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Date:         Fri, 9 Dec 1994 18:42:44 EST
Reply-To: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: plural
To:         lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
Status: RO

> > How do you say "the men carried the piano" in Lojban WITHOUT making
> > the individual/group distinction?
>
> I don't think you can avoid making this distinction. BUT "lei nanmu
> carried the piano" can have a distributive interpretation, since the
> mass inherits all properties of its members.

If {lei nanmu pu bevri le pipno} can have the distributive interpretation,
then there is no way to clearly express the group interpretation.

Let's be a bit more concrete: {lei nanmu pu paroi bevri le pipno} claims
that the piano was carried only once. How do you get a distributive
interpretation from that?

Jorge