Re: [engelang] Re: Xorban experimental tense markers

 

More or less an axis-and-vector system as in most natural languages (imperfectly), lacking retrofuture. 

Harder to deal with in logic.

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From: Leonardo <leolucas1980@hidden.email>
To: engelang@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 8:34 PM
Subject: [engelang] Re: Xorban experimental tense markers

 

--- In engelang@yahoogroups.com, Jorge Llamb�as <jjllambias@...> wrote:
>
> In addition to P, F, H, G, which we might call the s-past, s-future,
> r-past and r-future, there are the simpler, less nuanced, l-past and
> l-future with a singularized view of a single past time and a single
> future time.

In my conlang sketch, I have six particles whose combinations allow me to express practically every tense I want:

Using the structure {I}{particle}{do}, the following particles would give us the following times/tenses:

sai: I do [now]
sei: I did
soi: I will do

sai-hai: I am doing
sei-hai: I have been doing
soi-hai: I will have been doing

sai-hei: I have done
sei-hei: I had done
soi-hei: I will have done

sai-hoi: I will be doing [from now on]
sei-hoi: I would be doing [from that time on]
soi-hoi: I will be doing [from a future time on]

hai: I _____ doing [in a reference point in time]
hei: I _____ done [until reference point in time]
hoi: I _____ be doing [from reference point in time]

The definition of the particles could be written as:

* sai: define the present as the reference point in time;
* sei: define a past point as the reference point in time;
* soi: define a future point as the reference point in time;

* hai: defines a time interval containing the reference point in time with no defined limits neither in the past nor in the future;
* hei: defines a time interval limited by the reference point in the future but with no defined limit in the past;
* hoi: defines a time interval limited by the reference point in the past but with no defined limit in the future.

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If I define the particles "since" and "until", I can't imagine which existing verbal time I won't be able to express.