1) I have a book.
2) I have a book already.
3) I haven't a book.
4) I haven't a book yet.
5) I still haven't a book.
6) I have slept for seven hours.
7) I have slept only for seven hours.
8) I have slept for whole seven hours.
SHORTER VERSION OF THE QUESTION:
How are these translated to Lojban?
LONGER VERSION OF THE QUESTION:
The above examples represent three groups of sentences (1-2, 3-5, 6-8).
Members of the same group bear the same factual information.
They differ only in special words (adverbs "already", "yet", "still", "only" and adjective "whole").
If we take a closer look to the semantical, and not grammatical, side of these words, we will see that there is a common property among them - they are used for comparison with typical situation or probabilities from the listener's point of view.
Indeed:
In the second sentence, "already" confirms that (from the listener's point of view) there is a non-zero probability that the speaker has not started having a book (however he has).
In the fourth sentence, "yet" confirms that, from the listener's point of view, there is a non-zero probability that the speaker has started having a book (however he hasn't).
In the fifth sentence, "still" confirms that, from the listener's point of view, there is a high probability that the speaker has started having a book (however he hasn't).
In the seventh sentence, "only" confirms that the typical situation presupposed sleeping for *more* than seven hours.
In the eighth sentence, "whole" confirms that the typical situation presupposed sleeping for *less* than seven hours.
Since words (adverbs / etc.) of the same purpose are present not only in all Indo-European languages, but also in many others (Chinese, for example), Lojban should (or must?) have its ways to express their meaning. Has it?
Yanis Batura,
a persistent fan of Lojban