AgainAgain

From Lojban
Revision as of 08:54, 25 July 2014 by Gleki (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

It is patently obvious to some of us, including several of the more expert lojbanists, that a tense for 'again' would, at the very least, be Really Nice, if not Absolutely Necessary.

Here is a list of things that will not work:

  • za'ure'u
    • The consensus seems to be that this is "more than once", which in some contexts does the job, but certainly not in all of them.
      • What consensus? "more than once" is za'uroi. I don't see any problem with za'ure'u, which means "other than the first time". --xorxes

Possible solutions:

  • Something like ji'are'u
    • This would require creating a ji'a-like cmavo in PA (changing the selma'o of ji'a is right out). It would probably mean "one more than the current value". -RobinLeePowell
  • A member of PA meaning "the current value", call it xa'i'i, so you'd have za'uxa'i'ire'u
    • Note that you *cannot* use VUhU before re'u. I have no idea why. -RobinLeePowell
    • You seem to be looking for a way of saying "next time" rather than "again". --xorxes
  • ji'ano'ore'u
    • Works, is almost comprehensible. Rather ugly, though, and not as many uses as the current value PA. -RobinLeePowell
      • Do you mean no'oji'are'u? Indicators always modify the previous word. --xorxes

Final solution

by la gleki:

za'ure'u has always been used as "again" and now we can only adapt our explanations to usage: {za'u lo mlatu} = "more of the cats, more cats" {za'u pa lo mlatu} = "more than one of the cats" {za'u lo mlatu} is the same as {za'u xo'e lo mlatu} where {xo'e} is the default number assumed from context (but this {xo'e} in not that necessary in this explanation). Anyway, {za'ure'u} is "again, for one more time or for n more times", {za'upare'u} is "for the second/third/... time". Notice also that {lo za'u mlatu} means "cats" and denotes plural number.

"I'm calling multiple times" is {mi za'uparoi fonjo'e}.

First let's do with natural numbers:

  • {rere'u} says you are calling **for** the second time.
  • {reroi} says you are calling twice.

Now with {za'u}:

  • {za'ure'u} says you are calling **for** one more time or **for** *n* more times, i.e. "again".
  • {za'upare'u} says you are calling not for the first time.
  • {za'uroi} says you are calling more times (probably more than previously expected).
  • {za'uparoi} says you are calling multiple times.