The Controlled Natural Language of Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer

TL;DR

Randall Munroe's 'Thing Explainer' popularized a controlled natural language using only the 1,000 most common English words, making complex topics accessible through simplified language and illustrations.

Contribution

This paper analyzes 'Thing Explainer' as a novel case of controlled natural language, examining its language rules and word distributions from a scientific perspective.

Findings

Analysis of word production rules in 'Thing Explainer'

Distribution patterns of words used in the book

Contextual placement of 'Thing Explainer' within CNL research

Abstract

It is rare that texts or entire books written in a Controlled Natural Language (CNL) become very popular, but exactly this has happened with a book that has been published last year. Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer uses only the 1'000 most often used words of the English language together with drawn pictures to explain complicated things such as nuclear reactors, jet engines, the solar system, and dishwashers. This restricted language is a very interesting new case for the CNL community. I describe here its place in the context of existing approaches on Controlled Natural Languages, and I provide a first analysis from a scientific perspective, covering the word production rules and word distributions.