Re: category errors in sumti

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

Cowan:
>Thus the x1 of "fetsi" "must be animate", meaning that when
>it is inanimate, the resulting bridi is invariably false.

assuming of course that we define fetsi that way, which we have not.
Indeed we have not even defined "animate" in a useful way. Is a dead female
body animate?  Are various body parts associated solely with females
animate  (or for that matter would it be correct to say that they are
"fetsi" - e.g. a pair of X chromosomes in a human cell nucleus, or an egg
cell that is unfertilized).  Is a statue of a woman "fetsi"?

We have not defined the meanings of the gismu so carefully that we necessarily
can ascribe categories appropriate to each place.  I think we should not
try to do so, at least so long as the bulk of the analysis is being
done by English speakers wihtout benefit of actually using the language
for a long time to find out what "works".

lojbab
----
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