Interesting read on {ca'e}; w= here does it come from? I would have thought it belonged to rhetoric, not p= ragmatics; a move to stipulate a meaning for a contentious term in order to= get on to substantive issues. Or to introduce a new term altogether = to develop a novel theory. The "Believe or not, what I am now doing i= s showing intention to do x" reading seems to me not much in keeping with t= he given definition or the whirl of words (admittedly not very coherent) ar= ound the word {ca'e} in other contexts. It also seems strangely propo= sitional (with which you can't do much but make a claim -- your example doe= s seem to be an assertion with {ca'e} calling attention to it).
<= br>I agree that {zukte}, as it stands, does little for intentionally, but, = as you note, that has little to do with intending to do something. I'm not sure (and philosophers as a group aren't either, = never mind individuals with very definite ideas) just what is needed, as, p= erhaps, for a modifier "intentionally" left otherwise undefined.

From: Jorge Llamb=EDas <jjllambias@gmail.com= >
To: lojban@google= groups.com
Sent: Satu= rday, August 11, 2012 5:52 PM
Sub= ject: Re: [lojban] {.au}/{djica}=3D{.ai}/{?}. No gismu for inten= tion

On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 1:13 PM, John E Clifford <kali9putra@yahoo.= com> wrote:
> If some one says {ai mi klama} he is
&g= t; expressing an intention to go and thereby committing himself and those> around him to various things (minimally, that he try to go and that = involves
> certain sorts of preparations, etc.).

Is he really?= I would have said expressing an intention does not
create any commitmen= t, just like expressing pain or happiness doesn't
create any commitment.= It seems to me that expressing an intention
just exposes one's current = mental stance with regards to the taking of
some action. One can later c= hange one's mind for whatever reason and
the prior expression of intenti= on shouldn't be affected. A different
case is the making of a promise, w= hich does get broken if the promised
action is not carried out. If you express an intention to do
something, others can to some extent exp= ect that you will do it, but
if it turns out you don't end up doing it t= hey can't really
recriminate you, can they? They can ask about it but "I= later changed
my mind" is the only explanation you need to give, and by= doing that
you don't make the original expression any less genuine.
=
> Notice, however,
> that, taking {brodu} as "x1 intend= s to do x2 (action)/ does x2
> intentionally" (I'm not actually sure = these are the same, but never mind for
> now),

They are rather= different though: you may intend to do something and
yet never actually= end up doing it, while if you do something
intentionally you obviously = do do it. "Do intentionally" is do +
intend, "intend" is just intend. Th= at's why "zukte" doesn't really
work for intend, which only describes a = mental state.

> if he says {mi brodu le nu mi klama} and did not really intend to go,
> the sentence is false, even if he did= in fact go.

Right, intention is about the mental stance towards the= action, not
about carrying it out.

> We want to be able to> describe what someone is doing when he says {ai}, but there is no
= > description that does what {ai} does.

At least no claim or asse= rtion can do it, but you can use a
proposition for other purposes than m= aking claims. "ca'e" is supposed
to mark a sentence as a performative (d= espite its gloss), so if you
say "ca'e mi jarco lo nu mi brodu lo nu kla= ma"; "I hereby express my
intention to go", you are thereby expressing a= n intention to go. So
".ai" could be taken as an abreviated form of "ca'= e mi jarco lo nu mi
brodu". Similarly for other attitudinals, "ui" is si= milar to "ca'e mi
jarco lo nu mi gleki", "I hereby display my happiness"= , and so on.
(The wordy form doesn't quite have the same practical effect though.)

mu'o mi'e xorxes

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