[YG Conlang Archives] > [jboske group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
la and cusku di'e
The case made for {tu'o} included:
1. We don't want to *claim* that lo'i broda cu pa mei. We want
to treat it as presupposition.
2. We simply don't want to have to arbitrarily choose among
redundant contrasts: e-gadri vs. o-gadri, V-gadri vs. Vi-gadri.
3. Given that one reason to mark singularity is to make the
meaning easier to process, it is counterproductive to have to
do this by adding an extra word (pa).
loi'e/lo'e satisfies (1-3).
I understand that was your case for {tu'o}, but mine
was just:
4. We are not interested in looking at the extension of
{lo'i broda}, or even in whether or not there is an
extension.
> If pointing out the
> singletonhood is important, it is proper to have to add the inner
> {pa}.
No, for reason 3 in particular.
I meant "pointing out the instrinsic singletonhood". I do want
an article just for singletons (I use {le} for that) but I don't
want to have to work out whether my description is fine enough
that it necessarily corresponds to a singleton: I don't want to
have to choose one gadri for "my hand" and a different one
for "my nose" or "my left hand". If I understood you correctly
you would say {le'e mi xance} vs. {lo'e mi zunle xance}, because
"my hand" corresponds to an in-mind singleton but "my left hand"
corresponds to a real-world singleton. I don't think this
distinction deserves to be obligatory.
> {lau} would make sense as a singular gadri in my opinion
> only if it was also +specific, so that you could also use it
> for singleton in-mind sets.
But le'e is completely satisfactory for this job, except perhaps
in its disyllabicity, which is really a symptom of a much more
pervasive problem.
Yes. I would use {le'e} for all singletons if it was a single
syllable, including intrinsic singletons. That's where we still
differ. I don't see the advantage of separating in-mind
singletons from intrinsic singletons, unless it is somehow
important in a particular case to claim that the thing I'm
referring to is the only thing I could be referring to with
the description I happen to be using.
mu'o mi'e xorxes
_________________________________________________________________
Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online
http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963