Re: The Distribution Problem: An Ambiguity?

[And Rosta <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>]

> 1)      melbi je cmalu nixli
>         pretty and little girl
>
> 2)      cmalu je nixli ckule
>         little and girl school
>
> 3)      labno je remna dapma
>         wolf and man curse
>         werewolf curse
>
> Each of these tanru is susceptible of two different interpretations, which
> I call "distributive" and "non-distributive".  In the distributive
> interpretation, "A je B C" means "(A B) je (A C)"; in the non-distributive
> interpretation, it means "C of type A-je-B".

It strikes me that something's wrong with the nondistrib reading. First
of all, we might note that it could be expanded into "wolf and man creature
curse", which is now distributive. Given this, why have the nondistrib
reading.

Secondly, I do not understand why _je_ should indicate "fusion" as it
does with the nondistrib reading. Can the lojban equivalent of
_I laughed and (I) cried_ mean something like "I was doing something
that was half laughing and half crying"? I should imagine not, and that
to get this meaning one would have to say "I cry laugh" or "I laugh
cry". (Note that I'm not saying that in _I laugh and cry_ the _laugh_
and the _cry_ can't be understood as referring to the same event.)

I know nothing at all about Lojban connectives, so this is all going
just on intuition.

---
And.