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

Re: [lojban] sumti intensionality [was: Mixing tenses on the beginners list]

On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 10:34 PM, John E Clifford <kali9putra@yahoo.com> wrote:
Yes, Lojban has properties and sets, but it is not a clearcut second order language, since these things are treated as as objects for the most part (there are variables for predicates, but no special ones for properties, for example).  The "as" situation seems to be just another case of "under conditions" for which there is at least one BAI (note, "treat him as a friend" uses another BAI; this is not a generic "as" solution).  Lojban is also intenstional, since some of its sumtis' referents are properties and the like. But it is always the referents that count, even when they are the senses of something else (in which case, they may interact with the rest of the sentence in special ways, which are, however, not at all peculiar). 
It's a bit more delicate than "under conditions", because that is essentially a bridi operator. This "as" issue involves a place specifically. For example, "As a leader, I respect you" and "I respect you as a leader" both make sense and are rather different, since the first modifies the x1 and the second modifies the x2. This is quite different from a bridi operator. However, thinking about it a bit more, I'm seeing that some other tags do this too. For example {mi cliva lo ckule se ka'a lo zdani}, with its expected meaning, in some sense attaches to both the x1 and x2, sort of rebuilding {mi klama lo zdani lo ckule} from scratch. But "as" needs this specified in practical situations. Other tags, even though they could have ambiguity ({mi cliva lo ckule se ka'a lo zdani} could mean {mi cliva lo ckule noi klama lo zdani}), don't seem to have that problem.

You're right that abstractors are intensional, but that's a separate matter; I was talking about intensionality of concrete sumti, such as distinguishing between "You-As-Friend" and "You-As-Lover".

mi'e la latro'a mu'o

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