[lojban-beginners] Re: cmavo can be selbri?

[Jorge "Llambías" <jjllambias2000@yahoo.com.ar>]

--- Robin Lee Powell wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 13, 2004 at 11:28:01AM -0500, Adam D. Lopresto wrote:
> > In general, I really wish du didn't even exist.  
> 
> Its sole valid use is in mekso:
> 
> li pa su'i re du li ci

That sounds too extreme. {du} should not be used indiscriminately
to translate any use of English "is", but it is the correct word
to translate some uses of English "is": the "is" of identity.

{du} should not be used for things like:

Mary is tall. {la meris cu clani}
Mary is a student. {la meris cu tadni}
Mary is my cousin. {la meris cu tamne mi}

but it is perfectly ok for things like:

Mary is the girl sitting next to John. 
{la meris du le nixli poi zutse ne'a la djan}  
This is Mary.
{la meris du ti}

> In fact, "dunli" is not equivalent in meaning to "du"; that's
> "mintu".  "dunli" has an "in property" place, which makes it rather
> different.

Hmm... If I say {le mi karce cu mintu le do karce},
"my car is the same as your car", does that mean that
I'm talking about one car only? Or am I just saying that
for present purposes, either one of both cars will do 
just as well? 
 
> "du" is really the only selbri that does *pure* identicality, and
> pure identicality is only useful for tautologies and math.

Or when we want to refer to one thing using different
descriptions. 

mu'o mi'e xorxes



		
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