Message-Id: <m0rCghw-00007FC@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Tue, 29 Nov 1994 23:30:29 EST
Reply-To:     bob@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU
Sender:       Lojban list <LOJBAN%CUVMB.bitnet@FINHUTC.hut.fi>
From:         bob@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU
Subject:      Re: veridicality in grammar
To:           Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Content-Length: 1327
Lines: 29

Here is a better English parallel to the use of {le} and {lo} in an
`effortless', `well formed' manner.  Perhaps David Bowen can live with
this.

A family is driving home one evening.  Little George says, "We will go
home."  Mother corrects him: "We are going home."

You could call George's utterance an inappropriate use of a
grammatically correct form.  You might say the same about {mi pu ze'i
viska le mlatu}rather than {mi pu ze'i viska lo mlatu}, if the cat is
for real.

The point I am trying to make is that people do use the appropriate
grammatical forms *effortlessly*.  In normal circumstances, they did
not insert the wrong tense in a sentence unless they make an effort
(as I just did).  In normal circumstances, they do not insert the
wrong tense in a sentence.  Nonetheless, people have a hard time
figuring out how to categorize other things.

In English, categorizing as to `what I designate', and `what is real'
is a non-grammatical and difficult task; by hypothesis, in Lojban,
categorizing as to {le} and {lo} is as easy as selecting the
appropriate tense in English.

Perhaps it will be hard to select the right tense in Lojban?

    Robert J. Chassell               bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu
    25 Rattlesnake Mountain Road     bob@grackle.stockbridge.ma.us
    Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA   (413) 298-4725