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| In a message dated 10/14/2002 3:01:03 PM Central Daylight Time, a.rosta@hidden.email writes: << > >or even >> But there are different sorts of bindings (and different sorts of restrictions on variables as well). << What is the difference between an incomplete proposition like "___ klama" or "___1 klama ___2" and a property or relation like "ce'u klama" and "ce'u klama ce'u"? I don't know. I don't know whether there is a difference. Anyway, returning to the frica example, I would like to find a way to say it that expresses the underlying logic, instead of relying on Qkau. I doubt that my ke'a+ce'u suggestion is what we're looking for, though. >> I think we need to sit down and sort out {ke'a}, {ce'u} and {Qkau} a bit. I don't see what exactly is the matter with any of the various sentences offered here, though I think they mean slightly different things. << I'm happy to accept Qkau as a convenience, but it bugs me that it's the basic device. Given my views that 'indirect questions' (i.e. what is expressed by Qkau) are basic, and direct questions are derived, and given your and pc's discovery (which I was eventually convinced by) that an indirect question is the set of (true) completions to an incomplete proposition, it seems to me that we should have a way of expressing this underlying logic in a relatively transparent way (even if Qkau is also there as a perhaps more convenient alternative). >> As I have said, I agree with your analysis that puts all questions as objects of illocutionary (or closely related) verbs. I don't think that makes indirect questions more basic than direct ones; it just means that direct ones have shorter trip up to surface than indirect ones, which end up subordinate to yet another verb along the way and so have to be flagged as different from the direct ones to prevent ambiguity. I think the underlying logic -- and the special circumstances of indirect questions (which is usually just the deep verb raised to view) -- are on display already Questions are sets of complete claims that fit the claim matrix of the question: not the completions and not just the true ones. |