Date: Sun, 4 Dec 1994 16:13:41 -0500
From: Logical Language Group <lojbab>
Message-Id: <199412042113.AA26097@access4.digex.net>
Subject: Re: From LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu Sat Dec  3 11:36:31 1994 Re: modals (was:  cmavo hit-list)
Cc: lojbab@access.digex.net, lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
Status: RO
X-From-Space-Date: Sun Dec  4 16:13:50 1994
X-From-Space-Address: lojbab

>...
>ka'u  I know culturally
>pe'i  I opine (suppose?)
>ru'a  I postulate (includes theorize?)
>su'a  I generlize
>ti'e  I hear
>za'a  I obsreve
>
>In the course of trying to translate some passages of a grade-school level
>science book (in an attempt to get my science-mad 5th-grade nephew
>interested in Lojban)  I ran into the need for at least one more model
>of this type, one that says "I know on authority" or "from a trusted source".
>In some cases ka'u will work (like when talking about religion) and ti'e
>is much too weak.  When talking about things that are known from expermintal
>evidence, you can't really use za'a unless you personally did the experiment,
>or if a logical proof exists, you really can't use ja'o unless you yourself
>have done or verified the proof.
>
>In addition how do you attribute a supposed modal to someone other then
>yourself?

In most cases, knowledge by authority is ti'e (hearsay).  If you cannot
attribute a specific source, it is ka'u.  To actually express that a 
statement is based on an authority, use the BAI elements du'o or cu'u
which allow you to specify the authority.

lojbab