lo'e

[Logical Language Group <lojbab@access.digex.net>]

>> {ci da stedu loe prenu} is probably false (or at
>> least conceptually really weird),
>
>Yes, but for the opposite reason that you think, I think.  There are in
>fact many more than 3 human heads.  (I prefer to talk about {stedu be
>lo'e remna} rather than {be lo'e prenu}.  I don't think the number of
>heads is very relevant or easy to determine for general {prenu}.)
>
>{ta stedu lo'e remna} has to mean "that's a human head".  Otherwise, it
>wouldn't make sense to relate anything concrete with {lo'e remna}, and
>that would be a shame.  Just like {mi prami lo'e remna}, "I love
>humans", is mainly a statement about {mi}, {ta stedu lo'e remna} has to
>be a statement about {ta}.  Can't we think of a human head without there
>being a particular human to which it belongs?  If not, then change the
>example to {ta tanxe lo'e plise}, surely we can think of a box for
>apples that is not a box for any particular apple.
>
>(In fact, I'm tempted to write {ta tanxe reno lo'e plise} for "that's a
>box for twenty apples", i.e. a twenty-apple box, not necessarily for any
>particular twenty apples.)
>
>If you want to claim that only {pa da stedu lo'e remna}, then that {pa
>da} has to be a {lo'e} type object as well, and only {lo'e} objects
>could be in relationship with {lo'e} objects, which would limit its
>usefulness enormously.

I think you are correct that pada stedu lo'e remna requires that da be a
lo'e type object as well, or rather, an indefinite object that cannot
be instantiated.

I do not think this affects "mi prami lo'e remna" because prami is
dealing with a mental state and not with a physical relationship, and we
CAN mentally relate to 'typicals', or at least to stereotypicals.

JCB's classic example of lo'e is something like:
loi cifno cu xabju la friko .ije loi cifno cu xabju la merko
because part of the mass of lions can be found in zoos in the US
but
lo'e cifno cu xabju la friko .enai la merko

I think this works because Africa is too big a concept, or maybe xabju
is more a mental concept than stedu.

?xu lo'e cifno cu xabju pa da
Does a typical lion reside in one place?

I'm not sure the answer is yes, even though the previous example is an
instantiation of "pada".

pc probably has an opinion on this (???)

lojbab