WikiDiscuss

T> Can individual cows mill around and block a road? Sounds like a herd to me.

S> the game at the moment is to be minimally precise — hence the possibility that {lo bakni} means "a chunk of cow" and {mi} means "all for whom I presume to speak."
xod <xod@thestonecutters.net> wrote:

Pierre Abbat wrote:

>On Friday 04 June 2004 11:35, xod wrote:
>
>
>>And it could easily be interpreted as a herd of cows standing in the
>>road. Therefore I suggest so'o bakni for cow herd, and tu'o bakni for
>>cow goo, and the disuse of loi.
>>
>>
>
>{so'o bakni} is equivalent to {so'o lo bakni} which refers to several cows
>considered individually. {loi bakni}, referring to the same cows, considers
>them as a mass.
>
>

T>If loi is never used for cow herds or cow goo, but only in cases where
the cows are acting collectively (doing something as a group that they
could not do individually) then loi has a useful and clear meaning. I
can't imagine an example of cows working cooperatively and not as a
number of individuals. The classic case of this is the 3 men carrying
the piano; a collective task because no one individual can do it, thus
the ability to carry a piano is an emergent property of the collective.

>>lo bakni can refer to part of a cow.
>>
>>
>
>I don't see that in the definition of {bakni}.
>
>

Half a cow is {.5 bakni}. Two cows is {2 bakni}. If {lo bakni} can refer
to the latter, then why not the former?

>>Context should *always* imply that you didn't consume the entire cow,
>>and you shouldn't need to emphasize that except in the most bizarre
>>circumstances.
>>
>>
>
>{mi} can have a plural referent considered as a mass, in which case {mi citka
>lo bakni} can be true, with all of us together eating the cow.
>
>

S>Yes, when mi is referring to a group with the ability to consume a cow,
then you should be clear to distinguish whether they did devour one
animal, or simply sit down to a steak meal.

--
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