Re: A question of semantics

michael poxon <m.poxon@...> wrote:
>
> Isn't this just the result of the wide meaning of "thought" in English,
> where it can do service for both 'mental process' and 'belief' - as you say,
> a question of semantics. I think (hah! Think = "I have a suspicion that")
> French gets round this by using 'penser' for the general act of thinking and
> 'croire' for 'having a belief - je crois que je pense donc je suis!
No.  There are several potential ambiguities, of which that is only
one.  In "I thought I saw Jenny", you have at least the following:

    I saw someone that I thought was Jenny.
    I saw someone that I looked like Jenny, but wasn't.
    I perceived Jenny, and thought that the perception was sight.
    I remember seeing Jenny, but may be misremembering.
    In the past, I would have said that I saw Jenny, but now realise
that I did not do so at the time in question.

The point is that there are many types of uncertainty, and English
allows only some types to be associated with some language constructions.
Your example of French shows that this is very arbitrary, and will vary
between what are two very similar languages.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:  nmm1@cam.ac.uk
Tel.:  +44 1223 334761    Fax:  +44 1223 334679

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