Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 15:17:31 -0500 (EST)
From: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Subject: Re: plural
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To: Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Reply-to: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
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la djan cusku di'e ra'a lu piro lei li'u
 
> The trouble is that under the assumption you want, that properties are not
> inherited from part to whole (with which I agree), an assumed "piro"
> makes it impossible to say "mi pinxe lei djacu" unless you drank every
> single molecule of the in-mind mass.
 
Why impossible? It means that you drank the whole mass of water you have
in mind. Does this imply every single molecule? Does reading a book imply
reading every single word? The "problem" then is with the predicates "drink"
and "read", not with {lei}. The mass properties are not the properties
shared by every component either. A mass of water has the property of
being drank if most of it ends up in your stomach, even if some is spilt
in the process. This has to do with the pragmatics of "drink", not with what
happens to individual molecules of water.
 
Jorge