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| In a message dated 10/25/2002 9:28:48 PM Central Daylight Time, jjllambias@hidden.email writes: << The problem is that {ta'e} and {na'o} don't apply to sumti, >> Thanks; I knew there was something wrong with those words and that is it. They are given as tenses, applying to the whole bridi, but their keywords are ones that apply only to objects (singly or collectively). So, there are now -- as so often -- two problems: what do the Lojban words really mean and how do we say in Lojban what the English words say? The second problem is the easier one, since we mcan fadge up brivla to cover them pretty well. I am not sure {tcaci} is quite right for "habit" - it seems more societal and less individual, plus leaving out the psychological/neurological components, but a lujvo from it should do nicely. And {tcaci} does cover one side of "typically" as well. And {fadni} probably also has a role. For the first part, this is less clear. I suppose the first thing to do is set aside all the {-roi}, which are purely count-cases (though {rauroi} may have a role to play, and {so'eroi}, too). What is left in English is an open ended list starting with "generally, usually, regularly} and moving down to {sporadically, rarely, occasionally} and the like. Some of these may prove to be only disguied case-counters, but there seem to be other factors here: "regularly" suggests a schedule or a plan (perhaps implicit). Many of these seem also to be conditional (again possibly implicit): "(when so-and-so happens) such and such happens." I don't like bringing in intensional explanations -- other worlds or whatever -- unless it is absolutely necessary, that is, until the problems they solve outnumber and outweigh the problms they raise. |