Return-Path: <@FINHUTC.HUT.FI:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET> Received: from FINHUTC.hut.fi by xiron.pc.helsinki.fi with smtp (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #1) id m0rCZoU-00007FC; Tue, 29 Nov 94 23:10 EET Message-Id: Received: from FINHUTC.HUT.FI by FINHUTC.hut.fi (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 8231; Tue, 29 Nov 94 23:10:27 EET Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin MAILER@SEARN) by FINHUTC.HUT.FI (LMail V1.1d/1.7f) with BSMTP id 8228; Tue, 29 Nov 1994 23:10:27 +0200 Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin LISTSERV@SEARN) by SEARN.SUNET.SE (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 6493; Tue, 29 Nov 1994 22:07:10 +0100 Date: Tue, 29 Nov 1994 11:31:39 -0500 Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: Re: small universe consequences To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu In-Reply-To: <199411232052.AA05732@nfs2.digex.net> from "ucleaar" at Nov 23, 94 08:39:22 pm Content-Length: 1290 Lines: 28 la .and. cusku di'e > My understanding is that "zohe" is an existentially quantified variable > which is specified only as being an instance of a maximally unrestricted > category - that is, the sentence "gerku" means "zohe gerku zohe" which > means "Ex Ey: x a dog of species y". No, that is "da gerku de". "zo'e" is not necessarily existentially quantified; its quantification has to be glorked from context. > But "zohe" doesn't make the bridi true: what makes it true is the > existence of some x and some y such that x is a dog and y is its species. That is the most probable interpretation, I suppose; but not the only possible one. In plain fact, sentences with explicit or implicit "zo'e" can't be logically transformed with perfect reliability: one must employ the context to provide explicit values for the "zo'e"s. > I would call my version of it a grammar rule. The rule of zohe insertion, > and its semantics, are rules of grammar. There has been a tendency in the Loglan Project to use "grammar rule" to mean only "one of the PS rules which define the language's surface structure." I believe this tendency is at the root of the misunderstanding. -- John Cowan sharing account for now e'osai ko sarji la lojban.