Re: how to say

[Rick Morneau <mnu@INEL.GOV>]

I am not a Lojbanist, so pardon me if what I say makes no sense in
the context of Lojban.

It seems to me that, in the sentence "I look through the window", the
agent "I" is really using the window as an instrument. Consider a
similar sentence:

     I looked at the crowd through/with/using a telescope.

Obviously, "with" must be used in its instrumental sense, rather than
in its other English senses (accompaniment, manner, etc). Thus, I
think the proper way to translate the original sentence would be as
if you were trying to say:

     I look using the window.
              or
     I look with the window.

The French equivalent is instructive:

     Je regarde par la  fenetre.
     I  look    by  the window

where "par=by" has more of the flavor of the English "via" or "by
means of".

I realize that the instrumental interpretation does not precisely
capture the sense of English "through", although it is very close.
However, I long ago gave up trying to come up with EXACT translations
between different languages. If you develop a conlang that can
precisely capture all the subtleties of your native language, then
all you'll succeed in doing is to create a clone of your native
language. The best you can hope for is to make your conlang as
flexible as possible so that it can capture as many subtleties as
possible.


Just a thought from a normally quiet observer.

Regards,

Rick

--
*=*= Disclaimer: The INEL does not speak for me and vice versa =*=*
=  Rick Morneau            Idaho National Engineering Laboratory  =
*  mnu@inel.gov            Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415, USA          *
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= NeXT Mail accepted here! *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=