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Date:         Wed, 7 Dec 1994 14:02:41 EST
Reply-To: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>
Subject:      Plural
X-To:         lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
To: Bob LeChevalier <lojbab@access.digex.net>
Status: RO
X-From-Space-Date: Wed Dec  7 17:17:47 1994
X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu

Ok, let me rephrase what I'm trying to say.

English forces us to distinguish between singular and plural.

Lojban forces us to distinguish between individual and group.

These two distinctions are not equivalent, but there is a high
correlation between them. All I'm saying is that when translating
something from English, you practically never need to use "su'ore"
to get the same meaning you get from English. When in English you
use the distributive plural, it is usually marked by something else
than the final s, like an explicit quantifier, in which case the
same thing is done in Lojban. When in English you only have the
noun in the plural, and there is no other indication of plurality
in the phrase, then it usually refers to the mass plural.

This is just my observation from the little experience I've had
in translating into Lojban. I don't think I ever felt the need
to use "su'ore", so I don't think its relative clumsiness is a
problem.

Jorge