veridicality trivial?

["Robert J. Chassell" <bob@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU>]

jorge@phyast.pitt.edu cuska di'e

    > In Lojban, an imperative is true iff the command is carried out.

    Is that true? I thought imperatives didn't have truth values.

This is a fundamental misunderstanding of Loglan.  *Every* predication
is considered true or false.  This is fundamental to the language.

In a context where `the' is the appropriate translation for {lo}:

    ko ciska lo plipe

Means "make it be true that `you eat the apple'"

So the question is, is the following utterance true?

    do ciska lo plipe

If you do not eat the apple, it is false.  It can only be true if you
do eat the apple.  Hence, the imperative is true if and only if the
command is carried out.


jorge@phyast.pitt.edu cuska di'e

    My point of view is this:

    Saying that {lo} is veridical is almost a triviality. Because of the
    fact that it is non-specific, it needs to be veridical or we lose any
    connection with meaning.

This is why {lo} may be specific; {le} may be non-specific.
Veridicality is an indicator of, i.e., a guide towards and away from,
specificity (and definiteness).

It all fits together as is.

    Robert J. Chassell               bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu
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