Subject: Re: UI for 'possible' (was: Re: [lojban] Bible translation style question)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 10:14:56 EST

In a message dated 1/31/2002 8:51:00 AM Central Standard Time, 
[email-masked] writes:

> And ui, while not propositional (because the definition of "propositional"
> used on this list is completely arbitrary), doesn't necessarily affect the
> truth value. And, to utter "sei gleki" is an expression of an emotional
> state.
> 
> About the only thing that can defensibly be said is that "gleki" is a
> brivla while "ui" is not.
> 

The definition is, of course, that given by logic and so not arbitrary in a 
language explicitly based on logic. UI by and large don't affect truth 
values, they have truth-value preconditions in some cases and they remove 
items from truth value consideration in some cases, but they don't change 
from one value to another. The {sei} expressions seem to function like that 
(I'm not sure about taking things out of truth value consideration). In the 
particular case of {ui} and {gleki}, you can also say that {ui ko'a broda} 
and {mi gleki lenu ko'a broda} differ not only in focus but in truth 
conditions: the first is true or false regardless of my state of happiness, 
the second depends upon that state (and maybe not on {ko'a broda}).