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John: > And Rosta scripsit: > > > No it doesn't. {ci lo mikce} is a full sumti & means "there are three > > doctors". > > Eh? It is a sumti, indeed, and it means "three doctors". It makes an existence claim and hence can be paraphrased as "there are three doctors". > > > But I gotta ask: have outer quantifiers ever been an issue for li? For > > > la'e? > > > > For me & xorxes, yes. Not because we're ornery, but because we tend to be > > first to ask the questions that have to be asked. > > CLL points out that the default quantifier for "li" is "pa", numbers being > unique; pa doesn't guarantee uniqueness: ro broda cu brode pa li mu = "each broda is brode of one number 5". Because there is only one number 5, this isn't a problem, of course. But the quantifier should be tu'o. > for "me'o" it's "su'o", expressions being definitely not unique. > > > > I know And wanted a Unique quantifier (currently tu'o) to seal up > > > the quantification of such gadri, but I cannot see why the default for > > > them would be anything but tu'o anyway. > > > > I'm okay with that. Taking tu'o to be counterpart of zi'o rather than > > zo'e. > > No problem there. But a default quantifier is just that, default; it can > be overridden. To really *prohibit* quantification requires a grammar > change. The best solution is just to assign a meaning to quantifier+gadri, rather than forbid it. > > Currently it is {(ro) la smifs} and {lai smifs}. > > I would expect "la smifs" and "lai smif". > > > I don't know what either of them mean. Is Johnny Marr su'o la smifs? > > No. > > > Or is la/lai a distinction without a difference? > > "LA foox" means "LE selcme be zo foox", so "la smifs" refers to an > individual (which may of course have parts, like any individual), named > "smifs"; So is {re la smifs} nonsensical? > "lai smif" is a mass composed of individuals each of which > (within the usual constraints of masses) is named "smif". You can't > subdivide an individual without a full selbri. Okay. > > > You can have two groups called The Smiths. > > > > Homonymy. > > No, LA-expressions exhibit neither homonymy nor polysemy. la djan. is > "The one(s) of all those named 'John' that I have in mind." Homonymy for English. The Lojban is different, and I keep on getting my head round it and then forgetting again. Taking your characterization of Lojban cmene as corrent, I think they are best thought of as brivla (with a restricted distribution), and a-gadri as varieties of e-gadri. --And.