Return-Path: Message-Id: <9201211322.AA05293@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Date: Tue, 21 Jan 1992 05:36:16 -0500 Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: tyt. tyt. X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Tue Jan 21 09:43:44 1992 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN I ain't the expert on this, but Cowan just went to bed after our third straight all-nighter. (Enormous amounts of work done, but give me a day or two to recover, and I'll talk more about it.) My quick attempt to answer what I think went by as the "ty" question. If I answered the wrong question, ask again, and probably Cowan will answer and do so more correctly. "ty." by itself is a word which is in selma'o BY and represents the lerfu "t". Grammtically, it can appear as a sumti, in which case it is a variable like "ko'a", but most likely assigned to something that starts with the letter "t" for easy mnemonics. "ty." can also appear as an operand in a mekso, in which case it is a variable or constant "t" representing a number. When you use the number t in a mekso, you can express predicates relating to this value in a variety of ways. ty.moi is 't'th in a sequence (don;t have place structure handy) and ty.mei is a t-some and a couple of others based on selma'o MOI are selbri (the basis of bridi predications) you can also use 't' as a number in "ty. le vo prenu" t of the 4 persons and similar instances. Regarding 't' in mekso, "li ty." is the number represented by t, and "li ty. su'i pa" is the number "t+1". This should be distinguished from the string/expression (the mekso) that represents these numbers "me'o ty." is a string representing the number represented by t, or "t" itself. and me'o ty. su'i pa is the string representing the mekso "t+1". Non-mathemeatically, but metalinguistically, "ty." is of course a WORD itself, it is not the lerfu, which is 't'. "zo ty." then quotes the word "ty." and is a way of reading of that very last quotation in Lojban. The thing represented by "zo ty.", which is the symbol/lerfu "t." can be accessed then by the indirect sumti cmavo "la'e" in LAhE, which acts like a pointer variable and takes the referent of the sumti it marks (a metalinguistic metonymy, as I think Nick would put it). Thus "la'e zo ty." is that represented by the word "ty." or the lerfu "t". The name "tyt." is legal, and is a plausible (but not the only possible) name for the letter "t". You can also make a predicate by "me la ty." x1 pertains to the lerfu "t" in aspect x2 opps typo - that was "me la tyt.", or perhaps "me me'o ty." t anyone? ---- lojbab = Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273 lojbab@grebyn.com