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xorxes:
> What is the difference between {ta'e}, "habitually" and
> {na'o}, "typically"
>
> It seems to me that for an event to be typical in a given time
> interval, it has to happen habitually, i.e. enough/most times
> within the interval
I suggest for "typically", something like: "for a sufficiently
large number of randomly chosen occasions on which the world
is examined, p is the case".
I haven't digested your proposals yet, but in the meantime let
me offer a comment on ta'e.
In linguistics, habitual aspect/aktionsart is not the same as
'habitually', 'as a habit'. Rather, it is a variety of {so'i roi},
but involves a contrast between multiplicity of 'occasions', which
is the 'habitual', and multiplicity of 'times'/'instances', which
is the 'iterative' or 'frequentative', and is like the verbal
counterpart of the nominal plural. The habitual is usually stative
whereas the frequentative is nonstative (but nonetheless atelic).
Contrast:
iterative/frequentative:
I knocked on the door three times.
= I gave the door three knocks once/on one occasion.
I repeatedly knocked on the door.
habitual:
I knocked on the door on three (separate) occasions.
I often knocked on the door.
I don't know whether this meaning can/should be attributed to
ta'e, though, because it arguably should be expressed by something
in ROI. Otoh, the notion of a state arising from an open-ended
number of recurrences of a certain type of event is perhaps worth
singling out and ascribing to ta'e.
> For example:
>
> ta'e le puzi nanca be li pano la djan stali le xelso ze'a lo'e crisa
> Typically in the last ten years, John has spent the summer in Greece
>
> Given all possible instances in the ten year interval of John
> spending the summer in Greece, enough/most of them actually
> happened, so we can say that the event was typical in that
> interval. Would that be a correct analysis?
Based on what I said above, this would be na'o, almost. 'Almost',
because John spending his summer in Greece is not itself a
particularly typical feature of the last ten years. At this early
stage in thinking through the topic, I would feel safer with:
da poi la djan stali ke'a ze'a lo'e crisa zo'u
na'o le pu zi nanci be li pa no da du le xelso
or, if we can agree on its equivalence to the former sentence,
la djan stali ze'a lo'e crisa na'o le pu zi nanci be li pa no
le xelso
> What about {na'o}? The only other aspect other than possible
> time instances that I can think for an event to be typical in
> is across possible worlds. Would {na'o} mean that the event
> is typical across possible worlds? Something like:
>
> na'o tu'o du'u la djan ponse lo jdini kei dy stali
> le xelso ze'a lo'e crisa
> Whenever John has money/if John had money, he would normally
> spend the summer in Greece
>
> This would mean {ta'e} is approximately the same as {rau so'e roi}
> and {na'o} is approximately {rau so'e mu'ei}. Would that be a
> reasonable analysis?
It's certainly a good idea.
I suggest we follow what should be the standard proceedure, of
distinguishing:
1. What are the relevant sorts of meanings that we need to be
able to express?
2. How do we express them?
3. Which ones are assigned to ta'e and na'o?
Things work smoother if we consider these issues separately and
in that order.
--And.