[YG Conlang Archives] > [jboske group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >
John:
> And Rosta scripsit:
>
> > Mr Ma'u (alias Mr Za'uno, Mr Number, PA-kind) is the kind of all
> > numbers greater than 0, used as a quantifier when the most we can
> > say is that there is more than 0 of something.
> >
> > Used as a digit in combination with other digits, it could do
> > something similar and generalize over 0-9. So the 1990s would
> > be {pa so so Mr.-Ma'u}. {pa Mr.-Ma'u ji'i} might give you 1-100.
> > {pa Mr.-Ma'u} might by stipulation give you 1-10
>
> These seem contradictory: Mr.-Ma'u as stand-alone can't be zero, but Mr.-Ma'u
> as digit must be zero. Furthermore, Mr.-Ma'u by itself on the *second*
> interpretation would be 0-9
That's right. A somewhat ugly inconsistency arguably legitimized to
make a useful meaning expressible by an expression that apperently
would not otherwise be meaningful.
> And further furthermore, I do not understand how the rules for Kinds apply
> to things like numbers, that are inherently noematic already. How is the
> Kind of 9 different from just 9? The Kind of "9" (mo'e so) is intelligible,
> but not the Kind of 9 (li so)
9 is a kind. Mr Ma'u, though, is not Mr 9 but Mr More than Zero.
Just as Mr Poodle is a subkind of Mr Dog, so 9 is a subkind of
&-ma'u.
--And.