Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 12:00:39 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199801211700.MAA28332@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Rick Nylander Sender: Lojban list From: Rick Nylander Subject: Re: fuzzy bears X-To: Lojban list To: John Cowan X-UIDL: 8d58aab2c43be5423723cf3979219735 X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 1981 X-From-Space-Date: Wed Jan 21 12:08:53 1998 X-From-Space-Address: - Jorge to Rick to And: >>>This means that only 4/7 of a bear exists: all beardom amounts to >>>no more than 4/7 of an individual bear. >> >>I don't recall a conclusion to the "universe of discourse" discussion >>(it may have just drifted away). Would this mean *all* of beardom, or >>just all of beardom within the universe of discourse? > >What would be the difference? There are no bears outside the universe >of discourse. If you mention them then they are within the universe. Zo'o I think I know which side of that debate _you_ were on. Perhaps I misunderstood something And said. Within the entire physical/temporal universe, there is more than 4/7's of an individual bear - or so I believe. So does the statement of refer to that entire universe or only to the 4/7 of a bear that I wish to talk to you about (a.k.a. "the universe of discourse")? The refgram says the former in the chapter on sumti. (I'm not necessarily trying to revive that discussion. Just seeking info.) >> What if we are >>talking about half a pie ("I just want half a piece"), or a half dollar >>coin. > >That's an outer quantifier. The inner quantifier is the one that >refers to the total quantity that there is. The outer quantifier is >the one that quantifies in the usual sense. > > mi djica le nu citka pimu lo spisa > "I want to eat half of a piece." > > ta sicni le merko pimu lo rupnu > "That is a coin worth half a dollar." I pretty much understand inner vs. outer quantifiers (I think). I was wondering what if I wanted to say "John has six half-dollars," referring to half-dollar coins. Do we need to step down to multiple short sentences? ta goi ko'a sicni le merko pimu lo rupnu i la djan. ponse xa ko'a or move away from ? la djan ponse xa le pimu merko rupnu sicni (An aside that occurred to me while writing this: do outer quantifiers get absorbed into KOhA assignments?) rik.