X la: what is X?

[janKipo]

So, I'm up to the Ls and the first of these is 'la' "marks the end of a condition". But that seems to require some explanation of what a condition is and organize the results. Briefly, a condition is a framework within which the sentence after 'la' is to be considered. And that is vague enough to cover the cases, I think. So, let's look at the cases, starting with the easy ones.

Conditional sentences (the only kind of compound sentence tp clearly allows): 'S1 la S2' means "if S1 then S2" or "when S1 then S2". Neither sentence is asserted, only there relation. The difference between "when" and "if" in English is said to have to do with the confidence that S1 occurs. But that doesn't work for cases in the past, say, when both events are known to have happened. It may be that those are better covered by something in the time set ('tenpo ni la' "at that time", perhaps).

Time conditions:

vector 'tenpo pini' "at some time in the past" and 'tenpo kama' "at some time in the future", 'tenpo ni' "now , at this time" (the joys of having only one deictor).

tensors on vectors: tenpo suno tu pini' (or is it 'tenpo suno pini tu'? and does it make a difference?) "two days ago/ before" (or "after two days" -- maybe that is the difference?) and similarly for other time units and directions.

distribution of recurrence: 'tenpo wan' "once" 'tenpo mute' "often, many times" 'tenpo ali' "always" 'tenpo ala' "never"

temporal extent: 'tenpo suno tu' "for two days"and so on with other units and measures.

temporal coordination: 'tenpo ni' "at that time, then" (maybe also 'tenpo sama' for more strict simultaneity), 'ni pini' "after that" 'ni awen' "while that was going on" 'ni kama' "before that"

'open' "In the beginning"

Rhetorical connections: 'taso' doesn't require 'la', but 'kin' "moreover, in addition, actually" does. So also (or are these somewhere else on the list?) 'ante' "otherwise, on the other hand, alternatively" 'ni' "this being so, then" 'tan ni' ""therefore, because of that"

Structural elements in a speech (bullets) 'open' "to begin with", 'nanpa wan' "Firstly" 'pini' "finally" etc.

Qualifiers (confidence markers) 'ken' "maybe" 'lon' "surely, truly" 'kin' "indeed" 'wile' "necessarily"

Attribution (who holds this view, says this) 'mi' IMO (redundant, since everything in tp is from the speaker's point of view), 'jan X' "in X's opinion" Also useful for all those little "he said"s in dialog text.

There have been a few attempts to use location expressions in place of temporal ones (and a corresponding use of temporal words with prepositions at the end) but nothing much has come of this, even though it makes perfectly good sense. I think that tp has decided time goes in front, place at the end.

I'm sure I have missed some cases, but that is probably because I didn't understand them. More cases, further suggestions, corrections?

[janMato]

That sounds about right.

mi la isn't so much a "who said" but an evidential. It's really close to "mi pilin e ni:", but shorter.

soweli mani li weka.
jan Mato la soweli li tawa lon nasin. According to Matt, the cow left via the road.
jan Jojo la tempo ala la soweli li lon ala kin. According to Jojo, the cow never existed in the first place.

oka la -- obviously

jan lawa toki e ni la sina pali e ni. The king said so, so you should do so. Ordinary conditional
jan lawa li pilin e ni: sina pali e ni. The kind thinks you will do it. Verbose evidential

Sort of causatives
tan jan lawa la sina pali e ni. On account of the king, you'll do it.
jan lawa la sina pali e ni. On account of the king, you'll do it. (If it weren't for the king, you wouldn't do it). The king made you do it.

And topic fronting. Adding a ni makes it clearer that the topic is being emphasized by repetition.
jan lawa la pona kin li pana e mani tawa jan lawa (ni). As for the king, paying taxes is a good thing.
mani la pona kin li pana e mani (ni) tawa jan lawa. As for money, paying taxes is a good thing.

I didn't check to see if any of my examples above are first uses.

[janKipo]

Well, 'mi la' and the like are not quite evidentials, which lie somewhere between them and qualifiers:
your 'oko la' might be "obviously" or it might be an evidential "I saw it myself" (maybe 'lukin la' for either of these); 'kute la' "hearsay" then direct attributions.
'jan lawa la sina pali e ni' "According to the king, you will do it" straightforward qualifier.
'tan jan lawa la sina pali e ni' I would put tother way round 'sina pali e ni tan jan lawa'

Thanks for the topic raising; I forgot all about it, though there are no real examples I could find.

[janMato]

word la sentence ... Maybe the most general explanation for this is that the word is some salient word extracted from salient sentence-- but it doesn't seem to work for very many la fragment strategies.

mi lukin oko e ni la soweli li tawa. --> oko la soweli li tawa

oko la oko li pakala li pali ala. Not sure what sentence would condense to oko la, in this example.

tempo suno pini la mi tawa. Again, with time references, I'm not sure what sentence these condensed out of.

[janKipo]

I think the sentence reduction approach, while a natural suggestion, ultimately won't work well. Just deal with them as they come. Some others:
emotives: 'ike', 'pona', 'pakala' "unfortunately, sadly""fortunately, happily", "disastrously, damnably" (but no "miraculously")
for the 'wile' (and 'ken') problem: 'lawa', 'nasin', 'mi', 'mama'. 'ma' sources of the force.

[jan Ote]

jan Kipo o!
Some months ago I wrote a text "Indicating the context or la in practice" (in Polish), trying to sum up what I learned then about usage of 'la'. Interesingly, it starts from the same point (conditional as an example), and describes almost the same cases:

• When? Past, present, future
• How long? Duration
• How often? Frequency
• When, if. Simultaneity, consequence, condition
• Perhaps, fortunately, unfortunately, Speaker's attitute to what the phrase describes.
• tan ni, and the like(?)

Later or rare inventions, like "ma Isilan la...", are not listed.

[janKipo]

I put 'tan ni' in with sentential connectives, but that category is a catch-all.
Things like the 'ma Isilan' are trying to use locations like time and, while it makes sense, seem to me as un-tpish as the desire to put time at the end in PP.
I don't suppose that the list is done yet, but I think I have enough to do the article on 'la' at least.