ninmu

[Robin Turner <robin@BILKENT.EDU.TR>]

Just a point about "femininity" - is it actually possible to use "ninmu"
quantitively?  The definitions are given as:

x1 is a woman/women
x1 is a female humanoid person (not necessarily adult)

The first is culturally specific, and I assume it is given as a "rough"
definition.  For example, in English the main criteria for "woman" are

female
human
having attained physical/social maturity

whereas in Turkish they are

female
human
non-virgin

though in both languages other factors may take priority (e.g. in Turkish a
very young non-virgin would still probably be referred to as a "girl" while
a very old virgin would not).  Given this cultural basis for definition, I
assume that this would be unsuitable for Lojban, since, for example,
english and Turkish native speakers would then use "ninmu" differently.

Looking at the second definition, one is presumably either a female
humanoid person or one is not - there are no degrees here (except possibly
with "humanoid" in the case of alien races - Vulcans resemble humans more
than Klingons do, for example).  To use "ni" with "ninmu" would then be to
use "ninmu" metaphorically, which I don't  think is appropriate.  For this
use we would need a separate word with the definition

x1 [conforms to appearance/behaviour of women] [in culture x2]


Robin Turner

Bilkent Universitesi,
IDMYO,
Ankara,
Turkey.

<http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8309>