[lojban] Re: x2 of klani

[Arnt Richard Johansen <arj@nvg.org>]

On Sun, Dec 07, 2008 at 02:45:08PM -0600, Chris Capel wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 14:41, Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu> wrote:
> > On Sunday 07 December 2008 15:09:48 Arnt Richard Johansen wrote:
> >> Furthermore, what type of sumti can go into the x2? Is it a number?
> >> (Jorge's example is the only one that fills in the x2 explicitly.) But if
> >> it is a number, how can it also be a spoon, as the place structure of
> >> {muclai} seems to imply?
> >
> > Looks like an error when compiling the list. I say it's a number, as in this
> > example: {loi tcatymuclai be li 1/3 be'o ke zingibero purmo}, from the
> > terjukpa page.
> 
> I'd say its being a number is inconsistent with the definition in the
> gismu list. It seems to me what "quantifier" means is "that which is
> doing the quantifying/measuring", i.e. a measuring cup or spoon. By
> the definition, it seems like the first place should be for the
> number, and that's it's missing a place for what's being measured.
> I.e., the definition as given makes no sense.

Part of the problem may be that the English word "quantity" is ambiguous between how much there is of something, and that something itself. In the sentence "the quantity of courses is large", you cannot substitute "quantity of courses" with "courses" without creating nonsense. On the other hand, if "John owns a large quantity of tea" is true, "John owns some tea" must also be true.

-- 
Arnt Richard Johansen                                http://arj.nvg.org/
Keyboard: The Ultimate Input Device


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