Re: ni

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

> Lee:
>>{mitre} is a special case because it already has a place for
>>measurement, so I might agree that {le ni mitre} is just the same
>>thing as {le se mitre}.  But something like {ninmu} makes it more
>>useful: {mi nelci le ni ti ninmu} "I like the amount-of she is-a-
>>woman/I like her degree of femininity".
>
>This is how I would say it: {mi nelci le nu ti ninmu la'u makau}
> "I like to what extent she is a woman".
>
>If {ni} is used as above for indirect questions, then it shouldn't
>be used for amounts. There you are not saying that you like an
>amount. If Mary's degree of femininity is the same as Jane's that
>doesn't mean that if you like Mary's degree of femininity you will
>also like Jane's, does it?

What I see you calling an "indirect question", I would call a
"jei" question.  "
"I like the degree to which "She is a woman" is true."
The difference in my mind between jei and ni is that jei tops out at
1.0 on a scale of 0 to 1, whereas ni can be openended, and therefore
ni broda has meaning when you have a number greater than the minimum
needed to say that ko'a broda.  We understand this for femininity, where
two things can both be feminine, and one can still be more feminine than
the other.

And put this elliptically, we can even say that two things can be inept
to different degrees and still be inept.

A ni broda response to a jei broda question is perhaps acceptable in
conversational implicature, but is not necessarily the most appropriate
response.

lojbab
----
lojbab                                                lojbab@access.digex.net
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA                        703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: ftp.access.digex.net /pub/access/lojbab
    or see Lojban WWW Server: href="http://xiron.pc.helsinki.fi/lojban/";
    Order _The Complete Lojban Language_ - see our Web pages or ask me.