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Mike S., On 23/08/2012 19:16:
I have a number of thoughts on adverbial constructions, but let's start with this.
On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Jorge Llamb�as <jjllambias@hidden.email <mailto:jjllambias@hidden.email>> wrote:
On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 11:31 PM, Mike S. <maikxlx@gmail.com <mailto:maikxlx%40gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> At any rate, Xorban will eventually have to allow adverbial expressions, including whose with arguments. Morneau's system is just one possible rationalization of a universal need.
The first step is to see how they are dealt with in predicate logic.
If we use events, then for example:
"The horse runs fast."
The x Horse(x): Ey Event(y): Runs(x,y) & Fast(y)
la xrma se fwe je bjrafe stre
(With fwe: "e is an event") Or perhaps even:
The x Horse(x): The y Something(y): Runs(x,y) & Fast(y)
la xrma je bjrafe stre
with an implicit "le sme" binding for unbound "e".
I am not 100% certain of the reading that you intended for "The horse runs fast", but I don't think that these constructions mean what you want them to mean. Events obviously can't be fast in the same sense that horses can, so I think that "la xrma le sme je bjrafe stre" = "The horse, the event in which it runs is fast" can sensibly mean only one of two things:
1. The event in which the horse runs occurs after a short amount of time.
2. The event in which the horse runs occurs in a short amount of time.
What I really think we want is
3. The event occurs in which the horse runs and in which the horse is fast.
I think your general point is valid, in that it would hold for, say, "The horse runs friskily", "He kissed her lustfully". Sometimes of course the adverbial is indubitably predicated of the event: "He died yesterday". "The horse ran fast" could be analysed either way; if "fast" is predicated of the event, it means that a lot of distance is being covered per unit of time, i.e. fast running is happening.
la xrma le sme je bjrafe strafe ... or, la xrma se sme je bjrafe strafe ... the difference probably being something like "The horse is running fast" vs. "The horse has (on at least one occasion) run fast". Since "je" is a purely logical conjunction, the order of "bjrafe" and "strafe" does not matter, which is probably what we want. la xrma le sme je strafe bjrafe "The horse is swiftly running." This is probably going to be common enough of a construction that we'll want a shortcut. I propose a new binary, "joy": la xrma joy bjra stra "A/the horse in the same event runs and is fast." "The horse runs fast."
This "joy" would be more common than "je", I think -- "black horse", "frisky horse" etc could equally well use "joy". --And.