TECH: Minor Semantic Change TENSE #1

TENSE #1

CURRENT LANGUAGE:

The all-of-time interval cmavo "ze'e" is not meaningful with any other
tense form, because anything that is eternal cannot be moved around in
time.

PROPOSED CHANGE:

Assign meaning to the currently grammatical, but unused, forms "ze'epu",
"ze'eba", and "ze'eca".  The first will mean the semi-infinite interval
stretching from the reference point (the present, by default) into the
infinite past.  The second will mean the semi-infinite interval stretching
from the reference point into the infinite future.  The third will mean
the whole of time, as currently.  Simple "ze'e" can mean any of these three,
dependent on context, as usual.

RATIONALE:

"ze'e" is most often used with a "roi" form:

1)	mi ze'e[ca] reroi klama le zarci
	I [whole of time] [twice] go to the store.
	I go to the store exactly twice.

The exactness comes in because all Lojban quantifiers are exact, unless
words of approximation are used.  The effect of the "ze'e" is that I go
to the store only twice, ever, whereas with no "ze'e" the sense is that
I go to the store twice within an interval which is specified by context
(today, e.g.)  Under the proposal, "ze'e" would need to be "ze'eca" for
the same level of specificity, although bare "ze'e" could still be
interpreted as "ze'eca".

2)	mi ze'epu reroi klama le zarci
	I [semi-infinite past interval] [twice] go-to the store.
	I went to the store twice.

This asserts that I have gone to the store twice before now, but says
nothing about how many times I might go in future.  Again, "ze'epu" could
be abbreviated to just "ze'e" where there is no danger of confusion.

"ze'eba" would mean that I will go twice, saying nothing about the past.

-- 
John Cowan		sharing account <lojbab@access.digex.net> for now
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban.