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

Re: [lojban] Re: mi kakne lo bajra



The "event is concrete" concept is interesting, but I disagree with the idea of lumping events in with physical objects in predicate structure. If anything they should be a third type unto themselves.

As for the issue with {zmadu}, the problem that it is possible to compare two objects as long as they are of the same type, but that comparison is defined for different types as well. This is troubling to the static type perspective, I agree, but I don't think this is the best solution. Nor do I think my impulse, which is to start defining typeclasses, one of which would have comparison, is reasonable for the setting of spoken languages.

mu'o mi'e latros.

2010/10/31 Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>
On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 6:14 PM, Ian Johnson <blindbravado@gmail.com> wrote:
> Perhaps it is the static typer in me, but I would go so far as to say that
> it does not make sense for a place in a gismu to be able to be an
> abstraction or a concrete object.

I generally agree with you there (but see the caveat below). The point
where we disagree though is probably that you consider events to be
"abstractions", and I don't.

Events are as concrete as concrete can be. They dwell in space-time
just like apples and unicorns do. They are not abstract like numbers
or sets or properties or propositions. The main difference between
events and objects is that events are relatively well defined in time
but fuzzy in space, whereas objects are relatively well defined in
space but fuzzy in time.

The caveat is that there are some predicates that admit of different
types in different contexts. For example:

 lo vi bolci cu zmadu lo va bolci lo ka barda

 li so cu zmadu li ci lo ka barda

So the x1 and x2 of "zmadu" can be abstractions, like numbers, or
objects, like balls, but it wouldn't make sense to compare the
magnitude of one type with the magnitude of the other type.

The x1 of ckaji too can be pretty much of any type, but only if the
corresponding property in x2 accepts the corresponding type.

The x3 of djuno can be pretty much of any type, it can be anything
about which something can be known.

And so on.

mu'o mi'e xorxes

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lojban" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban?hl=en.


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "lojban" group.
To post to this group, send email to lojban@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to lojban+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/lojban?hl=en.