Re: why are selbri relations so arbitrary?

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

On 24 Oct 1999 JoshuaHab@aol.com wrote:

> ex. vencu    x1 (seller) sells x2 (goods) to x3 (buyer) for x4 (price)
 
> Four completely arbitrary arguments which are somewhat specific to
> time and culture, and if nothing else, requre simple memorization.
> What's wrong with the prepositions this replaces?

The basic meanings in a language are best described by place structures.
Ordering of the places is less arbitary than assigning them prepositions.

There are underlying design principles for determining the sequence of
positions:

(1) all positions must be essential participants whose
    participation is implied by the meaning to be designed.
(2) what can be most easily left out comes last, what is most
    essential comes first.
(3) personal agents tend to come first, because that allows a
    handy use such as 'le vencu' for 'the seller'.

vencu is a very neat example for the advantages of not using prepositions.  
It comprises the meaning of the English 'to buy' as well as 'to sell' in
one definition.

	zo'e vencu le gerku mi li renono

	mi te vencu le gerku li renono

would have to be expressed with two different verbs in most languages.
Also, prepositions can be formed from vencu.  This wouldn't be possible
if vencu itself needed prepositions to work.

-phm