From arntrich@stud.ntnu.no Thu Jun 07 05:17:36 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: arntrich@stud.ntnu.no X-Apparently-To: lojban@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_1_3); 7 Jun 2001 12:17:36 -0000 Received: (qmail 30050 invoked from network); 7 Jun 2001 12:17:09 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by m8.onelist.org with QMQP; 7 Jun 2001 12:17:09 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO due.stud.ntnu.no) (129.241.56.71) by mta1 with SMTP; 7 Jun 2001 12:17:08 -0000 Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by due.stud.ntnu.no (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5346317BAC for ; Thu, 7 Jun 2001 14:17:07 +0200 (CEST) Received: from hff103-21 (dhcp-29194.stud.hf.ntnu.no [129.241.29.194]) by due.stud.ntnu.no (Postfix) with SMTP id C29C817AE0 for ; Thu, 7 Jun 2001 14:17:05 +0200 (CEST) Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20010607141524.011361d0@pop.stud.ntnu.no> X-Sender: arntrich@pop.stud.ntnu.no X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.5 (32) Date: Thu, 07 Jun 2001 14:15:24 +0200 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Robin's and Nick's lessons Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-Virus-Scanned: by AMaViS perl-10 From: Arnt Richard Johansen X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 7624 I think that Nick's explanation of potentialities (ka'e, nu'o, pu'i and ca'a) in chapter 12 of the lessons is wrong. While the lessons say that "ka'e" is equivalent to "kakne" and "can", the Grammar (chapter 10) states quite clearly that the meaning of "ka'e" is a sense of potentiality that (to me, at least) seems to be purely Aristotelian. Quoting from the draft: "[la djan. ka'e viska] might be true about a human being named John, even though he has been blind since birth, because the ability to see is innately built into his nature as a human being. It is theoretically possible that conditions might occur that would enable John to see (a great medical discovery)." According to my intuition, both the sentences "la djan. kakne le nu viska" and "John can see" precludes the possibility that John is blind. Perhaps one should reconsider whether covering potentialities in a beginner level course is a good idea after all? -- Arnt Richard Johansen | Hvis du synes *jeg* er apeaktig, skulle http://people.fix.no/arj/ | du sett forfedrene mine! arj@fix.no |