Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: Questions

From: "Bob LeChevalier (lojbab)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 08 Aug 2000 01:03:55 -0400

At 11:24 PM 08/07/2000 +0300, Ivan A Derzhanski wrote:
>Taral wrote:
> > On 7 Aug, Logical Language Group wrote:
> > > At 11:02 AM 08/07/2000 -0500, Taral wrote:
> > > > Question 1: How does one translate "how old are you?"
> > > > into lojban? There is no pure age relation in the gismu.
> >
> > > Probably several ways. One is:
> > >
> > > le do nunjmive cu nanca xo
^li

>This can just as well mean `How many years are you going to live?'.
>Is pragmatics enough to show that we are only referring to the part
>of the {nunjmive} that has elapsed already?

Until we come up with a way of knowing the answer to the question, "how 
long are you going to live" (cf. Heinlein short story "Lifeline"), I cannot 
imagine pragmatics interpreting the question that way.

> > > xo selna'a do
>
>Or {do xo nanca}? (Probably the same problem as above though.)
>
> > > xo ni do tolcitno
>
>This looks rather like a calque of the English.
>
>I note that {nanla}, {nixli} and {verba} have a slot `of age x2',
>so {do ma verba} might work under appropriate circumstances.

Good point.
--
lojbab [email-masked]
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org