A Game of Pinoy Henyo

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necessarily distributed among all the members of a concept. Simply put, in the game of Pinoy Henyo, the extension is the term being described by the intensions – the unknown word. The intensions are those that are used to distinguish the extension to make it easier to narrow down on the word or in other words, the categories and questions asked by the guesser.

Proper intension of concepts is an important part in being able to guess the correct word. It would also help to provide more specific intensions that can really narrow down on the possible choices of the succeeding questions. In this way, the guesser will have a better grasp on the idea he is guessing at. Throughout the duration of the game, there were some words that proved somewhat harder to describe and categorize. Due to the fact that some words are purely imaginary, narrowing down on such words will prove to be difficult because it exists outside the norm (at least in Metro Manila). There were also those that weren’t considered a common word by some people due to differences in culture and growing environment. An example of both during the game was the word aswang. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word aswang simply means a witch or an evil spirit. For Filipinos and their folklore, and now also a common trend in local horror movies, the aswang is a shape-shifting monster that can take the form of humans, dogs and other wild beasts. Clearly, between the two, the latter provided a more detailed description using characteristics that are unique to the concept or known only to a few compared to saying that an aswang is simply an evil spirit; a description that can also be used by a wider range of concepts such as poltergeists, demons and such.

Several problems, however, may arise due to poorly described definitions and intension of concepts. Some definitions can cause the guesser to go in circles such as by defining using synonyms. Inappropriate definitions will also not be really helpful in narrowing down the possibilities. Some intensions, although should be helpful in narrowing down the possible extensions, sometimes are not fully used because of the ambiguity of the term or the lack of knowledge to make use of such intensions. For example, in guessing provinces in the Philippines, the most common trick used by students is categorizing it as a province found in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao. The problem with this, however, is that inclusion to any of the three major divisions will not be of significant help without familiarity to the regions and provinces found in each.

Differences in personal standards of what may and what may not be part of an intension of a word may also pose a problem when defining it. This can cause a discord upon choosing whether to respond with a yes or no. Another is the inclusion of words that bear ample resemblance to the description provided that leads the guesser to think that related concepts to such descriptions will sufficiently categorize the unknown word thus making the guesser stray away from the original word.

In a sense, the game Pinoy Henyo is a guessing game that employs precising definitions. Guessers are tasked to categorize and narrow down on the unknown word by enumerating possible and hopefully unique characteristics of each word; the only difference is that they are supposed to work their way up to the term rather than simply defining it.

REFERENCES

Acuña, A. (2004). Extension and Intension of Concepts. Philosophical Analysis. (pp. 29-31). Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.

Aswang. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2016, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aswang [accessed April 24, 2016]

Bulan, C. & De Leon, I. (n.d.). Nonverbal Communication The Potent Hidden Language. Comm 3 Practical Speech Fundamentals.