Re: `at least one ' vrs `one or more'

[Chris Bogart <cbogart@QUETZAL.COM>]

Bob wrote:
 =20
      But the question revolves around the negation of

    mi nelci lo mlatu

where {lo mlatu} means `some number of real cats, but not necessarily =
all'.

The negation [naku zo'u mi nelci lo mlatu -- CB] is translated as

    "for some number of cats x, not necessarily everyone, it is not the
    case that I like x."

No!  Your two English translations above are NOT CONTRADICTORY.  It's =
possible to like some cats and not like others.  The contradiction of "I =
like at least one cat" is "I don't like any cats".  If one is true, the =
other must be false, and vice versa.  That's what the word negation =
means, and that's what [naku] means.  THEREFORE if {mi nelci lo mlatu} =
means "I like at least one cat", then {naku zo'u mi nelci lo mlatu} MUST =
mean that statement's exact logical opposite: "I don't like any cats".  =
Otherwise, {naku} wouldn't really be negation, would it?

If you want to say that there are some cats you don't like, you have to =
mention the cats *before* the naku, so that the naku is not truly =
negating the whole sentence:

      mi nelci lo mlatu naku       --- there are some cats I don't like

The logical structure of lojban is more basic and more important than =
the veridiciality of {lo}.  If you've found some way to interpret the =
English glosses of {lo} to allow exceptions to {naku}'s ability to truly =
negate a sentence, then those glosses are in error, not the basic logic =
of the language.

co'o mi'e kris