From LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu Sat May 20 00:33:54 1995
Date:         Sat, 20 May 1995 01:02:07 +0200
From: Goran Topic <topic@STUDENT.MATH.HR>
Subject:      Re: A modest proposal re: tenses
To: Bob LeChevalier <lojbab@access.digex.net>
Message-ID: <YHgwJhh8xRJ.A.vrE.st0kLB@chain.digitalkingdom.org>

(...)
> > This would serve at least two purposes:
> >
> > a) It would allow more complicated tenses, expressing a specific distance
> > and/or reference point (using di'o: {di'o lo be'avixoi be le ginka bei
> > cimitre}

1. What would keep the compound tense from falling apart?  (be'avixoi
vs. be'a vixoi)

2. ci mitre are three one-metre things, and that formulation splits the
sentence into three separate events, each of which is one meter to the
left.  It does not mean three metres.  To get three metres you have to
use lo mitre be li ci

3. With xe'i:  be'a le ginka xe'i lo mitre be li ci

> Now you can say {di'o lo berti be le ginka}, but expressing the distance
> would be harder.

Not with xe'i (--> te'i). :)

> >         le ri'uxoi be fi remitre
                             ^^^^^^^
same thing.

with xe'i: ri'u te'i lo mitre be li re

> > 3) Some of the same holes could be plugged with another cmavo of selma'o
> > NU, a "position abstract"; then you could say, for instance, "the area
> > around the oven" with {sruri}, and perhaps using {mitre} in other cases.
> > {zvati} doesn't have enough places to be useful here.  (Naturally, we'd
> > need to resolve the {li'i} question first.)
>
> I'm not sure I understand this point. {le sruri be le toknu} works
> as is for "the area around the oven". {le sruri} doesn't need to be
> a material object.

The position of an event can be obtained with jai, if I read the
intention OK.  The place I thought at is lo jai bu'u mi pensi.  If
that's what you meant by position abstract.

> > 4) I still see problems saying something like "two feet north and
> > five feet west".
>
> You could say:
>
>  di'o lo be'axoi be fi lei re gutci be'o je vu'axoi be fi lei mu gutci
>
> but I will stick with:
>
>  be'aku va lei re gutci vu'aku va lei mu gutci

(BTW, xorxes, this could be only 1 foot to north and west)

or, alternatively: be'a te'i lo gutci be li re vu'a te'i lo gutci be li mu

> > co'o mi'e. dilyn.
>
> co'o mi'e xorxes

co'o mi'e. goran.

--
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