Re: PLI: length vs longness

[Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>]

la dn cusku di'e

> I was thinking about "How long have
> you lived here?"
>
>     .i ma temci leco'anu do vi xabju le cabna

You need a {kei} after {xabju}, or {le cabna} is swallowed inside
{nu}, giving "How long have you inhabited the present?".

> This seems very heavy-handed to me.  Any suggestions?

        do xabju ti ze'a ma
        You inhabit this during-interval what?

> Similiarly, "How long will you stay?"
>
>     .i ma temci le cabna leco'unu do stali

        do stali ze'a ma
        You stay during-interval what?



i la dilyn cusku di'e

> How about
>         .i do vi xabju co'a ma

{co'a} is less specific than {ze'a}. There is no guarantee that
the inhabiting lasts for as long as the {ma} does.


> And how would you answer these questions?
[...]
> but the first calls naturally for
> an equivalent of "5 years ago".  Is there any (reasonably concise)
> equivalent?

{puza lei mu nanca} in my dialect, but maybe not in standard Lojban.

> (This brings up the whole "tensors" discussion, I suppose.
> Let's try to keep things concise.  Was there a conclusion from last
> time?)

Not really... :(

Jorge