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But what would a day on jboske be without me yelling at Jorge?
As Nick as alluded, de-emphasis of this point is what has seduced so many otherwise virtuous lojbanists into using mass gadri simply for plurals.You are assuming that distributive is the default reading of plurals, but I don't agree that this is the case. I think collective is a more useful default reading, i.e. I don't assume distributivity unless explicitly marked.
Jorge, I should hope you're not now humpty-dumptying English as well as Lojban! :-) The interpretation in English is contextually determined, primarily by the verb, so I don't see why talk of a default in English is even meaningful. (And what's *useful* in English? Natlangs don't work like that. I do know I find it difficult to credit emergent properties are more commonplace than non-emergent ones, though.)
In Lojban, of course, the distributivity of {(za'u) lo} is definitional to {lo}, and non-negotiable. Since {lo} is distributive, and the English plural is *frequently* distributive, the tendency to use {loi} as a generic plural (which is there) does indeed need to be combatted. The minute people say {loi X cu nelci}, say, there's a better than even chance they're doing something wrong...
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Upon completing His outburst, God fell silent, standing quietly at the podium for several moments. Then, witnesses reported, God's shoulders began to shake, and He wept. [http://www.theonion.com/onion3734/god_clarifies_dont_kill.html] Dr Nick Nicholas. nickn@hidden.email http://www.opoudjis.net