Subject: Re: [lojban] a construal of lo'e & le'e

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 22:30:30 -0500 (EST)

[email-masked] scripsit:

> 5. Does this mean that prototypes should replace typicals as the referents 
> of {lo'e} expressions? Not obviously. On the one hand, it is not clear that 
> prototypes are nearly as common as typicals as points we want to make or 
> distinctions that cause problems.

The chief difficulty with typicals is what And put his finger on.
It's typical for lions (distributively) to live in Africa, so lo'e cinfo
is said to live there. However, it's *not* typical for lions (distributively)
to be discussed on the list -- indeed, no particular lion has ever been
discussed here -- nevertheless, lo'e cinfo cu se casnu mi'a.
So typicals have some properties that are not typical of the members
of the underlying set. Which is strange.

-- 
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan [email-masked]
Please leave your values | Check your assumptions. In fact,
at the front desk. | check your assumptions at the door.
--sign in Paris hotel | --Miles Vorkosigan