[lojban] ru'a

[tijlan <jbotijlan@gmail.com>]

The BPFK defines "ru'a" as follows:

  Evidential. Used to express postulate/assumption/presumption as the
source of information or idea.

Examples:

  ru'a no le prenu cu nanca lo zmadu be li 25
  Presumably, none of the people are more than 25 years old.

  .i ru'a mi milxe leka bilma
  I am slightly ill, I assume.

These "ru'a" seem to be replaceable by other UI. The OED defines the
keywords as follows:

  postulate
  -- a statement that is accepted as true, that forms the basis of a
theory, etc.

  presumption
  -- something that is thought to be true or probable
  -- (law) the act of supposing that something is true, although it
has not yet been proved or is not certain

  assumption
  -- a belief or feeling that something is true or that something will
happen, although there is no proof

Then I wonder how exactly we should think "ru'a" differs from bare
instances or derivatives of ".ia", "la'a", "pe'i", "da'i", "ju'a",
"ju'o", "za'a", "ti'e", "je'u", "se'o", "ka'u", "li'a", etc. Does
"ru'a" really have a unique meaning? And, if so, is it truly and
exclusively evidential as opposed to, say, discursive?


mu'o

-- 
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.