Received: from ELI.CS.YALE.EDU by NEBULA.SYSTEMSZ.CS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:46:39 -0500 Received: from YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU by eli.CS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Fri, 3 Dec 1993 11:22:07 -0500 Message-Id: <199312031622.AA04812@eli.CS.YALE.EDU> Received: from CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU by YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 7178; Fri, 03 Dec 93 11:45:21 EST Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Mailer R2.07) with BSMTP id 0938; Fri, 03 Dec 93 11:40:27 EDT Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1993 16:35:59 GMT Reply-To: "Dr. C.D. Wright" Sender: Lojban list From: "Dr. C.D. Wright" X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: Erik Rauch Status: RO X-Status: X-From-Space-Date: Fri Dec 3 16:35:59 1993 X-From-Space-Address: @YaleVM.YCC.YALE.EDU:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET OK. I'm a beginner, so excuse the simple question ... I have in front of me a copy of Imaginary Journeys and there's something I don't understand. Example 12.2 is mi klama le zarci pu lenu do pu klama le zdani 1 2 "pu" number 2 says that you _went_ to the house. "pu" number one means I went to the store at a time in the past relative to the event that "pu"-1 labels. Thus the translation is that I went to the store before you went to the house. The implication is that when a tense is used as a sumti tcita, the tense is taken relative the the sumti being tagged. Another example, number 10.3, says that le verba ba'o cadzu le bisli The "ba'o" is perfective, indicating that the event or relationship expressed by the bridi is complete. The child has finished walking on the ice. Now consider example 12.6 mi morsi ba'o lenu mi jmive The ba'o tags the event of my living, and the ba'o indicates that the relationship expressed by the bridi is complete when taken relative to the sumti. Thus this translates as I die and finish doing so before I live. Hmm. The translation given is that I die in the aftermath of my living, which makes more sense, but seems to me to be inconsistent with the previous examples. Comments ?? Colin Wright.