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[lojban-beginners] Re: Mixing tenses



The discussion was about how to express concepts with "as", such as "I like you as a friend" and "I respect you as a leader." Others expressed that this is "I like You-As-Friend", that is, the "as" lives in the sumti, similar to how it does in English. Some suggested a NOI for this; others suggested a brivla with place structure something like "x1 is x2 as considered in capacity x3 (ka)". All considered this to live at sumti level.

The easiest I can think of is:

mi pendo nelci do

Clear enough, I think. And this is a generic pattern to translate "x1 broda (x2, considered as brode)":

x2 brode se broda x1

Now let's try to expand the tanru. One can like in different ways. That is, he can have different kinds of positive feelings or attitudes that would qualify for the generic term "x1 likes x2". The corresponding term in Lojban is {nelci}. We need a way to specify which of these kinds of feelings or attitudes x1 has for x2. Or, in other words, in which way x1 likes x2. So, I interpret "I like you as a friend" as "I like you in a way typical for friends". Now to Lojban.

mi nelci do tai lo'e nu zu'i nelci lo pendo be ri

By the way, I don't like the "x considered as y" construction in natlangs. I think, it obscures the meaning in many cases. So, my opinion is that implementing it in Lojban would be an awful move. :)

Now to respect. Again, we have a generic term {sinma}, and we need to specify, respect of which kind is it. I think, differences become apparent in different situations. For example, I may feel respect to a jbocre when he talks in or about Lojban; in other words, in a "Lojbanic situation". So, "I respect you as a leader" would be:

mi sinma do fau lo'e nu do gidva

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