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To Speak Of Many Things: The Lojban sumti - The Lojban Reference Grammar
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To Speak Of Many Things: The Lojban sumti
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<h3><a id="s6" name="s6">6. Quantified sumti</h3>
<p>The following cmavo are discussed in this section:</p>
<pre>
ro PA all of/each of
su'o PA at least (one of)
</pre>
Quantifiers tell us how many: in the case of quantifiers with
sumti, how many things we are talking about. In Lojban,
quantifiers are expressed by numbers and mathematical
expressions: a large topic discussed in some detail in <a
href="../c18/s1.html">Chapter 18</a>. For the purposes of this
chapter, a simplified treatment will suffice. Our examples will
employ either the simple Lojban numbers ``pa'', ``re'', ``ci'',
``vo'', and ``mu'', meaning ``one'', ``two'', ``three'',
``four'', ``five'' respectively, or else one of four special
quantifiers, two of which are discussed in this section and
listed above. These four quantifiers are important because
every Lojban sumti has either one or two of them implicitly
present in it --- which one or two depends on the particular
kind of sumti. There is more explanation of implicit
quantifiers later in this section. (The other two quantifiers,
``piro'' and ``pisu'o'', are explained in <a href="s7.html">Section
7</a>.)
<p>Every Lojban sumti may optionally be preceded by an explicit
quantifier. The purpose of this quantifier is to specify how
many of the things referred to by the sumti are being talked
about. Here are some simple examples contrasting sumti with and
without explicit quantifiers:</p>
<p></p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d1" name="e6d1">6.1)</a> do cadzu le bisli
You walk-on the ice.
<a id="e6d2" name="e6d2">6.2)</a> re do cadzu le bisli
Two-of you walk-on the ice.
</pre>
The difference between <a href="#e6d1">Example 6.1</a> and <a
href="#e6d2">Example 6.2</a> is the presence of the explicit
quantifier ``re'' in the latter example. Although ``re'' by
itself means ``two'', when used as a quantifier it means
``two-of''. Out of the group of listeners (the number of which
isn't stated), two (we are not told which ones) are asserted to
be ``walkers on the ice''. Implicitly, the others (if any) are
not walkers on the ice. In Lojban, you cannot say ``I own three
shoes'' if in fact you own four shoes. Numbers need never be
specified, but if they are specified they must be correct.
<p>(This rule does not mean that there is no way to specify a
number which is vague. The sentence</p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d3" name="e6d3">6.3)</a> mi ponse su'o ci cutci
I possess at-least three shoes.
</pre>
is true if you own three shoes, or four, or indeed any larger
number. More details on vague numbers appear in the discussion
of mathematical expressions in <a href="../c18/s1.html">Chapter
18</a>.)
<p>Now consider <a href="#e6d1">Example 6.1</a> again. How many
of the listeners are claimed to walk on the ice? The answer
turns out to be: all of them, however many that is. So <a
href="#e6d1">Example 6.1</a> and <a href="#e6d4">Example
6.4</a>:</p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d4" name="e6d4">6.4)</a> ro do cadzu le bisli
All-of you walk-on the ice.
</pre>
turn out to mean exactly the same thing. This is a safe
strategy, because if one of my listeners doesn't turn out to be
walking on the ice, I can safely claim that I didn't intend
that person to be a listener! And in fact, all of the personal
pro-sumti such as ``mi'' and ``mi'o'' and ``ko'' obey the same
rule. We say that personal pro-sumti have a so-called
``implicit quantifier'' of ``ro'' (all). This just means that
if no quantifier is given explicitly, the meaning is the same
as if the implicit quantifier had been used.
<p>Not all sumti have ``ro'' as the implicit quantifier,
however. Consider the quotation in:</p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d5" name="e6d5">6.5)</a> mi cusku lu do cadzu le bisli li'u
I express [quote] you walk-on the ice [unquote].
I say, ``You walk on the ice.''
</pre>
<p>What is the implicit quantifier of the quotation ``lu do
cadzu le bisli li'u''? Surely not ``ro''. If ``ro'' were
supplied explicitly, thus:</p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d6" name="e6d6">6.6)</a> mi cusku ro lu do cadzu le bisli li'u
I express all-of [quote] you walk-on the ice [unquote].
</pre>
the meaning would be something like ``I say every occurrence of
the sentence 'You walk on the ice'''. Of course I don't say
every occurrence of it, only some occurrences. One might
suppose that <a href="#e6d5">Example 6.5</a> means that I
express exactly one occurrence, but it is more Lojbanic to
leave the number unspecified, as with other sumti. We can say
definitely, however, that I say it at least once.
<p>The Lojban cmavo meaning ``at least'' is ``su'o'', and if no
ordinary number follows, ``su'o'' means ``at least once''. (See
<a href="#e6d3">Example 6.3</a> for the use of ``su'o'' with an
ordinary number). Therefore, the explicitly quantified version
of <a href="#e6d5">Example 6.5</a> is</p>
<p></p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d7" name="e6d7">6.7)</a> mi cusku su'o lu do cadzu
le bisli li'u
I express at-least-one-of [quote] you walk-on
the ice [unquote].
I say one or more instances of ``You walk on the ice''.
I say ``You walk on the ice''.
</pre>
<p>If an explicit ordinary number such as ``re'' were to
appear, it would have to convey an exact expression, so</p>
<pre>
<a id="e6d8" name="e6d8">6.8)</a> mi cusku re lu do cadzu le bisli li'u
I express two-of [quote] you walk-on the ice [unquote].
</pre>
means that I say the sentence exactly twice, neither more nor
less.
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