Message-Id: <199510022204.SAA25219@locke.ccil.org>
Date:         Mon, 2 Oct 1995 14:41:13 -0700
Reply-To: "Peter L. Schuerman" <plschuerman@UCDAVIS.EDU>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: "Peter L. Schuerman" <plschuerman@UCDAVIS.EDU>
Subject:      future tense
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR

coi

All this talk about future tenses has gotten me thinking about whether
it's desirable to *have* a future tense.

Or rather, about whether it's desirable to *use* the future tense.

I like the idea of having the ability to talk about future events, because
it gives symmetry to the time tenses which is aesthetically pleasing, and
also because it allows you to talk about the future of past events, the
outcomes of which are known.  But shouldn't there be an alternative way to
express unknown future events?

Here's a stab at it:
create a gismu (xxxxx) for which
x1 = person predicting a future event
x2 = prediction (event)
x3 = criteria/evidence supporting prediction
x4 = time-location of predicted event

mi cu xxxxx le nu mi klama le zarci
or simply
xxxxx le nu mi klama le zarci
meaning "I will go to the store" (literally: I predict that I will go to
the store in the future.)

This seems like a better reflection of the natural world to me.  The
current lojban future tense could be retained for use in prophetic
utterances. :)

co'o mi'e pitr.                                 plschuerman@ucdavis.edu