Return-Path: Received: from SEGATE.SUNET.SE by xiron.pc.helsinki.fi with smtp (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #1) id m0tK7EG-0000ZUC; Mon, 27 Nov 95 19:20 EET Message-Id: Received: from listmail.sunet.se by SEGATE.SUNET.SE (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.0a) with SMTP id 80143FE4 ; Mon, 27 Nov 1995 18:20:31 +0100 Date: Mon, 27 Nov 1995 11:31:44 -0500 Reply-To: John Cowan Sender: Lojban list From: John Cowan Subject: Re: your mail To: Lojban List In-Reply-To: <199511241607.LAA27131@locke.ccil.org> from "Peter L. Schuerman" at Nov 23, 95 02:21:29 pm Content-Length: 1368 Lines: 28 la stivn. joi la pitr. cusku be di'e casnu > > But Peter still fails to set an independent, nonsubjective criteria for > > distinguishing hills from mountains or heaps from nonheaps. Peter seems to > > be using the same approach Ed Meese used to define pornography, "I know it > > when I see it." Surely language, even natlangs, can accomplish more than > > that! > > It is certainly possible to define terms and concepts. It's just that > words like baldness and tallness are *already* defined. And those > definitions are true-false terms, which don't involve counting hairs or > measuring inches of height. You are either tall or not-tall. Ahem. This is, people, the Lojban list. There is no Lojban gismu for "tall"; the job is divided between "condi" (deep) and "clani" (long), each of which has a place for "by standard". (Why "deep"? Because depth and height are both vertical size, but one is measured from the top, the other from the bottom; cf. Latin "altus mons" 'high mountain' vs. "altus mare" 'deep sea'.) So when you say "John is long" or "John is deep" in Lojban, you IMPLICITLY are speaking with reference to a standard of length or depth that you may make explicit if you will. "Long" and "deep" are not one-place absolute terms! -- John Cowan cowan@ccil.org e'osai ko sarji la lojban.