From cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN Thu Sep 5 13:55:19 1991 Return-Path: Date: Thu Sep 5 13:55:19 1991 Message-Id: <9109051749.AA04508@relay1.UU.NET> Reply-To: Lojban list Sender: Lojban list From: cbmvax!uunet!MATH.UCLA.EDU!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!jimc Subject: Re: A few quickies To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann , Bob LeChevalier In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 05 Sep 91 09:22:18 EDT." <9109051637.AA07393@julia.math.ucla.edu> Status: RO > ... If I divide water on two > sides of a partition, have I "divide-cause"d the water, or the partition? > I caused one to be divided, and one to divide. Would the former be > {selfendri'a} and the latter {fendri'a}? Hmmm. Actually, that sounds > pretty good. In English the nominative case occupant is the primary sumti, so (in lojbanified English): I do (zukte) [event] {partition divides the water} and my influence is specifically on the partition. Example: a fish tank, and you _insert_ a fence to keep certain fish away from the rest. But in Lojban the entire abstract sumti, the relation, is "done" as a unit, so you do it to the partition and the water equally. By the way, on rinka, I believe the current interpretation of "x1 causes x2 condition x3" is that x1 and x2 are both events. There has been discussion about whether "mi" can or should be interpreted as an event, but that certainly isn't what an English speaker is used to. -- jimc