Re: preposition disposition

["la_okus" <xeubie@hotmail.com>]

--- Pierre Abbat wrote:

> Lojban brivla aren't entirely consistent either. For instance, all 
verbs of 
> measurement take the thing being measured in first place and 
the number in 
> second, but the standard is not always in third - for {mitre} it's 
in fourth.

This is an interesting point. There are a few inconsistencies, but 
from what I understand, it is because consistency wasn't the 
only variable in gismu-creation. If consistency was followed 
religiously, "klama" would have a agent that caused the going -- 
something like "x1 takes x2 to x3....", which means we would 
have to omit it every time we just want to say "x1 goes...".

Currently, I'm satisfied with the current balance between 
consistency and convenience. That may change if you can 
convince me that there is nothing about mitre to make it deserve 
a special x3 place in comparison with the other measurement 
words. FYI, "mile" has a special x3 position as well, for subunits 
(whatever that means). Some inconsistencies may not be 
needed, like the place structures of notci and xatra:

"notci"  1 is a message about 2 from 3 to 4
"xatra"  1 is a letter to 2 from 3 about 4

mu'o mi'e okus