Date: Thu, 11 Dec 1997 12:55:20 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199712111755.MAA24282@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Robin Turner Sender: Lojban list From: Robin Turner Subject: Re: whether X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 848 X-From-Space-Date: Thu Dec 11 12:55:37 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU "She knew whether he was hungry." Is this really Standard English? I have never heard "whether" used like this, though I suppose it might be common in the U.S. Us Brits would just say "She knew he was hungry." As for whether (!) questions with "whether" are one question or two, I'd plump for one, ceteris paribus. "Does that jar contain tea or coffee?" normally has the presupposition "the jar contains tea EOR coffee." Context and phonology make a difference, though. If the high tone is on "tea", then the preupposition holds, but if it's on the first syllable of "coffee", the jar could contain anything or nothing. Similarly, "Would you like tea or coffee?" with the second intonation pattern allows the response "No, thanks." Robin Turner Bilkent Universitesi, IDMYO, Ankara, Turkey.