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Date:         Fri, 20 Jan 1995 13:18:51 MET
Reply-To: Goran Topic <topic@math.hr>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Goran Topic <topic@math.hr>
Subject:      Re: ago, call for opinions
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To: Bob LeChevalier <lojbab@access.digex.net>
Status: RO
X-From-Space-Date: Fri Jan 20 07:20:41 1995
X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu

What do you others think? If you disagree with me, I'll back down... :)

If you haven't been following the thread, xorxes and me are discussing
expressing specific distances as a tense structure.

va'imu'a the sentences

  The kids are playing thirty metres away.
  I went to the market two days ago

can in the present state of the grammar be expressed only as

  lo mitre beli cino cu sepli ti lo jaibu'u kelci befai lei verba
    (assuming I got the {jai} thing right)
  lo djedi beli re cu temci lo cabna lenu mi klama lo zarci

xorxes proposes that we change the meaning of {VI/ZI <sumti>} to
mean the distance rather that offset, so that we can express those
sentences as

  lei verba cu kelci va lo mitre beli cino
  mi klama lo zarci za lo djedi beli re

which, by current definitions, means

  The children are playing somewhere around the 30-meter thing.
  I went to the market two days from or after some, here not specified,
    time.

I don't know how he proposes to translate "The children are playing
around the school", much less "The children are playing 30 metres
from the school". xorxes, your turn. (I hope I did not misquote
your thoughts.)

My proposal is to introduce new cmavo {xe'i} (with aspirations of
{te'i}hood one day :), modeled on {temci}) to signify distances, so
we could say

  lei verba cu kelci xe'i lo mitre beli cino
    (or, alternative proposal, {xe'ife'e})
  mi klama lo zarci xe'i lo djeci beli re

And it makes no problem about expressing the other two sentences I
mentioned, for which I don't remember xorxes to have found the
translation in the universe of his proposal as yet:

  lei verba cu kelci va lo ckule
  lei verba cu kelci va lo ckule xe'i[fe'e] lo mitre beli cino

Well, that's it, folks...

co'o mi'e. goran. noi darsi co ciksi loi sidbo befi la xorxes. vau vau zo'o
to .u'i .i lo'u vau vau le'u xajmi gi'eri'abo se fanva fi la gliban.
lo bangrxrvatska zoi gy. Wuff! Wuff! .gy. .u'i toi

--
Learn languages! The more langs you know, the more incomprehensible you can get
e'udoCILreleiBANgu.izo'ozo'onairoBANguteDJUnobedocubanRI'a.ailekadonaka'eSELjmi