[lojban-beginners] Re: A tanru question

[Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Squark Rabinovich<top.squark@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> However, consider the following example, from my mail about xorlo: lu'i ci
> loi nanmu simxu lo nu damba . If I understand xorlo correctly, this
> means "three groups of men fight against each other", where "each other"
> means between the groups, not within them. Suppose we drop the lu'i . The
> result is ci loi nanmu simxu lo nu damba . If we allow substituting masses
> into the first place of sixmu , this might mean "three groups of men fight
> within each other", that is, each group fights within itself. Thus an
> ambiguity results. Maybe in simple unambiguous cases like mi'o ctuca
> simxu we can stretch the rules a bit.

For your two meanings, I would say:

lo ci gunma be lo nanmu cu simxu lo nu damba
Three groups of men fight each other.

ci lo gunma be lo nanmu cu simxu lo nu damba
Three groups of men fight within each other.

In oher words, when talking about several groups is really needed, I
think it's safer to be explicit, with a group word like "gunma",
rather than rely on gadri.

mu'o mi'e xorxes