Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Mon, 27 Jan 92 16:21 EST Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA08300; Mon, 27 Jan 92 10:42:18 EST Received: from cunixf.cc.columbia.edu by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA26591; Mon, 27 Jan 92 10:20:31 -0500 Received: from cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu by cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (5.59/FCB) id AA22971; Mon, 27 Jan 92 10:20:30 EST Message-Id: <9201271520.AA22971@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.2.1) with BSMTP id 4357; Mon, 27 Jan 92 10:19:12 EST Received: by CUVMB (Mailer R2.07) id 8279; Mon, 27 Jan 92 10:18:47 EST Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1992 10:17:19 EST Reply-To: "Mark E. Shoulson" Sender: Lojban list From: "Mark E. Shoulson" Subject: subjunctive (su) X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann In-Reply-To: nsn%MULLIAN.EE.MU.OZ.AU@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu's message of Sun, 26 Jan 1992 15:59:31 +1100 Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Mon Jan 27 16:21:11 1992 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN >Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1992 15:59:31 +1100 >From: nsn%MULLIAN.EE.MU.OZ.AU@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu >Actually, if anyone has been reading any of my recent translations, they >would have noticed that I translate a phrase of the type >"If I were a rich man, ladiladiladida, I would be happy" >as >{fau le nu'o nu mi micfu kei tozoily. ladiladiladida ly.toi mi gleki} >or >{le nu'o nu mi ricfu cu nibli le nu mi gleki} >though I suppose {le da'i nu mi ricfu} would be better. >Is there anything wrong with this? I suspect there might be, but can't put my >finger on it. If you'll recall, I ran into a similar problem in my translation of Psalm #137 ("By the Rivers of Babylon", the one with the smashing-babies-against-rocks). There's a rhetorical question and a counterfactual there too. First there's "How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" or something. This isn't a question that wants to be answered. I think I used something like "mu'i makau" for that. Maybe not very good. More UI's are needed in the clause, too. There's also the "if I forget thee, O Jerusalem..." line. With a little advice from Lojbab, I did something like "lenu mi morsisti .ainai do doi .iyrucaloi,iim. cu rinka lenu co'esa'ali'o", using ".ainai" to indicate that I have no intention of forgetting. I don't think I knew about the "da'i" attitudinal then. >Nick (nsn@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au) ~mark (shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu)