Kind: Difference between revisions

No change in size ,  19:18, 17 January 2023
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* "Dinosaurs are extinct" can not be expressed as <math>\left[\forall D\colon \text{Dinosaur}(D)\right] \text{Extinct}(D)</math>. Individual dinosaurs are not extinct, only dead. Dinosaurs, as a kind, are extinct.
* "Dinosaurs are extinct" can not be expressed as <math>\left[\forall D\colon \text{Dinosaur}(D)\right] \text{Extinct}(D)</math>. Individual dinosaurs are not extinct, only dead. Dinosaurs, as a kind, are extinct.
* "Cats are widespread" can not be expressed as <math>\left[\exists C\colon \text{Cat}(C)\right] \text{Widespread}(C)</math>. Individual cats cannot be widespread. Not even "many cats are widespread".
* "Cats are widespread" can not be expressed as <math>\left[\exists C\colon \text{Cat}(C)\right] \text{Widespread}(C)</math>. Individual cats cannot be widespread. Not even "many cats are widespread".
* Even "I'll make some soup" can not be expressed as <math>\left[\exists S\colon \text{Soup}(S)\right] \text{WillMake}(\text{I}, S)</math>. You aren't saying of some certain instance ''S'' of soup that you'll make it. Instead, the Toaq way of looking at this meaning of "make" is that we are "manifesting a kind"<ref name=manifesting-a-kind />. So we say {{t|baı jí báq tuzu}}, and only the result of our efforts (if we succeed) is {{t|sá tuzu}}.
* Even "I'll make some soup" can not be expressed as <math>\left[\exists S\colon \text{Soup}(S)\right] \text{WillMake}(\text{I}, S)</math>. You aren't saying of some certain instance ''S'' of soup that you'll make it. Instead, the Toaq way of looking at this meaning of "make" is that we are "manifesting a kind"<ref name=manifesting-a-kind />. So we say {{t|baı jí báq tuze}}, and only the result of our efforts (if we succeed) is {{t|sá tuze}}.


So, a language appears to need a way to make claims about kinds without quantifying over their individuals. One solution is to define predicates like "{{x}} makes something satisfying property {{x}}" and "The kind satisfying property {{x}} is extinct", and then fill them with {{t|lä tuzu ja}}. (This is the approach taken by pre-kind Toaq {{t|lıbaı}}, or Lojban <code>jaukpa</code>.) But then we are really just tucking away the grammatical concept of kinds in those English definitions. Moreover, it is unnaturally indirect for "X makes Y" to be a <code>c 1</code> word when it very much feels like we are talking about ''things'' and not properties.
So, a language appears to need a way to make claims about kinds without quantifying over their individuals. One solution is to define predicates like "{{x}} makes something satisfying property {{x}}" and "The kind satisfying property {{x}} is extinct", and then fill them with {{t|lä tuze ja}}. (This is the approach taken by pre-kind Toaq {{t|lıbaı}}, or Lojban <code>jaukpa</code>.) But then we are really just tucking away the grammatical concept of kinds in those English definitions. Moreover, it is unnaturally indirect for "X makes Y" to be a <code>c 1</code> word when it very much feels like we are talking about ''things'' and not properties.


== Semantics ==
== Semantics ==