Subject: Re: [lojban] Predicate logic and childhood.

From: Robin Lee Powell <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 15:47:49 -0700

On Mon, Apr 30, 2001 at 06:44:27PM -0400, Bob LeChevalier (lojbab) wrote:
> At 02:48 PM 04/30/2001 -0700, Robin Lee Powell wrote:
> >2. What is the use of conditionals other than .e?
> 
> Well, "a" expressing alternation (and anai for conditional) has a pretty 
> clear usage, and onai for exclusive-or does as well. 

anai does not have a clear usage, or we wouldn't be having this
discussion.

> But the use of logical connectives in general is based on the
> assumption, probably false, that language is attempting to express
> logical truth. By insisting that the language connectives follow the
> rules of logic strictly, people will either start thinking in a manner
> that reflects those rules or they will avoid the use of connectives
> (or they will break the rules). This is a key design feature for the
> original purpose of the language as a test of Sapir-Whorf, though I
> personally think that the formal logical aspects of Lojban don't come
> into play enough that it will matter much.

Thank you for failing to answer the question. 8)

No-one has yet managed to tell me what possible use, in actual
communication, things like o and anai have.

-Robin

-- 
http://www.digitalkingdom.org/~rlpowell/ BTW, I'm male, honest.
le datni cu djica le nu zifre .iku'i .oi le so'e datni cu to'e te pilno
je xlali -- RLP http://www.lojban.org/