Re: Event contours and ZAhO tcita

[Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>]

As the original pronouncer of the infinite BAI theory, I will give my current
reading.  I've been wrong too often when I say that I said something in the
pastm though I suspect this is not too far removed from what I've said before.

When you state a bridi, all of the places of the place structure are there,
and if not specified, have a value of zo'e.  This states a specific relationship
between objects which is the definition of the Lojban word.  If one sumti is
really not there, you have a slightly different relation.  If you have an extra
sumti, it is also a slightly different relation.  This is because predicate
logic, by its nature, states claims of relationships between a specific
number of arguments.

Thus the BAIs not spoken are not merely ellipsized.  If added, they claim an
added piece to the relationship.  But if not stated, they are not part of
the bridi, and their association is no more than the destination place of
litru - not there.

HOWEVER - in the real universe, we have -- a universe.  Everything in the univ
universe is more or less interdependent with everything else, and with the
universe itself in the form of a location in time and space.  Thus there is a
sense in which any given relationship is an infinite relationship.  The fact
that you don't make statements about that relationship doesn't mean it does
not exist.  I see the extra BAIs as being like those extra aspects of the
universal relationship.  They are effectively zi'o 'd out if left unstated -
you cannot determine truth claims based on any value assignable to them.  But
philosophically, I consider them to be there still.

Some added BAIs are so implicitly tied to the relationship, at least in my
mind, that I find it hard to dissociate the relationship from them. A statement
without a tense to me implies the same relationship with a tense specified.
But as a claim, the Lojban must be evaluated without the tense, since it is
not claimed as part of the relationship.  This is why some bridi can be taken
as mere potentials.  It may turn out that there is a subset of the BAI places
that we will recognize as being necessary to specify or concretize any
relationship within the context of the universe.  But I don't claim to know
how to do this.

But all of the unstated BAIs are still potentially there - they bring in new
links into the relationship, amking it richer and more specific.  It is this
sense of the POTENTIAL presence of all BAIs that is the critical aspect of
my view of the language.  I do not claim that actually adding them leaves the
original bridi unchanged.


And, yes Art, you have an ancient gismu list, although it is the last
one that was published up until only last month (which new list has only
been announced on Lojban List).  The list posted to the ftp server is
much more recent, much more detailed, etc.  (the printed list is
slightly newer than the last ftp version, I think, but this is
irrelevant, since I am trying to get the last couple of pages of notes
typed in to the computer and then there will be still a newer version.

But by all means update to the ftp version at least.

lojbab