look thru window

[bob@GNU.AI.MIT.EDU]

   > Incidentally, I'm not convinced that "catlu" is right here
   > anyway. "catlu" means 'look at/examine something'. To me "I
   > looked through the window" is not the same predicate as "I looked
   > at something through the window." Comments anybody?

I agree.  When I look through the window at the field, I am usually
observing.  (Here I am using `through' in the sense that my line of
sight goes through the window, not that I am look `by means of the
window'.)

"zgana" is better than "catlu" or "viska":


   zgana    zga    observe              + see(observe)
                   x1 observes x2 using senses/means x3 under conditions x4

   catlu    cta    look
                   x1 looks at x2

   viska vis vi'a  see                  vision
                   x1 sees x2 under conditions x3

Also, jimc@math.ucla.edu made the point that you or other semantic
analyser can more easily get a grip on the meaning of an utterance
when predicates are used to express the relations.

How about this:

   mi zgana lo foldi be lo srasu be'o lo mi kanla lo za'i pa'o canko

   I  look at the field of grass     with my eyes   through the window.

(Or does the fourth place, "lo za'i pa'o canko", translate as `a
continuous state of the window passing through' rather than `a
continuous state of the observation passing through window'?)

      foldi fol foi      field                + expanse-of
                      x1 is a field (shape/form) of material x2;
                          x1 is a broad uniform expanse of x2

      srasu     sau      grass
                      x1 is a blade/expanse of grass of species x2

      kanla kal          eye                  ocular
                      x1 is a/the eye (body-part) of x2

      za'i     NU   state abstract     abstractor: state (event) abstractor;
                      x1 is continuous state of [bridi] being true

      pa'o     FAhA passing through     location tense relation/direction;
                                   transfixing/passing through ... ;
                                   direction modal

      canko     ca'o     window
                      x1 is a window of building/structure x2

      pagre          gre pass through
                      x1 passes through barrier/medium x2 to x3 from x4


    Robert J. Chassell               bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu
    Rattlesnake Mountain Road        (413) 298-4725
    Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA