From cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN Wed Jun 10 13:07:04 1992 Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Wed, 10 Jun 92 13:07 EDT Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA10282; Wed, 10 Jun 92 12:30:39 EDT Received: from pucc.Princeton.EDU by relay2.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA27541; Wed, 10 Jun 92 11:38:35 -0400 Message-Id: <9206101538.AA27541@relay2.UU.NET> Received: from PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU by pucc.Princeton.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 8082; Wed, 10 Jun 92 11:34:50 EDT Received: by PUCC (Mailer R2.08 ptf024) id 0160; Wed, 10 Jun 92 11:32:34 EDT Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1992 10:05:16 EDT Reply-To: John Cowan Sender: Lojban list From: John Cowan Subject: Re: More Wind from the North X-To: Lojban List To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann In-Reply-To: <9206091955.AA00531@relay1.UU.NET>; from "Mark E. Shoulson" at Jun 9, 92 3:33 pm Status: RO X-Status: la mark. clsn. cusku di'e > We have "kau" to flag "the point of interest" in a du'u abstraction used > with {djuno} or the like (loosely speaking). But what should we attach it > to, for indefinite situations? Any cmavo belonging to the correct selma'o will do. Thus: > {mi djuno ledu'u do co'ekau} and > {mi djuno ledu'u do mokau} mean (by intention) exactly the same thing: "I know what you are/do". Indeed, even: mi djuno ledu'u do cmavokau presumably means the same thing yet again; the normal meaning of the selbri is totally disconnected. Yes, it's a kludge. > Trouble is, in this situation, we're dealing with a connective, and I don't > think there *is* an indefinite connective. There isn't. > So Nick used "jikau". And Ivan > doesn't like it. And I'm none too keen on it myself. > > Would slapping an indefinite-connective cmavo on the barbie help? Maybe, > but it seems like a band-aid. As Nick (?) said, the trouble comes from > trying to cram 2nd-order logic into a 1st-order logical language. Can > anything be done? If you can think of what would be better than this "-kau" business altogether, that would do the trick. Does anybody know of a language where indirect questions are >not< expressed with question words? They are in English, German, French, Esperanto, and Chinese, for sure.... -- cowan@snark.thyrsus.com ...!uunet!cbmvax!snark!cowan e'osai ko sarji la lojban