Return-Path: Received: by marob.masa.com (/\=-/\ Smail3.1.18.1 #18.7) id ; Thu, 31 May 90 23:09 EDT Received: by wetblu.hollander.com (/\=-/\ Smail3.1.16.1 #16.12) id ; Thu, 31 May 90 21:42 EDT Received: from cbmvax.UUCP by uunet.uu.net (5.61/1.14) with UUCP id AA16578; Thu, 31 May 90 09:57:27 -0400 Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore Jan 13 1990) id AA06563; Thu, 31 May 90 07:05:28 EDT Received: by snark.uu.net (smail2.3) id AA16626; 31 May 90 06:17:49 EDT (Thu) Received: from [129.139.68.9] by uunet.uu.net (5.61/1.14) with SMTP id AA20269; Tue, 29 May 90 19:15:35 -0400 Date: Tue, 29 May 90 11:56:40 EDT From: "Arthur W. Protin Jr." (GC-ACCURATE) To: snark.uu.NET!lojban-list Subject: Re: feature check Message-Id: <9005291156.aa07426@COR4.PICA.ARMY.MIL> Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Thu May 31 23:09:04 1990 X-From-Space-Address: wetblu!uunet!PICA.ARMY.MIL!protin Folks, I received this reply from 'lojbab'. There are two obvious and significant differences between your two examples. (The Lojban, by the way is, ba barda nanmu and ba nanmu barda ) First difference: In the first example, the place structure of the bridi is that of 'nanmu' In the second, the place structure is that of 'barda'. Thus you are claiming something different about what 'da' is. Further, if there were any other places specified (and they are all implicitly present even though you left them out), they would be defined as places of the last element of the tanru. Second difference: Actually closely related to the first, is what you are claiming. In English the first is "Something x is a biggish man.". The second says "Something x is a mannish big thing." You can much more easily imagine a basketball player being referred to by the first sentence. The second sentence, at least in the ellipsized form, seems to be talking about something 'big' on a more arbitrary and universal scale, which is incidentally like a adult male human being is some way. Remember that tanru modification is NOT unambiguous though, and there are place structure fill-ins that could be made for ellipsized places that could render the two almost identical. But the final position is the determining one.