Subject: Catching a bus

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 20:14:16 EST

Catching a train, in the present sense, is an achievement and thus either an 
initiative or completive aspect of a state or process. The process would be 
the one, also called "catching a train," which results in (whose perfective 
aspect is roughly coterminous with) riding the train. The state initiated is 
riding the train. On the whole I think that the termination of the process 
is more illuminating here, although the whole process could be seen as the 
inchoative aspect of the state.
Brief intermission. Lojban seems to have no good word for riding a train. 
The word for train, {trene}, has no place, as does the word for car, say, for 
what is on the train. 
So we seem stuck with {se marce le trene} or possibly something stressing the 
transportation aspect ("x1 is carried by train x2 to x3 from x4 along route 
x5 of rail company x6" and so on).
Supposing this this problem were solved, with "trainri" as a placeholder for 
now, the process catching a train could be either "trainrygau" or 
"trainryzu'e." 
"I just barely caught the bus" means that the completive aspect of the 
catching overlaps the inchoative aspect of the train's departure; "I almost 
caught the bus" means that the process overreaches the initiative aspect the 
departure.
This is hideously buggy, but I toss it out for a starter.