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John Cowan <jcowan@r...> wrote:
> maikxlx scripsit:
>
> > (For example, in Lojban "I try to run" gets rendered as "I am
> > a runner-type-of tryer", where a word meaning "runner" modifies
> > a word meaning "tryer"; i.e. syntactically, "runner" is used
> > as the vague, general purpose modifier in an unqualified tanru.
>
> Well, that's one way to do it. Lojban is a TMTOWTDI language.
> You can also say, with greater semantic precision, I am a tryer
> of the event {I run}. And you can use tenses to qualify the
> trying and the running as to time, space, habituality, etc.
Yes, I should have been more clear about that; the tanru is
not the only method. However, I do believe that the brevity
that the tanru offers encourages its usage in a lot instances
in which the equivalent expression given by natural languages
would actually be more semantically precise.
I don't dispute your point that Lojban is quite rich in devices
that allow a speaker to be as precise as he likes, but I also
can't shake the belief that semantic precision was regarded as
a low priority, at least relative to syntactic non-ambiguity
and brevity.
Regards
--- Mike