From @uga.cc.uga.edu:lojban@cuvmb.bitnet Wed May 31 00:00:53 1995 Received: from punt2.demon.co.uk by stryx.demon.co.uk with SMTP id AA3194 ; Wed, 31 May 95 00:00:48 BST Received: from punt2.demon.co.uk via puntmail for ia@stryx.demon.co.uk; Tue, 30 May 95 19:16:18 GMT Received: from uga.cc.uga.edu by punt2.demon.co.uk id aa00893; 30 May 95 20:15 +0100 Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU by uga.cc.uga.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 9622; Tue, 30 May 95 15:12:08 EDT Received: from UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@UGA) by UGA.CC.UGA.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 6559; Tue, 30 May 1995 14:37:25 -0400 Date: Tue, 30 May 1995 14:40:39 EDT Reply-To: jorge@phyast.pitt.edu Sender: Lojban list From: jorge@phyast.pitt.edu Subject: Re: quantifiers on sumti - late response X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: Iain Alexander Message-ID: <9505302015.aa00893@punt2.demon.co.uk> Status: R la djan cusku di'e > An inner quantifier with a lo-series descriptor (lo, loi, lo'i, lo'e) > is an incidental comment on the size of the (veridical) set. So saying > "lo'i su'o tanxe" is the same as "lo'i ro tanxe", given that at least > one box exists. > > It's only in the le-series (and the la-series, which follows the same > semantic rules) that inner quantifiers do in-mind subselection. I think even for the le-series the inner quantifier is always equivalent to {ro}. {re le mu tanxe} is "two of the five boxes I have in mind". Five is all of them, so "five" doesn't make any subselection. (Unless you consider it a subselection from all boxes, but I don't think that's how it works, even ignoring the veridicality issue.) The default {su'o} is necessary only because the outside default is {ro}. If the inside was left as {ro} as well, then you could use {le broda} to mean "nothing", (each of the broda from the zero I have in mind), which would be very bad and confusing. But even that default inner {su'o} is equivalent to {ro}. The outside quantifier selects from all of those that I have in mind, which are at least one. Jorge