This article is part of a series of books recovered from the Tower of Ur
Linguistic Precision is the metric by which the precision of a statement may be measured. Linguistic precision is a unitless quantity and applies to expressed language (communicative) as well as conceived language (cognitive).
The factors which influence the level of linguistic precision carried by a statement are the following:
In other words, statements which are short, contain much information, and cannot be misinterpreted are said to have higher linguistic precision. Something which contains exactly as much information as it possibly could with zero extraneous elements and zero possible alternative meanings would have a theoretical score of 1.
The maximum possible amount of linguistic precision which is possible with an English statement is the following:
“I exist.”
This statement is as short as possible, containing a single subject and a single verb.
The statement also has no alternate interpretations. Only one thing can be 'I', and 'exist' can likewise only mean one thing.
However, the amount of information expressed is rather low. The statement 'I exist' contains almost zero information. This statement is always true regardless of circumstance. For an entity to read it and comprehend its meaning, it must first exist.
Therefore, this statement has a score of 0.5. The factors are multiplicative. If all three factors were 0.5, the result would be a score of 0.125. With this in mind, 0.5 is a relatively high score.
This precision score is a direct factor in the effectivity of magic. If the statement were cast as a spell, hypothetically, the baseline effectiveness would already be halved. As this is the highest possible precision of plain speech, magic must be comprised of constructed languages designed to achieve higher levels of precision for greatest efficiency.
Magic which is cast using expressed language includes media such as scrolls, incantations, or spellbooks. Magic cast using conceived language includes spells cast silently, using a non-linguistic spell focus (such as a crystal or staff), or those case using a movement.