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Mike S., On 18/09/2012 08:07:
>> Right. We both know where the Lojban list is if we want to talk
>> about Lojban's specification.
>>
>> ObXorban: How would that last sentence be translated in Xorban? Is
>> there some odd illocutionary operator that we don't have yet
>> involved?
>
> I'd use the ordinary assertion marker, "ci" I think it is. Is that
> what you were asking, or were you asking what would be the xorban for
> the whole sentence?
>
> I'll rephrase: What is roughly the logical form of, and what does the
> if-clause modify in, "We both know where the Lojban list is if we
> want to talk about Lojban's specification."
I think the logical form is simply "All cases in which we want to talk about Lojban's specification are cases in which we know where the Lojban list is".
That seems to hold but I was thinking
"We both know where the Lojban list is if we want to talk about Lojban's specification"
somehow might involve elision of the logical form
"We both know where the Lojban list is, [and we could go there] if we want to talk about Lojban's specification"
or
"We both know where the Lojban list is, [and] if we want to talk about Lojban's specification [we could go there]"
or
"we both know where the Lojban list is and all cases in which we want to talk about Lojban's specification are cases in which we could go there"
???
I would say that the encoded logical form is inferentially augmented to yield a conversational implicature of the sort you suggest. --And.