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xorxes:
> la and cusku di'e
>
> >Given the general way that the number grammar works, how would you
> >show the number of significant figures, or the portion of a number
> >that is approximate?
>
> I don't think we need that level of precision in everyday speech.
I'm not so sure. If I ask how many students are enrolled on a module
and my colleague says "110 odd" ~ "around 110", then I conclude that
the actual number is roughly 105-115. But if they say "around 100",
the latitude is much larger, from less than 90 to more than 110. So
if they wants to be vague but to eradicate this ambiguity (about whether
or not the range is limited by 95ish and 105ish), they could insert
a ji'i -- were they speaking Lojban.
> >The official method with ji'i seems a good solution, and your
> >objection to it seems really to be a more general objection that
> >the overally magnitude of a number cannot be apprehended until
> >the entire number has been parsed.
>
> We should not overdimension the problem either. We usually don't
> need more than three or four significant digits for everyday
> purposes, and since Lojban digits are just one syllable, that
> means all you have to process is a three syllable word. Even
> for longer numbers, you can take them as three syllable words
> separated by ki'o.
How does that help gauge the magnitude?
The problem is not so much that the entire number expression
takes so long to say that one forgets how it began, but that
one's short term memory gets overloaded before one can begin
processing the number.
> But a ji'i in the middle of the word is a
> big nuisance. If you're used to understanding {cirevo} as 324,
> and {cire} as 32, then hearing {cire ji'i vo} you will first
> think it's 32 and then you have to adjust to a special 324.
I don't really understand this. If you hear {ci re vo}, what
stops you parsing {ci re} as 32? What stops you is surely the
knowledge that you have to wait for the expression to be
complete. I acknowledge that you have more usage experience
than me, but my own sense is that the one is not more
gardenpathy than the other.
--And.