[lojban] Re: le du

["Mark E. Shoulson" <mark@kli.org>]

{accidentally sent this to lojbab instead of the group...}

At 05:35 PM 7/29/03 +0000, you wrote:
>--- In lojban@yahoogroups.com, Jorge "Llambías" <jjllambias2000@y...>
>wrote:
> >
> > la xod cusku di'e
> >
> > > I haven't yet seen a good reason to use le du.
> >
> > There is no reason not to use it. It has a clear meaning
> > determined by the meanings of {le} and {du}. You don't have to
> > use it if you don't want to, there usually are alternatives,
> > but it is well defined. It is a matter of style which
> > alternative you prefer. {du} is the emptiest possible
> > description you can get, as it applies to everything.
> > {le du} is equivalent to {le su'o da}.
>
>As I think about it, I'm not really sure that's true.  That is, it is
>true from a formal standpoint, but not necessarily pragmatically.  "le
>du" is "something which is the same."  If I heard that in
>conversation, the obvious naive question is "le du be ma?" "ma du ma?"
>  It is certainly true that anything is the same as something (namely
>itself), but doesn't this violate Gricean relevance?  The fact that
>whatever it is is identical to something/itself may be true, but is
>generally not relevant to whatever we're talking about.  It's almost
>like we're discussing my family, and I suddenly refer to "le ctuca"
>without ever mentioning that my brother is a professor.
>
>~mark

-- 
lojbab                                             lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban:                 http://www.lojban.org




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