[lojban-beginners] Re: [bpfk] polysemy of {nai}

[John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>]

la gleki scripsit:

> {na'e} says that we are somewere at another point but on the same scale.
> {no'e} says we are in the middle of the same scale.
> {to'e} says that we are at the opposite point of the same scale.

Right.

> {na'i} says that we are outside this scale (i.e. this predicate 
> relationship)

"Na'i" says that there's something wrong with the way the statement is
formulated.  "Na'i I drove my car to work today" is a true statement,
since I don't have a car and in fact don't drive.

> {na}. Here I have a problem. According to what I draw {na} means that we 
> are not at this point of this scale and may be even outside this scale.
> So for me {na} is (warning! bad grammar follows) {na'i ja na'e}.

"Na" is not about scales either.  It says no more and no less than that
the rest of the sentence is untrue.  "Na'e censa" is "secular", but
"ti na na'e censa" does not reduce to "ti censa" logically, though it
may do so pragmatically.

> Anyway, I want all types of negation to fit on the same scheme.

They don't, and aren't intended to.  Lojban's round pegs will not fit
in your square holes.

-- 
John Cowan  cowan@ccil.org   http://ccil.org/~cowan
Assent may be registered by a signature, a handshake, or a click of a computer
mouse transmitted across the invisible ether of the Internet. Formality
is not a requisite; any sign, symbol or action, or even willful inaction,
as long as it is unequivocally referable to the promise, may create a contract.
       --Specht v. Netscape

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Lojban Beginners" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban-beginners@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban-beginners+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban-beginners?hl=en.