View source for Talk:zipcpi: The case against "lo"

Specific/deictic case: There are specific referents within the universe of discourse that I wish to refer to right now. E.g. "Give me the two apples." (probably the ones you're holding, or on the table nearby, or that we were already discussing.)

:ko dunda fi mi fe ti noi du re plise - inner scoping. often not needed and ignored.

Non-specific case: There is a set of referents that I refer to, but the difference between the members within the set is not important. "Give me any two apples."

:lo dunda fi mi fe lo re plise - no scoping. constant can't be changed or re-declared.

Generalistic case: I am generalizing about a set of referents, without making any comment as to which members they apply to. "I like apples." "Apples are delicious."

:na'oku lo plise cu kukte - scoping (here, using tags which also scope)
:Another explanation (depends on how "generalistic" is perceived):
:lo na'o plise cu kukte - just semantics, i.e. idealistic apple, to describe it we can construct a new bridi, '''na'o plise''' in this case.

Definitional/essentialistic case: I am defining or expressing an opinion about what distinguishes a member of the set of referents, from a non-member. "Apples are a type of fruit."
(Note that ro broda cu brode is not an adequate answer for this case, as the fact that ro broda cu brode may be coincidental and not definitional to broda. E.g. xu ro remna cu mroka'e = "Are all humans mortal?" -> "go'i/Yes", but whether "humans" are defined as "mortal" would be a very different question.)

Opinion is "attitude" hence cnima'o are to be used here (any cnima'o you want, you may choose among zillions of them):

:ca'e ro remna bi'ai mroka'e


Most of the time, this ambiguity is not a problem (context is a pretty powerful creature), but it often is beneficial to disambiguate. [e.g. Did you like the play? (probably the one you just watched), or Do you like plays? (in general)]

:The play I just watched is a scoped variable used in UD, hence '''da''' or its derivatives are to be used.
:da skina gi'e se cmene zoi zoi The Lion King zoi ije xu do nelci da