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

From: "Adam Raizen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 01:35:24 +0200

la .and. cusku di'e

> Well, I can't quite remember whether sei is supposed to be
> metalinguistic, or whether it is just a device for creating
adverbials,
> but if it is metalinguistic then I do object. Woldy is inaccessible
> to me right now, so I can't check.

The book does say that 'sei' is 'metalinguistic', but it doesn't fully
explain what it means by that. 'po'o' and 'da'i' are included among
the 'metalinguistic' indicators of UI, so I think that metalinguistic
indicators can alter the truth value. Otherwise, a large number of
pontential sei-phrases become useless. 'sei cumki' would be useless,
since the sentence claims the main bridi, and anything true is also
possible. Likewise, 'sei tolcu'i' would be useless, since it would
claim the main bridi, and anything true is not impossible. I think
that whether the truth value is altered is a matter of what the
sei-clause is, as it is with the rest of the indicators.

Barring that, how *would* you do adverbs? Supposedly, nouns,
adjectives, verbs, and adverbs are all collapsed into selbrivla in
lojban, but this doesn't work, as I assume that there would be even
greater objections to 'mi cumki klama' meaning 'I possibly go'. Is
restructuring the sentence to be the only way to do it?

mu'o mi'e .adam.