Subject: RE: [lojban] Q

From: "Jorge Llambias" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2001 23:52:21

la and cusku di'e

> x1 describes x2
> x1 discusses x2
> x1 notices similarities among members of x2
> &c.
>
>-- in all these, x2 could equally well be a nu or a ka or
>a du'u.

Right, and also there is the typical "x1 likes x2", in which
people are said to like the strangest things. I agree there is
a possible distinction to be made between discussing a proposition
and discussing an event that the proposition describes, but such
cases are really rare. In all of the above examples the most
natural interpretation would put a nu in the x2, and when you
wanted something else you could say {le jufra be le nu ...} and
things like that.

>But yes, the distinction is usually redundant.

On the other hand, redundancy is not necessarily bad,
sometimes it can be helpful. If you are not sure about the
meaning of some predicate, the fact that a nu or a du'u or a ka
is used in a given place can be a clue as to the meaning
of the predicate.

But sometimes it is a pain. For example, I have seen both
{le nu ... cu krinu le nu ...} and {le du'u ... cu krinu
le du'u ...}. I don't remember seeing a mix of nu in one
of the places and du'u in the other, but I might. I have
no idea which one is right, they both mean the same thing
as far as I can tell. And like that one there are plenty
of others that make me stop and choose when there is no
point in having to choose.

co'o mi'e xorxes

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