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Re: [engelang] Xorban: Proposal for -k-, -b-



I think this proposal is better than any earlier proposals.

One thing I need to ponder more is

plnaki "A uses I" => plnabeki "A does something to E using I"

I feel it would be better

plnabi "A uses I" => plnabike "A uses I on E"

It doesn't matter much for that one predicate, but I'm thinking of parallelisms with:

VkV >> VbVkV
liquid X soaks Y >> A makes liq X soak Y
stuff X fills Y >> A makes stuff fill X
sharp thing X cuts Y >> A makes sharp thing X cut Y
rough thing X abrades Y >> A makes rough thing X abrade Y
stuff X covers Y >> A makes X cover Y
light X shines on Y >> A makes light X shine on Y

***

For each polyadic stem bcd-, the lexical entry for bcd- will specify the role of the explicit argument in bcdV.

For each triadic stem bcd-, bcdVkV would always mean that the Agent is omitted (right)? But bcdVbV would be potentially ambiguous: which of the two nonagent arguments does the second V stand for? This too could be specified in the lexical entry for bcd-. However, if an extra C could be spared for this purpose -- -x- ([G]), say -- then bcdVbV vs bcdVxV vs bcdVkV would allow any of the three args to be implicit without ambiguity.

--And.