Received: from uga.cc.uga.edu by nfs1.digex.net with SMTP id AA13999 (5.67b8/IDA-1.5 for ); Fri, 9 Dec 1994 22:05:03 -0500 Message-Id: <199412100305.AA13999@nfs1.digex.net> Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU by uga.cc.uga.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 2710; Fri, 09 Dec 94 22:04:51 EST Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@UGA) by UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 5881; Fri, 9 Dec 1994 19:36:02 -0500 Date: Sat, 10 Dec 1994 00:34:42 +0000 Reply-To: ucleaar Sender: Lojban list From: ucleaar Subject: Re: plural X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: Bob LeChevalier In-Reply-To: (Your message of Fri, 09 Dec 94 18:42:44 EST.) Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Fri Dec 9 22:05:09 1994 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu Jorge: > > > 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. Yes: it was for this very reason that I not long ago suggested stipulating that masses don't inherit all properties from their constituents. But that is not how things are at present. > 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? I can't. What if it was reroi? It could be distributive then, maybe. Suppose we see a mass of people "loi prenu". If we say "loi prenu ku muroi speni koha", are we necessarily describing a polygamous situation where koha jointly married & remarried the mass of people five times? Or could it be that koha married five times, serially monogamously, and that each spouse came from the mass of loi prenu? --- And