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Jorge Llamb�as, On 02/09/2012 03:34:
On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 11:06 PM, And Rosta<and.rosta@hidden.email> wrote:Jorge Llamb�as, On 02/09/2012 01:29:This one you won't like for a couple of reasons: la je frmra le xsle pnsake li mjrtika drxike but that's how I would say it.It's good! (Remind me why I wouldn't like it?) Ah, okay. I see a couple of reasons. One is that it doesn't distinguish between each farmer beating just their own donkey or beating every farmer's donkeys (among various other distinctions not made).Right, it really just says "most donkey owning farmers are donkey beaters. The second reason was that it uses the implicit binding rule that you don't like to bind the final "e".
Ha, I specifically checked for that and didn't see it, which tells you the state of my head these days. Yes, you're right, I don't like your donkey rendition and nor can I bear the implicit binding rule. I would instead have a rule that unbound variables (others than those defined as taking implicit binding) force a word order reversal in which quantifiers follow predicates: la bcda fghi lu jklu mnpukika li = la bcda li fghi lu jklu mnpukika But I'd be fine with *a specific series of variables*, e.g. V'u, preserving the same restriction when subsequently unbound.
Another is that I can't work out how to say "If anybody sees anything, they'll probably eat it". Well, it can be done as: la fa sa prna si smi vskake li fi sa prna si vskaki ctkaki lknaki -- but with a load of repetition. Basically in asking about donkey sentences I was looking for something that gets rid of the repetition.Why was it that this one didn't work: ra prna re sme ja na vskake li fi ctkake lkni
I meant a reading "if somebody sees something", where there are existential quantifiers within the protasis. Your version (a valid reading but not the one I intended) quantifies only over actual people and things. Seeing as you haven't come up with something better, here's how I'd do donkey structures: la fa si frmri su xslu je pnsiku va drxiku lo msto dnksntncako "most is the propertion of states of affairs in which "si frmri su dnku je pnsiku nu drxiku" is the case that are states of affairs in which "si frmri su dnku je pnsiku ne drxiku" is the case" where vV is a bound unary operator whose sole function (but a vital and necessary one) is to do donkey sentences. --And.