2011/2/20 Jorge Llambías
<jjllambias@gmail.com>
On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 3:38 AM, Michael Turniansky
<
mturniansky@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm not asserting there is a distinction between universal claims using a
> bindable variable and those that don't.
da xebni mi" and "ro prenu cu xebni mi".
Sure, the second one is more restricted than the first, but only a
little bit. They are both just as nonsensical if taken to extremes,
since someone who says "everyone hates me" usually doesn't mean to say
that they hate themselves any more than they mean to say that the
kitchen sink hates them.
True. And if the person is speaking precisely and doesn't really mean it literally, the should have either a ba'u after the "ro", change the ro to "so'a", or stick a "le" after the ro. But I also think that is much easier to be context dependent with a real gismu/tanru/fu'ivla/lujvo than with with an existential variable.
But to say that "ro prenu" is only a "little bit" more restricted that "ro da"? I don't think so. There's basically 6 billion prenu in this world, and ?? in the universe, but there's somewhere around 2^(10^43) different ways you can arrange the atoms in the universe.. quite a bit more "things" that fall under the rubric of "ro da".
> (Unless I'm misunderstanding your
> question). My problem is using a universal bindable variable without
> binding it, and then claiming it's something less than universal.
Take this sentence from "le la BERenstein. cribe .e. le jinga guzmrkukurbita":
.i .iecai bybycy ca'o ba'e banro .i ri ru'i zenba le ka barda e le ka
bolci e le ka narju fi'o temci ro djedi
(I think it needs a "kei" after "narju".) Does it mean that bybycy was
growing even before it existed, for example, and will keep growing
when it no longer exists, or is "every day" restricted to relevant
days?
(You're right about the kei. I'll try to remember to fix it later). Yup, Papa spoke imprecisely. But what do you want? He's a bear, and a farmer/craftsbear at that, not a logician. He should have said "ro le djedi". But I still think it's easier to contextualize "djedi" than "da".
--gejyspa