Subject: RE: [lojban] An approach to attitudinals

From: "Bob LeChevalier (lojbab)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 05:55:29 -0400

At 12:09 AM 06/15/2001 +0000, Jorge Llambias wrote:
>la lojbab cusku di'e
> >But plausibly it can mean "I am happy now" about a situation (bridi) that I
> >am presently considering which is not a present reality, which
> >pragmatically often means "I would be happy if".
>
>No, "I would be happy if" is very different from "I am happy
>that it could be so". Only the second one can be handled with {ui}.
>Would-be happiness has to be {a'o} or {au}.

I am daydreaming about my ideal world when I say the first. At the time I 
make that sentence, it is true. Then I realize it is only in my mind, and 
add a sentence that indicates it is conditional.

(Hey, I'm not saying that these unusual cases are common, merely that the 
rules of thumb are reflecting a pragmatic norm that simply doesn't always 
hold. .ui usually means that we are asserting the bridi, because we WOULD 
normally recognize and use .a'o or au for would-be happiness. I reject the 
impossibility of no other pragmatic case.)

lojbab
--
lojbab [email-masked]
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org