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Re: UI for 'possible' (was: Re: [lojban] Bible translation style question)
At 01:35 AM 2/3/02 +0200, Adam Raizen wrote:
la .and. cusku di'e
> Well, I can't quite remember whether sei is supposed to be
> metalinguistic, or whether it is just a device for creating adverbials,
> but if it is metalinguistic then I do object. Woldy is inaccessible
> to me right now, so I can't check.
The book does say that 'sei' is 'metalinguistic', but it doesn't fully
explain what it means by that. 'po'o' and 'da'i' are included among
the 'metalinguistic' indicators of UI,
Meaning that they have a component to their meaning that operates on a
different metalinguistic level than the utterance they are found in.
so I think that metalinguistic indicators can alter the truth value.
They can at least make the truth value meaningless.
Otherwise, a large number of
pontential sei-phrases become useless. 'sei cumki' would be useless,
since the sentence claims the main bridi, and anything true is also
possible.
It is operating at a different metalinguistic level. You can also say "sei
jitfa" in which case you are presumably saying that the bridi is
false. But there may be other things in the sentence that make it
acceptable to have a false bridi, so "sei jitfa" could be used for example
to set a counterfactual.
Likewise, 'sei tolcu'i' would be useless, since it would
claim the main bridi, and anything true is not impossible.
[If wishes were horses] sei tolcu'i se'u, [then beggars would ride].
I think
that whether the truth value is altered is a matter of what the
sei-clause is, as it is with the rest of the indicators.
Barring that, how *would* you do adverbs?
"fi'o broda ku" is how I would do it.
lojbab
--
lojbab lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org