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["Dr. C.D. Wright" <cdw10@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK>]

OK.  I'm a beginner, so excuse the simple question ...

I have in front of me a copy of Imaginary Journeys
and there's something I don't understand.  Example
12.2 is

   mi klama le zarci pu lenu do pu klama le zdani
                     1          2

"pu" number 2 says that you _went_ to the house.
"pu" number one means I went to the store at a time
in the past relative to the event that "pu"-1 labels.
Thus the translation is that I went to the store
before you went to the house.

The implication is that when a tense is used as a
sumti tcita, the tense is taken relative the the
sumti being tagged.

Another example, number 10.3, says that

   le verba ba'o cadzu le bisli

The "ba'o" is perfective, indicating that the event
or relationship expressed by the bridi is complete.
The child has finished walking on the ice.

Now consider example 12.6

   mi morsi ba'o lenu mi jmive

The ba'o tags the event of my living, and the ba'o
indicates that the relationship expressed by the
bridi is complete when taken relative to the sumti.
Thus this translates as

   I die and finish doing so before I live.

Hmm.  The translation given is that I die in the
aftermath of my living, which makes more sense, but
seems to me to be inconsistent with the previous
examples.

Comments ??

Colin Wright.