To: lojban@egroups.com
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 02:46:48 +0200
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Subject: The scale of ji'a
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From: "Adam Raizen" <araizen@newmail.net>
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As I haven't had access to a computer for a while, forgive me if I 
missed part of a thread which makes this discussion obsolete.

A while ago xorxes proposed that "even" means "also the least 
likely/"expected"/etc. thing" and proposed "ji'acai" to translate it. I 
agree with that meaning, but I'm not so sure that "ji'acai" translates 
it. To me, it seems probably more likely that "ji'acai" would mark 
the thing which is *most* likely to be included, the thing that "ji'a" 
*most* applies to, something along the lines of "especially", or as I 
think xorxes suggested sometime "at least". "even" could be 
expressed as "ji'aru'e", the thing *least* likely to be included, the 
thing that "ji'a" *least* applies to. (I suppose there could be a 
question as to whether "ji'a" applies more to the thing least likely to 
be included or the thing most likely to be included, if it applies to 
both, but this way seems consistent and useful.)

In addition, I remember reading in some archive that "ji'anai" was 
proposed for "except", i.e. it marks something that is not included, 
but it was objected to by some because it distorts the logical 
structure. If it is accepted, the pattern could be continued, 
i.e."ji'anaicai" "especially except" (the most likely thing to be not 
included) and "ji'anairu'e" "even except" (the least likely thing to be 
not included).

For example, it could work like this:

i mi djica le nu vitke fi le romei eji'acai le zarci eji'aru'e le muzga 
eji'anai lei tcadu nalzva eji'anaicai le rirxe eji'anairu'e le ricfoi

I want to visit everything, especially the store and even the 
museum, except things not in the city, especially (except) the river 
and even (except) the forest.

co'o mi'e adam