Btw, what happened to
lo'e and
le'e ? They are not mentioned in the pages about xorlo. Were they scrapped?
Anyway, since nobody gave a complete answer about xorlo, I'll take a shot at guessing how it should work.
Lets start with lo . The syntax is
[optional outer quantifier] lo [optional inner quantifier] broda
lo broda means "at least one mass of broda". For example, lo nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "at least one group of men carries the piano(s)". The size of the mass is unknown, in particular it can consist of a single object in which case it is in fact an individual. Also, for continuous things like mudri or rokci the size might be meaningless i.e. not representable as a natural number.
lo n broda where n is a quantifier means "at least one mass of broda out of a mass of n broda". Supposedly, the later mass of n broda is not just a random collection of broda but a group unified by something. For example, lo mu nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "at least one group of men out of a group of 5 men carries the piano(s)". The size of the mass is still unknown, but it can be at most n.
m lo broda where m is a quantifier means "m individual broda". For example, su'o ci lo nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 men carry the piano(s) (individually), and possibly some other individual men and/or groups of men do this as well". On the other hand ci lo nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 men carry the piano(s) (individually) and no other man or group of men does this".
m lo n broda where n and m are quantifier means "m individual broda out of a mass of n broda". For example, ci le mu nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 men out of a group of 5 men carry the piano(s) (individually) and no other man or group of men within that group of 5 men does this".
loi : The syntax is [optional outer quantifier] pi [optional fractional outer quantifier] loi [optional inner quantifier] broda
loi broda is the same as lo broda . loi n broda is the same as lo n broda .
m loi broda where m is a quantifier means "m masses of broda". For example, su'o ci loi nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 groups of men carry the piano(s), and possibly some other individual men and/or groups of men do this as well". On the other hand ci loi nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 groups of men carry the piano(s) and no other man or group of men does this". The size of the masses is unknown. In particular any/all of the masses can be of size 1 and thus in effect individuals. The size might be meaningless for continuous entities.
Another example is lu'i ci loi nanmu cu simxu lo nu damba which means "three groups of men fight against each other", where "each other" means between the groups, not within them.
m loi n broda where n and m are quantifier means "m masses of broda out of a mass of n broda". For example, ci loi mu no nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 groups of men which are subgroups of a group of 50 men carry the piano(s), and possibly some other individual men and/or groups of men do this as well". On the other hand ci loi nanmu cu bevri le pipno means "3 groups of men carry the piano(s) and no other man or group of men within that group of 50 men does this". The size of the masses is unknown. In particular any/all of the masses can be of size 1 and thus in effect individuals. The size might be meaningless for continuous entities.
Adding a fractional outer quantifier fixes the total size of the masses involved. For example ci pi vo loi mu no nanmu cu bevri le pipno means the same as above, with the added information that the 3 groups of men together consist 0.4 of the total group i.e. 50 x 0.4 = 20 men.
lo'i : The syntax is [optional outer quantifier] pi [optional fractional outer quantifier] lo'i [optional inner quantifier] broda
lo'i broda means "at least one mass of sets of broda"
lo'i n broda means "at least one mass of subsets of a set of n broda"
m lo'i broda means "m sets of broda"
m lo'i n broda means "m subsets of a set of n broda"
Adding a fractional outer quantifier fixes the size of union of the sets involved.
le lei le'i work in the same way except that a priori, I don't consider all broda but a specific set of things-I-call-broda. The inner quantifier specifies the size of this set.
la lai la'i work in the same way except that they refer to things named broda . The inner quantifier is merely a part of the name.
It is also an interesting question how sumti-based descriptions (which are mentioned in the xamoi ckupau of the "reference grammar") work in xorlo.
2009/9/6 Jorge Llambías
<jjllambias@gmail.com>
On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 6:25 PM, Squark Rabinovich<
top.squark@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> In other words, since we're doing about 5 men and 3 women rather than 1 man
> and 1 woman, it seems that a quantifier is logically necessary, and such a
> term cannot be a "constant".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_quantification
mu'o mi'e xorxes
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