Subject: Re: ma do nanca .i na'i

From: Adam Raizen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 2002 22:53:26 +0200

la djorden cusku di'e

> Normally lojban is strict about number claims. If I say "re le
> gerku", it can not be true if 3 is the real number. Does this hold
> for bridi which accept numbers, like nanca, mitre, cacra, etc?

Yes, I think it applies similarly, though it those cases it's not
strictly quantification of a sumti like it is in the other case.

> So
> for example, if someone says
> ma nanca do

You probably want to say 'do nanca ma'. 'ma nanca do' seems to claim
that the listener is a number.

> and the response is
> li mu
> is the respondent lying? Would the proper answer be
> li ji'imu
>
> (assuming the respondent isn't *exactly* 5 years old).

No more than if the respondent was asked about the length of ti, and
said that it was 'mitre li ci', instead of 'mitre li ci pi
nonononononopacivo', or even if the actual length was closer to 'mitre
li ci pi nopa'. In the context, the smallest relevant unit is years,
or meters, and so I don't think it's a problem to round to the closest
one. Lojban being strict about number claims applies when the speaker
claims less than the actual number of relevant units. An entire year
is certainly relevant when we're talking about 'nanca', but even a
couple of months is likely to not be.

mu'o mi'e .adam.