Return-Path: Received: from SEGATE.SUNET.SE by xiron.pc.helsinki.fi with smtp (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #1) id m0tI1VL-0000ZUC; Wed, 22 Nov 95 00:49 EET Message-Id: Received: from listmail.sunet.se by SEGATE.SUNET.SE (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.0a) with SMTP id 75DF0269 ; Tue, 21 Nov 1995 23:49:28 +0100 Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1995 17:47:16 -0500 Reply-To: Jorge Llambias Sender: Lojban list From: Jorge Llambias Subject: Re: scalar truth X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu, jorge@minerva.phyast.pitt.edu To: Veijo Vilva Content-Length: 1506 Lines: 47 la lojbab cusku di'e > >Good. So we ask for NA CAI and NAhE CAI, and something in NA that means > >"sort of; intermediate between complete truth and complete falsity"? > > Except that CAI is part of indicator space (and has seen significant use > as standalone indicators, I might add - Lojban "sai" has crept into my > regular English usage %^), as well as my Lojban). I would be very > reluctant to make any more of indicator space than NAI serve double duty > in the regular grammar, or you start constraining the use of indicators. That's not a problem. {naru'e} (=almost) is a real {na}. {ru'e} simply adds the indication that it is very close to the border of not being {na}, but it doesn't say that it isn't. > >but in any case, I think UI is the right place for the answers to {xu}. > > UI is the right place to answer "je'upei" or ".iapei". Yes, that too. > xu is a discursive that asks for a truth CLAIM. Right. It means "true?". One way of answering is by making a claim. Another is by saying "je'u". xu do klama le zarci Is it true that you go to the store? go'i I do. je'u It's true. Both answers seem good to me. > If the judge in court > asks "xu", your truth claim can be evaluated as truth or lie. "je'u+ > indicator is not much in the way of a truth claim. Are judges really so recalcitrant? What if you have to answer an insidious question, are you not allowed to say "not quite", "not exactly", "in a sense", etc? Jorge