Return-Path: Received: from fiport.funet.fi by xiron.pc.helsinki.fi with smtp (Linux Smail3.1.28.1 #1) id m0rYg5y-00007VC; Sun, 29 Jan 95 22:19 EET Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (MAILER@SEARN) by FIPORT.FUNET.FI (PMDF V4.3-13 #2494) id <01HMFJCPXKSG000OSK@FIPORT.FUNET.FI>; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:15:12 +0200 (EET) Received: from SEARN.SUNET.SE (NJE origin LISTSERV@SEARN) by SEARN.SUNET.SE (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 8381; Sun, 29 Jan 1995 21:16:14 +0100 Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 20:17:13 +0000 From: ucleaar Subject: Re: ago In-reply-to: (Your message of Sat, 28 Jan 95 19:47:23 EST.) Sender: Lojban list To: Veijo Vilva Reply-to: ucleaar Message-id: <01HMFJCPY0SY000OSK@FIPORT.FUNET.FI> X-Envelope-to: veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu Content-Length: 1187 Lines: 27 Jorge: > > > ko'a jbena pu le nunjamna za lei ci nanca > > > He was born past of the war, magnitude (medium) three years. > > > He was born three years before the war. > > What is the rule whereby the za is understood as the displacement > > of the pu? > That is how tenses pile up. {ko'a puza jbena} means "he was born in the > past (of now), magnitude of offset: a medium time. I propose that the > sumti complement specifies better each component, the origin for pu > and the more specific magnitude for za. That all seems well and good. I merely wonder whether there is a rule that says the ZI specifies the displacement of the most recent PU. Is it always unambiguous which PU any ZI specifies the displacement of? > I wonder whether it might be possible to give {pu} and its ilk an > extra argument, for the displacement: x1 is before x2 in magnitude > x3. I suspect that that might impose too great a change upon the > syntax. > And is not really needed, because that is exactly the function of the > ZIs: to give the magnitude of the displacement. I mentioned it only because the ZI (as you propose it) seems to specify an argument of the PU. --- And