My best intuition as to the difference is (forgive the Has= kell programmer in me) whether the meanings are parametrically polymorphic = or ad-hoc polymorphic. If the possible meanings of a word are semantically = unrelated (the first example that popped into my head was "blazer"= ; =3D "one who blazes" or "light jacket"), then a word = is clearly polysemous, but if the penumbras are so intense that a native sp= eaker would be surprised and confused if the word is used to refer to somet= hing outside one of them, that seems similar in practice to the polysemy.

On Wed, Jan 2= , 2013 at 3:09 PM, Michael Turniansky <mturniansky@gmail.com> wrote:

=A0 Your lojban is fine (al= though I'd use the simpler "pamei" for "singleton")= . =A0But I guess what I am curious about is your distinction between the tw= o terms. =A0It seems to me that you asserting that the difference is that o= ne has a central meaning that is in use in many cases, whereas the other al= ways refers to the non-central meanings. I'm not sure that is any kind = of distinction that makes sense in lojban. =A0But every word in lojban has = penumbras of meaning. =A0For example, if I talk of a bolci, am I referring = to golf ball or a basketball? =A0Does it matter? =A0In truth, I don't t= hink there can ever be such a thing as a "precise" meaning to a w= ord in any language, because all language is are a way of classifying the u= niverse/ideas. =A0You can draw boundaries as small as you like to say what&= #39;s inside one group as oppososed to oustside, but you can always draw ot= her boundaries tighter or more relaxed.

=A0 =A0 =A0So, bottom line is "don't worry too much= about it"

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0My two cent= s,=A0
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0--gejyspa

On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 2:45 PM, .arpis. <rpglover64+jbobau@gmai= l.com> wrote:

= I've been wondering about this for a while (and may have asked before, = but I don't recall being answered): where is the border between the two= , and how does lojban address it?

{mi pu ze'a pensi la'e di'e (to ji'a ju'o cu'i mi p= u te preti .i ku'i na morji lo du'u dafsku toi) .i fi ma sepli fa l= o za'e sorsmu [to'i zo'oi polysemy toi] lo za'e smug= ri [to'i zo'oi clustering toi] .ije ma la'e di'u dan= fu ci'e la .lojban.}

(Incidentally to my question, I would appreciate = input on my lojban.)

I will illustrate with an example: t= he word "singleton" can mean "a set with exactly one element= ", "a single entity which makes all decisions", "an obj= ect (in the CS sense) which is only instantiated once", or "a typ= e which has only one value"; I observe that all of these senses are sp= ecial cases of the first (sometimes implicitly {se}-ed), but when I hear th= e word, I know that it refers to one of those and not, for example, "t= he only person who sleeps in a particular bed".

Obviously, part of this is context, but it feels to me like = there's a difference between the context of the conversation and the co= ntext of the society. It would feel silly and facetious for me to say (pret= ending for a moment that {selte'i} is an adequate translation of "= singleton") {mi selte'i lo ka sipna ti noi ckana}, even if it'= s technically true.

Uncommon words seem to take on a clustered, though not quite= polysemous, definition: "It means this in the most general case, but = it probably is being used for one of these more specific cases."

Anyone have any thoughts? Apologies for any incoh= erence... it sounded better in my head.

--
mu'o mi'e .arpis.

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