Re: [lojban-beginners] [fanva] "Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius, doesn't it?"

[Remo Dentato <rdentato@gmail.com>]

On Sun, Nov 28, 2010 at 10:57 AM, Brian Shannon
<teapot.philosopher@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> The first one would be a real question that also conveys a sort of
>> doubt: I think I know the answer but I ask to be sure.
>
> The first one asks a question without conveying doubt. The meaning of
> {xu} doesn't change depending on where it is in the sentence. To
> express doubt, you would use {ju'ocu'i}
>

Yes, if i *wanted* to express that I had doubts I would have used
{ju'ocu'i} but I could not wanting to do it.

If I say {xu mi klama} or {mi klama vau xu} I am asking exactly the
same thing, the fact that I put {xu} at the end is purely stylistic
and the two different constructions may or may not be perceived as
different.

What is the real difference between: "Is the sky blu?" or "The sky is
blu, isn't it?"  ? From a semantic point of view both are questions
about the color of the sky, if there's any reason why they are
different, that difference is in the mind of speaker (and possibly in
the mind of the listener).

Same goes for lojban.

My point is that Lojban is a language where you can be precise *at
will*. Nowhere is written that I *must* always be as precise as
possible.

When I'm using lojban with other humans I might want to be ambigous
and vague. When I'll use with computers (if ever) I'll be as precise
as possible.

remod

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