From nobody@digitalkingdom.org Thu Jun 16 12:44:41 2005 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:44:41 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nobody by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.50) id 1Dj0Hx-00059p-07 for lojban-list-real@lojban.org; Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:44:33 -0700 Received: from web81306.mail.yahoo.com ([206.190.37.81]) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with smtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Dj0Ht-00059h-FT for lojban-list@lojban.org; Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:44:32 -0700 Received: (qmail 9325 invoked by uid 60001); 16 Jun 2005 19:44:28 -0000 Message-ID: <20050616194428.9323.qmail@web81306.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [65.69.50.91] by web81306.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:44:28 PDT Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 12:44:28 -0700 (PDT) From: John E Clifford Subject: [lojban] Re: Again {xorlo} and Wiki. To: lojban-list@lojban.org In-Reply-To: <925d175605061609023d2f80f2@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Spam-Score: -2.6 (--) X-archive-position: 10189 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: clifford-j@sbcglobal.net Precedence: bulk Reply-to: lojban-list@lojban.org X-list: lojban-list --- Jorge Llambías wrote: > On 6/16/05, John E Clifford > wrote: > > --- Jorge Llambías > wrote: > > > I don't think {pa lo cribe} contains any > > > implicit "in the world", > > > but it certainly differs from {lo pa > cribe}. > > > For example: > > > > In the universe then? (using "universe" in > the > > technical sense?) > > I prefer "universe of discourse". "Universe" by > itself > usually ends up being interpreted as the > physical > universe. What I meant, of course, but I get tired of typing "of discourse" throughout these discussions. I am trying to save "world" for now for the augmented physical world: physical plus all the abstract things that Lojban admits of at some basic level. > > I think that this expression > > ought not be true if there are no bears in > > whatever is the relevant domain. > > I don't think it is possible to talk about > bears and > at the same time keep them outside of the > relevant > domain. If you mention bears, then > automatically > there are bears in the relevant domain, i.e. > there are > bears in the discourse. Even to say {no cribe > cu nenri > le vi kumfa} "there are no bears in this room" > I have > to bring bears into the discourse. As I have said many times, you can do that, of course, but it is often unnatural and occasionally misleading unless you are sure your interlocutors at least know your rules -- even if they don't follow them. I presume you want to restrict {zasti} to the relevant world (my sense) and let the quantifiers range more widely. I don't agree, of course, that "There are no uncorns in this room" requires that there be unicorns in any sense at all. I was taught early on to distinguish unicorns from "unicorn," the nondistinction which seems to underlie your preference.