From jjllambias@xxxxxxx.xxxx Sun Dec 19 12:56:35 1999
X-Digest-Num: 315
Message-ID: <44114.315.1740.959273825@eGroups.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 1999 12:56:35 PST
From: "Jorge Llambias" <jjllambias@xxxxxxx.xxxx
Subject: RE: More about questions and the like (was:What I have for dinner...")

la and cusku di'e

> ... a cognitively-relevant candidate, namely (i) a mass consisting
> of one bottle of milk such that all bottles of milk in the fridge
> belong to this mass, (ii) a mass consisting of two bottles of milk
> such that all bottles of milk in the fridge belong to this mass,
> (iii) ... (mmmmmmmcccccc) a mass consisting of 453 eggs ...
>
>My slightly but not very tentative conclusion, then, is that the
>solution to the problem you raise is an instance of the general
>phenomenon whereby most universal quantifications need some (implicit
>or explicit) restriction to relevant candidates.

I agree there is always a restriction to relevant candidates,
but I don't think that helps us here. The facts of the situation
are:

(1) la djan djuno le du'u da poi ladru bopti zo'u
da nenri le lekmi'i
John knows that for some x which is a bottle of milk,
x is in the fridge.

(2) la djan djuno le du'u da poi ladru bopti zo'u
da na nenri le lekmi'i
John knows that for some x which is a bottle of milk,
x is not in the fridge.

We cannot conclude from (1) that:

(3) da poi ladru botpi zo'u la djan djuno le du'u
da nenri le lekmi'i
For some x which is a bottle of milk, John knows that
x is in the fridge.

no matter how much we restrict x. You cannot find the referent
for which John knows that fact because there is no bottle of
milk for which John knows _it_ is in the fridge. Your restriction
to cognitively-relevant candidates would seem to require
quantification over references like "a bottle of milk" rather
than over the relevant referents of "a bottle of milk".
In other words, from the choices "a bottle of milk", "two bottles
of milk", ..., "453 eggs", etc, John can tell us which is
the answer to "What is in the fridge?", but those answers
are not themselves in the fridge. Are you quantifying over
the answers or over objects that could be in the fridge?

co'o mi'e xorxes