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Re: [ceqli] A few lexicographical and semantic comments



>> Go kom zu spun.   I use a spoon to eat.
>> Go zu spun.  I eat with a spoon.
> 
> Is that a typo for
> 
> go zu spun kom.

yes.  oops.
> 
>>> go dum <nominalizer> zu spun.
>>> 
>>> because thinking about the use of spoons makes
>>> more sense than thinking using a spoon (though not
>>> by much).
>> 
>> go dum zu spun
>> would mean "I use a spoon to think."
> 
> Yes, that's what I thought; thus the suggestion
> about a nominalizer particle.
> 
>> As for nominalizers, at this point I see the particle 'ke' as serving for
>> that.  It isolates the verb phrase so that the preceding verb can act on it.
>> 
>> go dum ke zu spon.
>> 
>> In answer to "zi zu kua kom jol?" "What will you eat the soup with?" would
>> mean "With a spoon, I think."
> 
> OK, good.
> 
> 
>> Go kom ci baluqi.  I eat this grapefruit.
>> Go kom ci baluqi ci.  I eat this grapefruit here.
>> Go ci kom ci baluqi.   Here, I eat this grapefruit.
>> 
>> Expanding all three so as to eliminate all ambiguity:
>> 
>> Go kom ci sa baluqi.
>> Go kom ci sa baluqi sta ci.
>> Go sta ci kom ci sa baluqi.
> 
> What alternate ambiguous meanings would the above versions
> without "sa" and :"sta" have?

The ambiguity comes from the possible double meaning of ci, and I don't know
how serious it might be.

Go kom ci baluqi.  Might be interpreted as
I eat here a grapefruit.
I eat a this-thing grapefruit.

And
go ci kom baluqi.  Might be thought of as... actually, that one doesn't seem
possibly ambiguous.
> 
>> All this input is really clarifying my thinking.  go fala zi!
> 
> bu falaval.
> 
> [Does that make sense?  If not, what is the customary response
> in ceqli?]

I didn't have one thought up, but that's an excellent suggestion.
> 
>> Visit my website at:
>> http://homepage.mac.com/rmay/
> 
> I just looked at your personal site for the first time.  I'm puzzled about
> 
> 1. why there's no link to the ceqli site (or the afewgoodkids.com site), and
> 
> 2. why you're storing the ceqli stuff at geocities.com when
> you have space at homepage.mac.com.  It's not a lack of disk space,
> is it?  The ceqli pages - at least if you leave out the pictures, which are
> kind of nice but not essential - are probably smaller than the
> sum of the cartoon image files at the other site.
> The geocities.com ad popups and ad side panel are annoying
> enough that I think it would make sense to move the ceqli pages
> to your other site, if possible.

I have to learn how to do most of what you mention here.   It's on my
agenda.
> 
> 
> ....More miscellaneous comments on the glossary:
> 
>> baumgu forest n.
> 
> What would signify "orchard"?

Following the Esperanto pattern, it might be fruibaumjai.
Fruit-tree-place.   Or baumfaiun, tree-garden, or fruifaiun, fruit-garden.


> 
>> truxo truth 
> 
> There is no entry for the root "tru".
> 
>> terpom potato 
> 
> A calque of "pomme de terre" is poetic, but does it really
> fit in a "logical" IAL?

I more or less resorted to that because I couldn't find a good word to
borrow, but you're right, of course.  Hm, I just found Finnish peruna.  That
might be just the thing.
> 
> 
>> fei can, is able
> 
>> beberfei portable v.
>> beslomfei breakable v.
> 
> It looks like "fei" has the double sense of English "able",
> which IMO is a bad thing for a logical IAL.
> Esperanto distinguishes these senses as
> "povi" and "ebla".

Well, actually not, as I see it.   fei means to be able, so a person is
kanfei, (literate), able to read, while a book is bekanfei, (readable), able
to be read.  It was either that or use another root for the -able meaning,
and this was discussed some time back and the consensus was that the
be-word-fei form was more ceqli in spirit.
> 
>> kraym crime 
> 
> Would "kanunbiaka" do just as well?  Maybe that's too verbose, but
> if you had a monosyllable for "law" and a suffix signifying "act
> of violating X" then you could derive words for "crime",
> "sin", "ungrammatical utterance", and so forth prety tersely.
> 

Interesting thought.  I like it.  Maybe take "yur" (zhoor) from Portuguese
jurisprudencia.  Then

yurbai.  Legal, yurbia, illegal.  yurbiaka, crime, yurbiajin.  criminal
person.  yursin - lawless,
-- 

Rex F. May (Baloo) 
Visit my website at:
http://homepage.mac.com/rmay/
Great leadership training for boys at:
http://afewgoodkids.com
Strange language from an alternate universe at:
http://www.geocities.com/ceqli/Texperanto.html