[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[lojban] Re: selsanga co ninfinti



Quoting Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>:

Perhaps a better translation is "it's possible that it happpens".

That's a better translation, I agree! It's always weird translating parts of Lojban that refer to vague or distant ideas or sentences. It seems like the only tools for doing that at all in English are "it" and "that", and you have to keep them far away from any concrete objects to put them into that service!


.i xu lo cribe cu cadzu lo foldi
Does a bear walk the field?

.i cumki fa lo nu go'i
It's possible that happens.

.i cumki fa lo nu co'e
It's possible that it happens.

.i cumki fa lo nu go'i
It's possible that it's possible that it happens.


{co'e} is an unspecified relationship because it must be figured
out from the context, not because it is nonspecific.

My feeling is that the "co'e" is most likely to associate with the first bridi of the song, which is after all the only concrete idea anywhere nearby. It also seems to me like another sensible interpretation would be "that could have been what happened, or something else could have happened", but given the meaning of "cumki" that's roughly equivalent in meaning, anyway.

In the context of the song, maybe it's a question as to which animal it was exactly in the field, in which case the "co'e" bridi could mean "or it could have been one of the other animals mentioned." I suppose the "co'e" could also be on a higher level, and be talking about the "cumki" relationship of the preceding bridi.

On a subtextual level, the vagueness of the "co'e" cooperates somehow with the uncertainties of the "cumki"s. Maybe one thing, maybe another thing, maybe anything, maybe maybe.


"It's possible that something happens" would be closer
to {cumki fa lo nu bu'a}.

[.ua.ueru'e] I didn't know about zo "bu'a". It seems like "bu'a" is to "broda" as "da" is to "ko'a"?


mu'o mi'e la bret.



To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to lojban-list-request@lojban.org
with the subject unsubscribe, or go to http://www.lojban.org/lsg2/, or if
you're really stuck, send mail to secretary@lojban.org for help.