Re: OT: Chinese Philosophy (Was: Re: USAGE: Count and mass nouns)

Isn't that a simple case of natlang ambiguity ? Don't the Chinese themselves
understand the difference between "the whole of white horses" and "one white
horse" ? How would the say "A white horse is a horse" ? in case they have to ?

I've just come upon a silly riddle :
- What are the animals who eat with their tails ?
Answer: Have you ever seen an animal getting rid of its tail before eating ?

(Where's the problem ? In the ambiguity of the word "with": with the help of, vs in
company of. To keep precise, we should add that we're talking about animals
having a tail, of course).

jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM wrote:
The idea is that although every individual white horse is of course a horse
(and that would be the normal understanding, making the sentence false), the
total mass of White-Horse is not the same -- indeed it is a component of --
the total mass of Horse. In a mass-centric language, this interpretation
is equally available.


Philippe Caquant

"Le langage est source de malentendus."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

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