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la and cusku di'e
How would we express large/small amount relative to the size of the whole? How do we say "half of all men", "one in every two men"? (And how about "half a man" and "all halves of men"?)
{50ce'i} gives half of all men, so maybe {so'ice'i} and
{so'uce'i} can be used for large and small numbers relative
to all, and {piso'ice'i}, {piso'uce'i} for large and small
amounts relative to the whole.
BTW, "one in every two men" is idiomatic, or at least it
depends on a very select set of "twos".
> >2b. meaning of {ta'e}, {na'o}
>
> One of them must refer to density of occurrence in a given
> interval. I don't know which one, nor what would the other be
So we will have to revisit this issue.
Are you saying that one would mean "most times within a given
interval", = so'e roi?
I was saying that I took "ta'e" to mean "on multiple occasions"
as opposed to "za'u roi" = "multiple times".
Right. I think I understand the distinction you make, but I'm
not sure {roi} is restricted like that. If {re'u} is the ordinal
corresponding to {roi}, it would seem that it is more often
based on occasions than on times within an occasion. "The third
time I knocked" vs. "on the third knock". I think roi/re'u should
cover both cases, but I'm not sure.
> >2c. methods of making statements about typicality
>
> Use of {fadni} is the best way to go here
I agree, but how do we say things like "In general, the tv news
starts at 2200", "In general, divorce is traumatic"?
Wouldn't {so'eroi} work here?
> >4. meaning, if any, of ni+ce'u
>
> My preferrence is {ni} = {ka/du'u sela'u makau}, so ni+ce'u is
> well defined. I don't see {ni} as a number as very useful, but
> I won't argue too strongly for this
I prefer ni as analogous to jei, on aesthetic grounds. I.e.
ni = poi'i sela'u ke'a. But I don't feel too strongly about it.
All the same, I don't see why ni+ce'u means on either reading.
Can you explain?
With the ka/du'u meaning, ce'u works as usual:
la djan zmadu la meris le ni ce'u blanu
=la djan zmadu la meris le ka sela'u makau ce'u blanu
John exceeds Mary in how blue they are.
With the {poi'i sela'u ke'a} meaning I don't see how it could
work with {ce'u}.
> >5. ways of signalling when numbers are and aren't restricted to integersThat was from the "djedi li integer" thread. We want to distinguish between "last more than 24 hours" and "last one or more days", for example. "She will stay with me for at least a week" vs. "She will stay with me for one or more weeks". You had suggested something like "su'o pi" vs "su'o pi nai", though that is based on a grammar change that allows nai anywhere.
I think {su'opapi} for at least one but not restricted to integers.
{pi} by itself should be {nopi}, so I would read {su'o pi} as
"at least 0.0".
I think plain {su'o} and {su'opa} should default to integers,
so {jetfu li su'o} should work for one or more weeks.
mu'o mi'e xorxes
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