figurative language

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Sketch for a beginning of a position on Figurative Language:

It seems to me that since there is pe'a & since broda brode is

explicitly defined as a combination of broda with its places plus

brode with its places, we are left with (A) using in formal speech

broda brode or broda pe'a brode or broda brode pe'a or fu'epe'a

broda brode fu'o regardless of how clumsy it seems to our glibau

sensibility, in order to express the various things that a tanru

can be; & (B) the informal possibly of occasionally dispensing with

pe'a where it can be understood as elidable.


Note that sections 14 & 15 of Chapter 5 in The Book have such tanru

as: snime nanmu for "snowman" & kensa bloti for "spaceship". (I

would add a pe'a to the second term of each, which were otherwise

better nanmytai & velkla. --la maikl.)

I don't know who's talking above. I don't agree that a snowman is not a nanmu: it is very typical to extend the tertau before restricting it further, as in "stone lion", where obviously all real lions are made out of meat. --John Cowan

  • In the same vein, I like the example time travel. "Travel" means "going to other places", but "time travel" means "going to other times". mi'e jezrax

mi'e xod .i tezu'e ma pilno zo pe'a .i di'e mupli ca'i mi

"do gerku ki'u le du'u do dukse gletu" .i do ca'a remna jena gerku .i zo

pe'a sarcu

"mi pu tcidu le balcukta" .i pe'i la ueb. cu cukta .iki'ubo zo pe'a na

sarcu .i ju'ocu'i do tugni .o'u

Look, the fact that the Book tells us that "gerku zdani" can refer to the White House because a dog once chased Bill Clinton's cat shows the limit of figurativeness in tanru without invoking pe'a. If you can show ANY relationship between the parts, it's valid. You are advised, according to your desire to be understood, to try to pick understandable relationships. But it's not until we start really getting figurative that we ever need any pe'a. If I call your face a papri because I can easily read your emotions, then I should use a pe'a. My understanding of Helsem's statements is that he wants us to invoke pe'a too much.

(sa'e banzu zo'o)


For another position, put out your eyes as if they were a fire.