Re: Laranao modals, aspects, etc.

Matt Pearson skrev:

> Well, not necessarily.  The difference is this:
> "some" can mean either "more than one but not all"
> or "an indefinite number, fewer than many, but
> possibly all".
> For example, consider the sentence "There are some
> dragons in that forest" (where "some" is unstressed).
> This sentence is compatible with a situation in which
> all of the dragons in the world happen to be in the
> forest.  Thus, "some"  cannot mean "not all" in this
> case.  It merely signifies an indefinite number, greater
> than one but fewer than "many".
Oh! Now I get it!

< snip all the forestdragons >

> Tokana distinguishes the two meanings:  The
> quantifier "sepe" can only be used to mean "less
> than all".  To denote an indefinite number without
> implying less than all, "mah" must be used.
I'm definitely gonna have that distinction in Laranao too.

'Etao' would then be 'a few, but could still be all', which
could then be applied to the annual dragon meeting where all
the world's dragons attend, but there are still just three of them.

And introducing 'akao' as meaning 'less than all, but still not
that many'. For example:
"Some dragons were at the meeting, but most of them stayed home."

/ Daniel (who, if there actually were any dragons in the forest,
          would yell: RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!!! :)