Received: from access1.digex.net by nfs1.digex.net with SMTP id AA00549 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Tue, 2 Aug 1994 05:14:33 -0400 Received: by access1.digex.net id AA06518 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for lojbab); Tue, 2 Aug 1994 05:14:30 -0400 Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 05:14:30 -0400 From: Logical Language Group Message-Id: <199408020914.AA06518@access1.digex.net> To: veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI Subject: Re: TECH: Comparisons Cc: lojbab@access.digex.net, lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Tue Aug 2 05:14:37 1994 X-From-Space-Address: lojbab Your comments on comparison are quite astute, especially when talking from a pure Lojbanic perspective. The choices that are commonly made in comparisons, are, however, generally based on the native language version. If I am translating "I like A more than B" into Lojban, then the form I choose ideally should be your ii or iii since there is little implicature tyhat I like B at all. Only context will indicate whether I like A at all. Another option besides your suggestions, to blend the two forms is mi nelci ti(XX) nesemau ta (XX) where XX is an attitudinal indicating preference (the a'u scale, .oinai scale, .ui scale and .iu scale among others could apply -or we might just use the scalar ranging from "cai" to "naicai" and be non-specific). Since most Lojban thus far is translated from other languages, the forms chosen will tend to be more mechanical translations of what is said and its possibly unknown implicatures. Lojbanists writing fresh stuff in Lojban may indeed want to use more 'logical' forms that express what they really mean.