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[lojban] Re: Usage of lo and le
On 5/4/06, Maxim Katcharov <maxim.katcharov@gmail.com> wrote:
I am now more definite in my understanding of how lo and le work, but
I don't (yet) see their utility. le seems to be simply a specific
variant of lo - it's lo, but you imply that if someone asks, you can
provide more details on the referant (probably because you've seen
it).
I think of {le} as standing somewhere between {lo} and {la}. With {lo}
the meaning of the following word is all important and whether or not
the speaker has any particular referent identified is irrelevant.
With {la}, having a particular referent identified by the following word
is all important but the meaning of the word is practically irrelevant.
With {le}, it is important that the speaker has a referent identified, but
also the meaning of the word is relevant, since it is that meaning and
not some arbitrary convention that is used to convey to the audience
which particular referent the speaker has in mind.
Additionally, it also has (what I'll call) an abstracter that
lets you say something like "(what I'll call)".
Yes, I don't think the "non-veridicality" of {le} is all that important.
I think it's a consequence of its function more than a central feature.
In most cases {le broda} should be used to refer to things that really
are broda.
I would think that
this abstractor feature would work better as cmavo that said
"something that by my quick definition is X" - perhaps in addition to
another cmavo that lets you say "something to do with X", which would
let you refer to bear paste by using it + cribe. Perhaps these already
exist.
{tu'a X} is "something to do with X" but only in the sense of some
relationship of which X is a participant. I don't think you could use
{tu'a lo cribe} for "bear paste". You could say {lo cribe co'e} for
"bear thingummy".
I can't think of anything for "what I'll call a bear" other than {le}.
mu'o mi'e xorxes
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