From lojban-out@lojban.org Sun Feb 10 05:53:11 2008 Return-Path: X-Sender: lojban-out@lojban.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Received: (qmail 3750 invoked from network); 10 Feb 2008 13:53:10 -0000 X-Received: from unknown (66.218.67.95) by m43.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 10 Feb 2008 13:53:10 -0000 X-Received: from unknown (HELO mail5.sea5.speakeasy.net) (69.17.117.7) by mta16.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 10 Feb 2008 13:53:10 -0000 X-Received: (qmail 30051 invoked from network); 10 Feb 2008 13:53:10 -0000 X-Received: from chain.digitalkingdom.org ([64.81.66.169]) (envelope-sender ) by mail5.sea5.speakeasy.net (qmail-ldap-1.03) with AES256-SHA encrypted SMTP for ; 10 Feb 2008 13:53:10 -0000 X-Received: from lojban-out by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1JOCcG-00065l-KT for lojban@yahoogroups.com; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:53:09 -0800 X-Received: from chain.digitalkingdom.org ([64.81.66.169]) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1JOCbl-00061c-RJ; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:52:44 -0800 X-Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-list); Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:51:17 -0800 (PST) X-Received: from nobody by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1JOCaS-00061V-BM for lojban-list-real@lojban.org; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:51:16 -0800 X-Received: from fg-out-1718.google.com ([72.14.220.152]) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1JOCaJ-00061G-Va for lojban-list@lojban.org; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:51:16 -0800 X-Received: by fg-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id e12so3391346fga.0 for ; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:51:02 -0800 (PST) X-Received: by 10.86.89.4 with SMTP id m4mr14019848fgb.45.1202651462399; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:51:02 -0800 (PST) X-Received: by 10.86.33.18 with HTTP; Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:51:02 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <925d17560802100551n1e4edeb6n9486aec6438f013f@mail.gmail.com> Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:51:02 -0300 In-Reply-To: <97f5058c0802090838k38beef7arec3e6220db49a91d@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <97f5058c0802090838k38beef7arec3e6220db49a91d@mail.gmail.com> X-Spam-Score: 0.0 X-Spam-Score-Int: 0 X-Spam-Bar: / X-archive-position: 14163 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Errors-to: lojban-list-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: jjllambias@gmail.com X-list: lojban-list X-Spam-Score: 0.0 X-Spam-Score-Int: 0 X-Spam-Bar: / To: lojban@yahoogroups.com X-Originating-IP: 69.17.117.7 X-eGroups-Msg-Info: 1:12:0:0:0 X-eGroups-From: "=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jorge_Llamb=EDas?=" From: "=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jorge_Llamb=EDas?=" Reply-To: jjllambias@gmail.com Subject: [lojban] Re: Potentiality X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=116389790; y=tCBuj58y_I-pOr95Tcdt-AgARn6XAQZOo1QDHdS-kvQKLz954Q X-Yahoo-Profile: lojban_out X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 28647 On Sat, Feb 9, 2008 at 1:38 PM, Penguino wrote: > In English, there is a subtle, and grammatically confusing, distinction > between the sentences "John is a potential student", which means that John > might become a student in the future, and "John is potentially a student", > which means that John might or might not be a student now. > > How is this distinction made in Lojban? [la djan. ka'e binxo lo tadni] seems > right for the first sentence; is it right to use [ka'e] for the second: [la > djan. ka'e tadni]? The first one could also be {la djan nu'o tadni}, and the second one {ju'o cu'i la djan cu tadni}. In the second case "potenitally" seems to be used more as a discourse marker, to show uncertainty about what might be the case. That's a common use of adverbs in English: "John is probably/certainly/ undoubtedly/presumably/plausibly a student." Because this is about a specific person, John, the only reason to say he might or might not be a student seems to be uncertainty on the part of the speaker. In another context, for example: mi djica lo nu ro prenu poi ka'e tadni cu ca'a tadni "I want every person that can be a student to actually be one." then {ka'e} does cover everyone who is potentially a student, whether they actually are one or not. mu'o mi'e xorxes 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.