Re: [long] Re: On the tense system

[John Cowan <snark!cowan@GVLS1.VFL.PARAMAX.COM>]

la xorxes. cusku di'e

> What do you mean "in principle"?

By "in principle" I mean that while

        mi pu'o morsi

is technically true, since I am within the span of time before I-am-dead
becomes true, pragmatically it would tend to suggest that I foresee the
time of my death (which I do not).

> In the examples I've seen it refers
> to a point in time or to an event's duration taken as a point.
>
> Does {mi pu'o klama} mean that I am at one point in time before the
> beginning of my going, or not? how do I fit the "all time"?

It means that the reference time is somewhere within that span.  As a
sumti tcita, it means that the main bridi's time is contained within the
span of the time before the time of the seltcita sumti.

> > Both boundaries are relevant, not irrelevant, to "ca'o"; they are precisely
> > the boundaries of that span.
> >
>
> {mi ca'o klama} then means:
>
> "I started going a while ago, I am still going, and I will cease in another
> while."

Yes.

> {mi pu'o damba} then means:
>
> "I'm on the verge of fighting and after a while of fighting I will cease."

No.  I explicitly limited my comment to "ca'o".  You are quite correct that
the beginning is irrelevant to "ba'o" and the end irrelevant to "pu'o".

> I wish I had gotten this answer before I tried to look for consistency in
> something that is not consistent. Of course I can't argue with "that's the
> way it is".

Don't feel that way.  You have exposed points of great pedagogical importance,
and I may revise the tense paper to make fuller explanations of them.
It is always worthwhile having a detailed explication of someone's
deductions from one of my papers: if correct, I feel successful; if incorrect,
I know what to improve.

> Then the way to inerpret the ZAhO sumti tcita is:
>
> ZAhO le nu broda  <===>  ca le nu ZAhO broda
>
> Is this right? If it is, then I will never use the first form, which
> is inconsistent with the rest of the system of tenses.

I'm not sure whether this is correct or not.  I will have to rethink the
matter somewhat.

--
John Cowan      cowan@snark.thyrsus.com         ...!uunet!lock60!snark!cowan
                        e'osai ko sarji la lojban.