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Re: A question of semantics

From:Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...>
Date:Friday, August 8, 2003, 1:53
Quoting John Cowan <jcowan@...>:

> JS Bangs scripsit: > > > Does Lojban encode a subjective/objective distinction? If so, is this > > distinction meant to be culturally neutral? Because not all cultures have > > a subjective/objective distinction, and even those that do can violently > > disagree as to what kinds of knowledge belong in which category. > > I don't think so, unless I misunderstand what you mean by "subjective/ > objective distinction". The distinction is "specific/nonspecific". If I > say "I see a [specific] cat", then you can't tell if this is true unless > you know what I'm referring to by "a [specific] cat".
I think the term usually used for this is "referential". C'ali makes covert use of referentiality in determining whether certain kinds of nominals take case morphology. ========================================================================= Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally, Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of 1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter. Chicago, IL 60637