From lojban-out@lojban.org Tue Jul 11 13:50:40 2006 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojban-out@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (qmail 28036 invoked from network); 11 Jul 2006 20:29:25 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.166) by m30.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 11 Jul 2006 20:29:25 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO chain.digitalkingdom.org) (64.81.49.134) by mta5.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 11 Jul 2006 20:29:25 -0000 Received: from lojban-out by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1G0Or3-0000lh-QM for lojban@yahoogroups.com; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:29:13 -0700 Received: from chain.digitalkingdom.org ([64.81.49.134]) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1G0Oqc-0000ko-CS; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:47 -0700 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nobody by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1G0OqB-0000kL-Uo for lojban-list-real@lojban.org; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:20 -0700 Received: from py-out-1112.google.com ([64.233.166.181]) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.62) (envelope-from ) id 1G0OqB-0000kC-3O for lojban-list@lojban.org; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:19 -0700 Received: by py-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id d42so3970815pyd for ; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:17 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.35.103.12 with SMTP id f12mr7124935pym; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:17 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.35.39.7 with HTTP; Tue, 11 Jul 2006 13:28:16 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:28:16 -0600 In-Reply-To: <20060711202019.94622.qmail@web56411.mail.re3.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <20060711202019.94622.qmail@web56411.mail.re3.yahoo.com> X-Spam-Score: -2.4 (--) X-archive-position: 12112 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: maxim.katcharov@gmail.com X-list: lojban-list X-Spam-Score: -2.4 (--) To: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Originating-IP: 64.81.49.134 X-eGroups-Msg-Info: 1:0:0:0 X-eGroups-From: "Maxim Katcharov" From: "Maxim Katcharov" Reply-To: maxim.katcharov@gmail.com Subject: [lojban] Re: A (rather long) discussion of {all} X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=116389790; y=msWeUCJG56Jve3CnkAbOsq-nS2THRBpmuJ8LlXebsNt_tX3rsQ X-Yahoo-Profile: lojban_out X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 26539 On 7/11/06, Nathaniel Krause wrote: > > > Maxim Katcharov wrote: > When I first started > learning Lojban, I found the translation of English plurals strange. > {su'o re la gerku} seemed like an unintuitive and deficient > translation of "the dogs" - is that really the only reason we have > plurals? was the distinction between numerical 1 and all those numbers > greater than 1 - was this distinction by itself important enough to > have such a great effect on language? I didn't think much of it at the > time, but looking back now I find that this corresponds to my > position. It is my understanding that the large difference between 1 > and >1 stems from how our minds treat single entities vs single > entities composed of many entities. > "su'o re la gerku" is about as good a translation of "the dogs" as anything > you'd find in Chinese. That is, it's certainly possible to have a > functioning language that ignores the difference between 1 and >1. > I don't suggest that a language would not function without plurals, but that it's odd that the line was drawn between 1 and 2. Without an explanation for this, one would think that there are languages out there that have a pervasive plural that makes itself known between 2 and 3, for example. > Interestingly, Chinese does have a plural, but it can only be used to > describe people. > Elaborate? To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to lojban-list-request@lojban.org with the subject unsubscribe, or go to http://www.lojban.org/lsg2/, or if you're really stuck, send mail to secretary@lojban.org for help.