto, Neo.

The number of speakers of artificial languages ​​can only be estimated approximately, due to the fact that there is no systematic record of speakers.

According to the degree of practical use artificial languages ​​are divided into projects that have become widespread: Ido, Interlingua, Esperanto. Languages ​​like national languages, are called “socialized”; among artificial ones they are united under the term planned languages. An intermediate position is occupied by artificial language projects that have a certain number of supporters, for example, Loglan (and its descendant Lojban), Slovio and others. Most artificial languages ​​have a single speaker - the author of the language (for this reason it is more correct to call them “linguistic projects” rather than languages).

Hierarchy of communication goals

Language functions

Basic functions:

Cognitive(cognitive) function consists in the accumulation of knowledge, its ordering, systematization.

Communicative the function is to ensure interaction between the sender of a verbal message and its recipient.

Private language features

Contact making (phatic)

Impacts (voluntary)

Reference- a function associated with the subject of thought with which a given linguistic expression is correlated.

Estimated

Emotive (emotionally expressive)

Rechargeable- the property of language to accumulate, accumulate people’s knowledge. Subsequently, this knowledge is perceived by descendants.

Metalinguistic

Aesthetic- The ability of language to be a means of exploration and description in terms of the language itself.

Ritual etc.

This question can be asked different people and get completely unexpected answers. But it’s unlikely that anyone will immediately talk about natural and formal languages. Definitions and examples of such systems rarely come to mind when asked this question. And yet - what kind of classification is this? And what then is considered a language?

About the history of languages ​​and their study

The main science that studies communication systems is linguistics. There is also a related specialty that studies signs - semiotics. Both sciences originated several thousand years ago, so the history of the origin of languages ​​has obviously interested people for a very long time.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that a lot of time has passed since the birth of the first systems, it is now difficult to say how everything happened. There are a lot of hypotheses that speak both about the development of language from more primitive communication systems, and about its almost accidental emergence as a unique phenomenon. Of course, the first option has many more adherents and is practically generally accepted.

Much the same debate exists about why there are so many languages ​​today. Some believe that they all originated from one system, while others insist on development from several independent foci. But in this case we are talking only about natural languages, examples of which are familiar to everyone. They are used for human communication. But there are others that are different from them. And then the question arises “what is considered a language.”

Essence

When communicating with each other, not many people think about what a language is, what can be classified in this category and what cannot. The point is that there are still sign systems, partially performing the same functions, and the differences are very conditional. Therefore, the question arises about what is the essence of language.

There are several concepts on this topic. Some linguists view language as a biological phenomenon, others as a mental one. Another popular view is that it belongs to the field of interest of sociologists. Finally, there are also researchers who perceive it only as special system signs. Be that as it may, it is obvious that in this case we are referring only to natural languages. Examples of concepts that would also include a formal category do not yet exist; linguistics actually ignores them.

Tasks and functions

What are languages ​​for? Linguists identify a number of basic functions:

• Nominative, that is, nominative. Language is used to name various objects, events, phenomena, etc.
• Communicative, that is, the function of communication. This is understood as fulfilling the purpose of transmitting information.
• Expressive. That is, language also serves to express emotional state speaker.

It is obvious that in this case, again, both categories are not taken into account: natural and formal languages ​​- we're talking about only about the first one. However, the second one also retains two functions; only the expressive one is lost. And this is understandable if you know what a formal language is.

Classification

In general, linguistics distinguishes between two categories: formal and natural languages. Further division occurs according to a number of other characteristics. Sometimes a third category is distinguished - animal languages, since natural languages ​​are usually understood only as systems with the help of which people communicate. There is further division into smaller groups and subspecies, but it is not necessary to go so deep into linguistics to understand the difference between these two large categories.

So, you need to find out how natural and formal languages ​​differ. The definition and examples can be understood by looking at them in more detail.

Natural

Systems that allow people to understand each other when communicating, that is, those that perform a communicative function, belong specifically to this category. Now it’s hard to imagine how it would be possible to do without them.

• natural languages, examples of which include all adverbs that arose and developed in the most ordinary way (English, German, Russian, Chinese, Urdu, etc.);
• artificial (Esperanto, Interlingua, Elvish, Klingon, etc.);
• sign (language of the deaf).

They all have their own characteristics and areas of application. But there is another large category for which most people have difficulty finding examples.

Formal

Languages ​​that require clarity in recording and cannot be perceived subjectively also appeared a very long time ago. They are distinguished by impeccable logic and unambiguity. And they are also different. But they all have two basic principles: abstraction and rigor of judgment.

Natural and formal languages ​​differ primarily in their complexity. Most systems from the first category are a multi-component and multi-level complex. Examples of the latter can be both complex and quite simple. It has its own grammar, punctuation and even word formation. The only serious difference is that these systems exist, as a rule, only in written form.

Which ones may include the “queen of sciences” mathematics, followed by chemistry, physics and partly biology. No matter what nationality the scientists are, they will always understand the formulas and records of reactions. And for mathematics it is absolutely not important what this or that number means: the number of apples on a tree or molecules in a gram of a substance. Just as when calculating the friction force, physicists do not take into account the color of the object or any other unimportant factors. at the moment properties. This is how abstraction manifests itself.

With the advent of electronics, the issue of communication between a person and a machine, which understands only zeros and ones, has become extremely relevant. Since human adoption of this system would be too inconvenient and would make the work too difficult, it was decided to create intermediate communication systems. This is how programming languages ​​appeared. Of course, they also need to be taught, but they have greatly facilitated the understanding between people and electronics. Unfortunately, polysemous, although more familiar, natural languages ​​are not at all suitable for implementing this function.

Examples

Again, there is simply no point in talking about natural languages; linguistics has been studying them for a very long time and has made quite a lot of progress in this. At the same time, researchers avoid the category of formal. Only recently, when they became very relevant, did the first scientific works based on them, theories and clear examples. Formal languages ​​are created artificially and are usually international character. They can be either highly specialized or understandable to everyone, or at least to the majority.

Perhaps the simplest example is musical notation. There is an alphabet, punctuation rules, etc. It really is a language, although from some points of view it can only be equated to sign systems.

Of course, this also includes the already mentioned mathematics, the rules of recording in which are extremely strict. Everything can also be conditionally classified into this category. Finally, there are programming languages. And it’s probably worth talking about them in more detail.

Usage

What pushes forward the development and study of formal languages ​​is, of course, technological progress. Computer systems, electronic devices - today almost every thing is a computer in miniature. And if they only understand, then people usually perceive only natural languages. Examples in various ways and attempts to find some kind of compromise ended with the idea of ​​​​creating an intermediate communication system. Over time, quite a lot of them appeared. So today programming is actually from computer to human and vice versa.

But people continue to use natural ones, examples of which show that too loose rules of grammar and syntax make it seriously difficult for computers to interpret statements. It is unlikely that linguistic evolution will reach a serious tightening. So one of the most promising areas is natural language understanding systems. They will allow machines to process queries that are written without special rules. The first step towards this technology was probably search engines. They are still developing now, so perhaps the future is already near.

Esperanto is the most widely spoken artificial language in the world. Now, according to various sources, from several hundred thousand to a million people speak it. It was invented by the Czech oculist Lazar (Ludwig) Markovich Zamenhof in 1887 and got its name from the pseudonym of the author (Lazar signed his name in the textbook as Esperanto - “hopeful”).

Like other artificial languages ​​(more precisely, most of them) it has an easy-to-learn grammar. The alphabet has 28 letters (23 consonants, 5 vowels), and is based on Latin. Some enthusiasts have even nicknamed it “the Latin of the new millennium.”

Most Esperanto words are composed of Romance and Germanic roots: roots are borrowed from French, English, German and Italian languages. There are also many international words in the language that are understandable without translation. 29 words are borrowed from Russian, among them the word “borscht”.

Harry Harrison spoke Esperanto and actively promoted this language in his novels. Thus, in the “World of the Steel Rat” series, the inhabitants of the Galaxy speak mainly Esperanto. About 250 newspapers and magazines are published in Esperanto, and four radio stations broadcast.

Interlingua (occidental)

Appeared in 1922 in Europe thanks to the linguist Edgar de Wall. In many ways it is similar to Esperanto: it has many borrowings from Romano-Germanic languages ​​and the same system of language construction as in them. The original name of the language - Occidental - became an obstacle to its spread after World War II. In the countries of the communist bloc it was believed that after the pro-Western language, anti-revolutionary ideas would creep in. Then Occidental began to be called Interlingua.

Volapyuk

In 1879, God appeared to the author of the language, priest Johann Martin Schleyer, in a dream and ordered him to invent and write down own language, which Schleyer immediately took up. All night he wrote down his grammar, the meanings of words, sentences, and then entire poems. The basis of Volapuk became German, Schleyer boldly deformed the words of English and French, reshaping them to new way. In Volapük, for some reason, he decided to abandon the [r] sound. More precisely, not even for some reason, but for a very specific one: it seemed to him that this sound would cause difficulties for the Chinese who decided to learn Volapuk.

At first, the language became quite popular due to its simplicity. It published 25 magazines, wrote 316 textbooks in 25 languages, and operated 283 clubs. For one person, Volapuk even became his native language - this is the daughter of Volapuk professor Henry Conn (unfortunately, nothing is known about her life).

Gradually, interest in the language began to decline, but in 1931 a group of Volapükists led by the scientist Ari de Jong carried out a reform of the language, and for some time its popularity increased again. But then the Nazis came to power and banned everything in Europe foreign languages. Today there are only two to three dozen people in the world who speak Volapuk. However, Wikipedia has a section written in Volapuk.

Loglan

Linguist John Cook coined log ical lan guage in 1955 as an alternative to conventional, non-ideal languages. And suddenly a language that was created mostly for scientific research, has found its fans. Of course! After all, it does not contain such concepts as tense for verbs or number for nouns. It is assumed that this is already clear to the interlocutors from the context of the conversation. But the language has a lot of interjections, with the help of which it is supposed to express shades of emotions. There are about twenty of them, and they represent a spectrum of feelings from love to hate. And they sound like this: eew! (love), yay! (surprise), wow! (happiness), etc. There are also no commas or other punctuation marks. A miracle, not a language!

Ro

Developed by Ohio minister Edward Foster. Immediately after its appearance, the language became very popular: in the first years, even two newspapers were published, manuals and dictionaries were published. Foster managed to receive a grant from the Association of International auxiliary language. Main feature language ro: words were built according to a categorical scheme. For example, red - bofoc, yellow - bofof, orange - bofod. The disadvantage of this system is that it is almost impossible to distinguish words by ear. This is probably why the language did not arouse much interest among the public.

Solresol

Appeared in 1817. The creator, Frenchman Jean Francois Sudre, believed that everything in the world can be explained with the help of notes. Language, in fact, consists of them. It has a total of 2660 words: 7 one-syllables, 49 two-syllables, 336 three-syllables and 2268 four-syllables. To denote opposite concepts, mirroring of the word is used: falla - good, lyafa - bad.

Solresol had several scripts. It was possible to communicate on it by writing down notes on a stave, the names of notes, the first seven digits of Arabic writing, the first letters of the Latin alphabet, special shorthand symbols and the colors of the rainbow. Accordingly, it was possible to communicate in Solresol not only by pronouncing words, but also by playing musical instrument or singing, as well as in the language of the deaf and dumb.

The language has found a lot of fans, including among famous people. Famous followers of Solresol were, for example, Victor Hugo, Alexander Humboldt, Lamartine.

Question 11. An information model that has a tabular structure is:

Answer 2. flight schedule;
Answer 3. family tree families;
Answer 4. functional diagram of a computer.

Question 12. An information model that has a network structure is:
Answer 1. computer file system;
Answer 2. family tree;
Answer 3. model of the Internet computer network;
Answer 4. train schedule.

Question 13. Full-scale modeling is:
Answer 1. creating mathematical formulas that describe the form or behavior of the original object;
Answer 2. modeling, in which a separate feature of the original object is recognized in the model;
Answer 3. a set of data containing text information about the original object;
Answer 4. modeling, in which the model has a visual similarity to the original object

Question 14. The following cannot be considered an information model of an object:
Answer 1. description of the original object using mathematical formulas;
Answer 2. description of the original object in natural or formal language;
Answer 3. another object that is not reflective essential features and properties of the original object;
Answer 4. a set of formulas written in the language of mathematics that describe the behavior of the original object.

Question 15. A mathematical model of an object is:
Answer 1. a set of formulas written in the language of mathematics that reflect the properties of an object;
Answer 2. description in the form of a diagram internal structure the object being studied;
Answer 3. a set of data containing information about quantitative characteristics;
Answer 4. a model created from any material that accurately reflects external signs object.

Question 16. In the “object-model” relationship there are
Answer 1. a country is its capital;
Answer 2. bolt - drawing of a bolt;
Answer 3. chicken - chickens;
Answer 4. spacecraft - the law of universal gravitation.

Question 17. Documents that represent an information model of government management include:
Answer 1. The Constitution of the Russian Federation;
Answer 2. geographical map Russia;
Answer 3. Russian dictionary of political terms;
Answer 4. list of State Duma deputies.

Question 18. To information models describing the organization educational process at school can include:
Answer 1. cool magazine;
Answer 2. list of visuals teaching aids;
Answer 3. list of school students;
Answer 4. lesson schedule.

Question 19. Mark the true statement:
Answer 1. direct observation is the storage of information;
Answer 2. The request to information systems is the protection of information;
Answer 3. building a graphical model of a phenomenon is the transfer of information;
Answer 4. Reading reference books is a search for information.

Question 20. Drawings, maps, drawings, diagrams, diagrams, graphs represent:
Answer 1. tabular information models;
Answer 2. mathematical models;
Answer 3. graphical information models;
Answer 4: hierarchical information models

What is the essence of the alphabetical approach to measuring information?

How to determine the information volume of a message represented by symbols of some natural or formal language?
An information message with a volume of 650 bits consists of 130 characters. What is the information weight of each character of this message?

PLEASE HELP ME MAKE A PLAN FOR THIS PARAGRAPH! § 2.2. Information models The original object can be replaced by a set of its properties: names (values)

and meanings. A set of properties containing all necessary information about the objects and processes under study is called an information model.
In table 2.1 shows an example of an information model of a country house - a card from the catalog according to which the customer construction company can choose a suitable project. Each card in the catalog contains the names (values) of house properties (on the left) and the values ​​of these properties (on the right).

Table 2.1

Appearance
Length 10 m
Width 8 m
Number of floors 1
Wall material Brick
Wall thickness 0.6 m
Interior wall decoration Board
Roof material Slate

All property names in information models are always symbolic elements, because the name can only be expressed by signs. But the values ​​of quantities can carry both symbolic and figurative information. For example, in table. 2.1, the value of the quantity “appearance” is expressed by a figurative element (drawing), and the values ​​of the remaining quantities are expressed using signs (numbers, words, commas).
The figurative element of the information model can be not only a drawing or photograph, but also a three-dimensional layout or video recording. However, it must be possible to connect this element with the characteristics of a specific object. For example, the “Exterior” line in a house catalog may contain a layout code. And in order for the layouts themselves to be elements of the information model, and not decoration, they need to be provided with labels with codes.
Information models represent objects and processes in figurative or symbolic form. According to the method of presentation, the following types of information models are distinguished - Fig. 2.1.

Types of information models

Figurative Mixed Iconic
models models models

Maps Graphs Flowcharts

Figurative models (drawings, photographs, etc.) are visual images of objects recorded on some information medium (paper, photo and film, etc.).
Specialists receive a lot of information from satellite photographs of the Earth’s surface (Fig. 2.2)

Rice. 2.2 Satellite photograph of the territory in the Black Sea region<

Figurative information models are widely used in education (illustrations in textbooks (Fig. 2.3), educational posters in various subjects) and sciences, where classification of objects according to their external features is required (in botany, biology, paleontology, etc.).

Rice. 2.3 Formation of the Roman legion in three lines

Sign information models are built using various languages ​​(sign systems). A signed information model can be presented in the form of a text in natural language or a program in a programming language, a formula (for example, the area of ​​a rectangle S = ab), etc.
Many models combine figurative and iconic elements. In Fig. Figure 2.4 shows an example of a model of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas. The drawn parts of the seaweed are figurative elements of this model, and the inscriptions below and to the right of the drawing are symbolic elements. Rice. 2.4

Examples of mixed information models include geographic maps, graphs, diagrams, etc. All of these models use both graphic elements and symbolic language at the same time.

i Briefly about the main thing
The original object can be replaced by a set of its properties: their names and values. A set of properties containing all the necessary information about the objects and processes under study is called an information model.
Information models represent objects and processes in figurative or symbolic form. According to the method of presentation, figurative, symbolic and mixed information models are distinguished.