Return-Path: Resent-From: cbmvax!uunet!PICA.ARMY.MIL!protin Resent-Message-Id: <9106181634.AA18103@relay1.UU.NET> 26 May 90 20:53 EDT Message-Id: From: John Cowan Subject: "John seeks a bike or a fish" To: lojban-list@snark Date: Fri, 25 May 90 11:23:07 EDT X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.2 PL16] Resent-Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 10:28:38 EDT Resent-To: John Cowan Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Tue Jun 18 15:48:59 1991 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!PICA.ARMY.MIL!protin I posted this article to the Usenet group sci.lang, and am forwarding it to the list. In message <3320@ruuinf.cs.ruu.nl>, jagversm@praxis.cs.ruu.nl (Koen Versmissen) asks: >What are the possible readings of the sentence >>John seeks a bike or a fish< in natural language? > >Technically there are, I think, eight readings: >"to seek" being an intensional verb, both "bike" and "fish" >can be either intensional or extensional. Furthermore, the >disjunction can apply to either the speaker or John. As an exercise and to show off Lojban, I have translated the 8 paraphrases below into 8 different Lojban sentences. For the non-Lojbanists in sci.lang, Lojban is a constructed human language, designed to be culturally neutral, based on the principles of predicate logic, with an unambiguous (LALR(n)) grammar.For more information, contact Bob LeChevalier . >Let me paraphrase: > >1. There are a bike and a fish, and John is trying to find > one of these (he doesn't care which one). la djan. cu sisku lo relxi'uma'e .a lo finpe The-one-called John seeks an-existing bicycle (lit., two-wheel-vehicle) or an-existing fish. >2. There are a bike and a fish, and John is trying to find > one of these (but I don't know which of the two he's > actually looking for). la djan. cu sisku lo relxi'uma'e bu'a sisku lo finpe The-one-called John (seeks an-existing bicycle) or (seeks an-existing fish). >3. There is a bike, and John is trying to find either this > bike or a (possibly non-existent) fish (he doesn't care...) la djan. cu sisku lo relxi'uma'e .a le finpe The-one-called John seeks an-existing bicycle or the-thing-I-describe-as-a fish (which may or may not be a fish, or even exist). >4. There is a bike, and John is trying to find either this > bike or some fish (but I don't know...). la djan. cu sisku lo relxi'uma'e bu'a sisku le finpe The-one-called John (seeks an-existing bicycle) or (seeks the-thing-I-describe- as-a-fish (which may or may not be a fish, or even exist)). >5. & 6. Similar to 3. & 4., but with the roles of "bike" and > "fish" interchanged. la djan. cu sisku le relxi'uma'e .a lo finpe la djan. cu sisku le rexi'uma'e bu'a siske lo finpe >7. John is looking for a (possibly non-existent) bike or a > (possibly non-existent) fish, and will be satisfied when > he has found either one. la djan. cu sisku le relxi'uma'e .onai le finpe The-one-called John seeks what-I-describe-as-a bicycle exclusive-or what-I- describe-as a fish. >8. John is looking for a bike or a fish, both possibly non- > existent, but I don't know which one he's looking for. la djan. cu sisku le relxi'uma'e bu'onai sisku le finpe The-one-called John (seeks what-I-describe-as-a bicycle) exclusive-or (seeks what-I-describe-as-a fish). A discussion on the articles "le" and "lo": In Lojban, a distinction is made between veridical and non-veridical description. A veridical description claims that the thing described actually exists and meets the description: "lo finpe" describes something that actually is a fish (or the speaker is lying). The phrase "le finpe", on the other hand, makes no such claim: it is enough if the hearer understands what the speaker is referring to. (The article "la", used in "la djan.", indicates that what follows is a name rather than a description of any sort.) "lo" and "le" roughly correspond to the English indefinite and definite articles in many (but not all) uses. "The man is wearing pants" can be true even if the referent of "the man" is not a man at all (he might be a woman, a frog prince, or something else altogether). "A man is wearing pants" presumably is true if and only if there exists some man who is wearing pants. So these sentences translate into Lojban as "le nanmu cu darsi lo palku" and "lo nanmu cu darsi lo palku" respectively. Note that number is not an obligatory grammatical category in Lojban, nor is tense, so the sentences above, while idiomatic, are tenseless and numberless: a more rigidly exact translation of (1) would be: la djan. ca sisku pa lo relxi'uma'e .a pa lo finpe The-one-called John now seeks one existing bicycle or one existing fish. -- cowan@marob.masa.com (aka ...!hombre!marob!cowan) e'osai ko sarji la lojban