lo

[Gerald Koenig <jlk@NETCOM.COM>]

I (djer) said:

> The default lo would be specific or singular and the
> optional explicit greater-than-one kind would be non-specific or
> general. Examples of this usage:

 deletions

> .i mi pencu lo ci tanxe          general, transparant
> I touch three real boxes.

xorge responded>

Notice that in your translations you have implicitly an outside quantifier
{ro}, not {pa}. For example, you say that {mi pencu lo ci tanxe} means
{mi pencu ro lo ci tanxe} = "I touch each of the three boxes", and not
what you proposed as a default quantifier {mi pencu pa lo ci tanxe} =
"I touch one of the three boxes".

What it means in standard Lojban is {mi pencu su'o lo ci tanxe} =
"I touch at least one of the only three things that are real boxes".

djer then says>
I didn't propose an outer quantifier.  I was just exploring the
consequences of letting lo mean lo pa as a default. That's what I meant
by saying the default lo would be singular.

> These sentences parse. It is a matter of convention what lo tanxe is to
> mean.

djer