Re: TECH: RE: Goats' legs and counting

[John Cowan <cowan@SNARK.THYRSUS.COM>]

mi pu cusku di'e

> > Unspecified sumti are quantified in an unspecified way.
> > ...
> > Since unspecified sumti have vague quantifiers,
> > it doesn't matter where they go.

la .i,n cusku di'e

> At first I didn't know _what_ to make of the former statement,
> until I realised that there are two obvious candidates,
> existential and universal quantification,
> and it could just be ambiguous which is intended.
> Then I re-read From @YaleVM.YCC.YALE.EDU:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET Tue Mar  2 15:28:20 1993
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From: Logical Language Group <lojbab@GREBYN.COM>
Subject:      scope of prenex
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To: Erik Rauch <erikr@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU>
Status: OR

I wouldn't agree that the scope of a prenex extends as indefinitely as Cowan
seems to imply.  It certainly doesn't extend over a paragraph boundary
which otherwise resets anaphora assignments, for example.

I believe that I have said that the prenex would last indefinitely on sentences
connected with logical connectives, provided that there is no new prenex that
reassigns the variable.

The logical connectedness of sentences joined only with .i is vague, and
therefore, the continuing scope of a "da" is implicitly equally vague.  I
would tend to think that if there has been no indication of a reassignment
that pragmatically one would tend to assume that it is the same "da" as the
earlier reference.  But I would rather see people use ".ije" if they consciously
intend this.

lojbab