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RE: [jboske] The ugly head of ni



xod:
> On Tue, 5 Nov 2002, And Rosta wrote:
> 
> > xod:
> > > > > It seems we're down to two uses of ni: ni + ce'u, used for 
> counting the
> > > > > valid sumti in a tergi'u, and ni without any ce'u, which is 
> like jei, but
> > > > > not restricted to [0, 1]
> > > >
> > > > Yes. I am in favour of the latter
> > >
> > > {ni + ce'u} solves a problem (counting) that is hard to do any other way;
> > > {ni - ce'u} is conceptually redundant with jei, differing only in the
> > > number, a number (-00, 00) which in most cases can be mapped onto [0, 1]
> > > without damage
> >
> > I know I'm asking you to repeat things that have been said before, but
> > can you give examples of ni + ce'u that are hard to say any other way?
> > I'd like to check that this is true. If it is, we should document it
> > on the wiki 
> 
> Go to the post I just directed pc to. It's in this thread, written by
> John 

It's a pain hunting through the online archives (-- very hard to find
stuff), & I don't archive everything myself. From memory, his ex was
something like {le ni la djan cilre ce'u} = "the amount of things
read by John". Would this be an example of what you have in mind?

> > I'm a bit uncomfortable, though with ni + ce'u and du'u + ce'u. I've
> > taken to using ka when I want a ce'u. The reason is that one tends
> > to gardenpath: you read it as a straight ni or du'u and then when you
> > hit the ce'u you have to backtrack and revise your interpretation of
> > what sort of abstraction is involved 
> 
> Why don't you complain about du'u + makau then?

You can take that complaint as given. 

My preferences:

  ka + ce'u ... instead of: du'u + ce'u
  du'au + ce'u ... instead of: du'u + makau

> > Regarding the conceptual redundancy, I don't find "extent to which"
> > and "whether" to be redundant. Sometimes it is useful to be able to
> > restrict "extent to which" to Yes or No (= "whether"). This distinction
> > needn't be made be ni vs jei, but it's not redundant (and I don't know
> > how else to make it) 
> 
> Since jei is fuzzy, it does not give you the boolean you seek! You have a
> choice between "the extent to which (-00, 00)" and "the extent to which
> [0, 1]" 

I seek:

(a) a way to do "the extent to which", ranging from infinitely much to
infinitely not-at-all

(b) a way to do "whether", ranging from completely true to completely
false.

-- which seems to correspond to the choice you offer me. Now, according
to you, how would I express (a) and (b) in Lojban?

--And.