[lojban] Re: Re[2]: tanru

[Jorge Llambías <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

pc:
> First, {mutce} is "x1 is
> extreme in property x2 in direction x3" so it is
> unclear whether the elephant is extrme in eating
> too much or in eating too little. 

Very much or very little, because {mutce} doesn't indicate
excess, that would be {dukse}.

I have never seen {mutce} used in the sense of "very little" 
though, and if someone uses it with that sense it's very likely 
they will be misunderstood. I don't know why the two senses 
were conflated in the same word. I always use {toltce/tolmutce} 
for "very little". What's the point of having one word (and an 
extremely frequent one too) with two such opposite senses?

>   Second, I am not clear just what
> the *property* of eating is or how it can be
> extreme.  One expects to see an event description
> here in most cases. 

If you use an event in the x2 of mutce, what do you put in the x1?

All the degree words (mutce, milxe, dukse, traji) and the comparison
words (dunli, frica, zmadu, mleca) require a property. 

> Still, I would feel safer with {poi dukse le nu
> citka}, "who eats too much."

I would use {lo ka [ce'u] citka}, either with {mutce} or {dukse}.

If you put {le nu citka} in x2, how do you know what role the x1
of mutce/dukse plays in that event?

mu'o mi'e xorxes