[lojban-beginners] Re: Please review #002

[ANDREW PIEKARSKI <totus@rogers.com>]

> But be careful, "real" has nothing to do with it. "Literal" would be a better
word. 

You've got me again!  What do you mean by "literal" in this context?

mu'o mi'e .andrus.

----- Original Message ----
From: Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>
To: lojban-beginners@lojban.org
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2007 12:02:58 PM
Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: Please review #002


On 4/21/07, ANDREW PIEKARSKI <totus@rogers.com> wrote:
>
> There seem to be two variables to consider:
> 1) is this something specific I have in mind (a), or is it general
> (as in English "the" or "a/some" (b)?

That's the main thing, yes, with the caveat that {lo} can also be used
for something specific if you don't care to emphasize the specificity.
This is unlike English "the", which is obligatory. You can't really
say "a mother of mine" in English when you have only one mother
and so you must be referring to her, but {lo mamta be mi} is
perfectly fine in Lojban to refer to your one and only mother.
{lo} does _not_ indicate non-specificity. It just doesn't bring
specificity into it.

> 2) is it real (c) or, is it something that may or may not be real (d)?

I suggest you don't concentrate too much on this. Yes, {le} allows
you to use a predicate suggestively rather than literally, but this is
rarely what it is used for.

> That gives four possible combinations of article: ac, ad, bc, bd
>
> Now "le" seems to correspond to ad and "lo" seems to correspond to bc.

{le} would be for ac/ad and {lo} would be for ac/bc.

But be careful, "real" has nothing to do with it. "Literal" would be a better
word. "literally a unicorn", "literally an event of pigs flying", etc.
are perfectly
fine for {lo}, even though unicorns and events of pigs flying are not real. If
what you are referring to is to just that, and not to something else that you
choose to describe as that, then {lo} is fine:

   lo nu viska lo cribe cu se terpa
   Seeing a bear is scary.

That refers to events of seeing a bear, not necessarily to any actually
ocurring such event, but yes literally to such events.

mu'o mi'e xorxes