RE: "What I have for dinner depends on what there is in the fridge"

["Jorge Llambias" <jjllambias@xxxxxxx.xxxx]

la xarmuj cusku di'e

>I would agree with you--in English. But I don't think the interpretation
>of the Lojban should be rooted in debatable English semantics...

I agree, it should be rooted in logic as far as possible. But we
haven't as yet been able to explicitly determine the logic
behind {kau}, even though the subject came up several times
before. My interpretation is not based on English semantics only,
it also applies to Spanish and very likely to other languages.
If there is a better interpretation for {kau}, then we should consider
the arguments in its favour, of course.

>Accepting your way for the moment, how would the meaning implied with (1)
>be rendered?

We should rephrase the indirect question so that what Mary
knows becomes the relevant answer. For example, "Mary
knows who came besides Paul."

But before deciding whether ot not {kau} should follow
the logic of indirect questions in English, we should be able
to make explicit what is the logic of indirect questions in
English (and other natlangs).

co'o mi'e xorxes