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la nitcion cusku di'e
lo'e merko cu xabju ma .i na'i pa da zo'u lo'e merko xabju da .i lo'e merko cu vrici le du'u ce'u xabju makau
I don't have a problem with that, but notice that it would be
false that {so'e merko cu vrici le du'u ce'u xabju makau}.
> What colour it has in a given situation depends on the situation. Again, different presupposition, different conclusion. You have a local squinting, I guess, which is why situation can change what colour the squinted box has. I admit only global squinting, which is independent of context, considering boxes as a global population in themselves. In such a view, situation is irrelevant --- unless the situation is that there has arisen a cult painting all the boxes they ever find blue.
So you use {lo'e} for context-independent claims only. Not very
useful for everyday conversation, but then nobody was using {lo'e}
much anyway so that's consistent.
>> .i mi nitcu lo'ei tanxe
>> .i xu su'o da zo'u da skari ri
>> .i go'i fa da kaunai
>>
>> The "fill in a blank here" box does have a colour; it's just
>> unspecified and uninstantiated. There's no na'i about it.
> Very interesting use of {kau}! Can you explain the {nai} there?
> I would have just used {makau} for "whatever colour".
kaunai means that the value is not known, and not instantiated; but is
known to exist and be unique {da}. Is it odd to use {kau} like that?
The "known" part is not right. It comes from most examples of
{kau} being based on {djuno}, but it is not really part of {kau}.
We can say {noda djuno le du'u makau zukte}, "nobody knows who
did it", for example, where {kau} obviously does not mean that
the value is known. It is not even clear that it need be
instantiated.
When we say {da kau go'i}, we say that the value is known and is
instantiated, but just isn't communicated. When you're asking for a
box, you know that whatever box satisfies the request will be a
specific, concrete box, and so will have a colour. What colour that
will be, noone knows yet; it is, after all, intensionally defined.
I may also need something that I will never get. I would just say: i mi nitcu lo'e tanxe "I need a box." i ma skari ty "Of what colour?" i makau skari "Of any colour." "(Of whatever colour.)" And had some valid objections to this, but I can't remember them now.
When you know who killed the butler (kauja'ai), OTOH, there's nothing intensional and fluffy there: the killer of the butler has a denotation known to at least one person. (I've used ja'ai. Truly the end times are upon us...)
We can include {ja'ai} and such in the apocalypse section of
the dictionary.
mu'o mi'e xorxes
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