[lojban-beginners] Re: Please review #002

["Jorge Llambías" <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 4/21/07, Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu> wrote:
> On Friday 20 April 2007 22:27, ANDREW PIEKARSKI wrote:
> > So, Pierre, you're suggesting "ca'o" for "while" and "ca" for "when".  But
> > in the dictionary, "ca" means "during". Isn't that closer to "while"?
>
> "ca" means that two events occur at the same time but says nothing about their
> duration. One could start when the other ends, or one could be instantaneous,
> and it still occurs ca the other one. "ca'o" indicates an ongoing event or
> one that takes some time.

Yes, but...

In this case I think I would go with {ca}. The two events in question are "my
mother goes to buy juice" and "Jacob stays home". I would say, for
example:

la djeikob cu stali le zdani ca'o lo nu lo mi mamta cu klama co te
vecnu lo jisra
Jacob stayed home while my mother was going to buy juice.

{ca'o} there applies to the {stali} event, it says that the Jacob's
stay lasted for
as long as my mother's going to buy juice (and perhaps longer). Perhaps
she asked him to stay so that there would be someone at home while she
was out.

But applying {ca'o} the other way does not make so much sense to me.
It seems to suggest that my mother went to buy juice so as to avoid
being at home with Jacob, so that she will stretch her going for as long
as Jacob will stay, and won't come back until he leaves. Possible, but
not the most likely interpretation of the English without more context.

If all we want to do is point out that the two events were simultaneous,
then {ca} will do.

If we want to say that my mother's going was included within the time-span
of Jacob's staying, and keep her going as the main clause, then I would
use {co'i}:

lo mi mamta cu klama co te vecnu lo jisra co'i lo nu la djeikob cu
stali le zdani
My mother went to buy juice within the time Jacob stayed home.

mu'o mi'e xorxes