[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[lojban] pacna is kind of broken.



The definition of pacna is amazingly polysemous.

 pacna         pa'a hope
		    x1 hopes/wishes for/desires x2 (event), expected
		    likelihood x3 (0-1); x1 hopes that x2 happens

Even in the main definition we're conflating "desire" (which is
djica) with expectation (the x3 place), but the notes make this
much, much worse:

    [also: x1 is hopeful of x2; x2 will hopefully occur,
    as hoped for by x1; the value of x3 is a subjective
    estimate of likeliness according to x1, and is the
    basic determinant of whether pacna means ' hope ' or
    'wish' or 'expect': hoping for objects/states with
    negligible expectation is "wishing"; if the state is
    plausibly likely, it is "hoping"; when the probability
    is subjectively near 1, the attitude is described as
    "expecting"; the value will usually be expressed using
    inexact numbers ("li piso'u" to "li piro"); wish (=
    sotpa'a), hope (= sorpa'a), expect (= sojypa'a)];
    (cf. djica)

This seems to make it clear that pacna means "x1 expect x2 with
subjective likelihood x3", but the keyword is "hope", which means
expectation *and* desire.  Desire is even mentioned in the
definition.

There is no other word that I can find that has a subjective or
expected likelihood, and it's a very, very nice thing to have.

My belief is that only the expectation meaning was intended by the
founders, but I would like to have that confirmed.

I consider this level of polysemousness in a Lojban word to be a
serious error.

-Robin

-- 
http://www.digitalkingdom.org/~rlpowell/ *** http://www.lojban.org/
Reason #237 To Learn Lojban: "Homonyms: Their Grate!"
Proud Supporter of the Singularity Institute - http://singinst.org/