PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD VERSION. The current version is linked from The Complete Lojban Language.
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Dimensionality: VIhA 		Imaginary Journeys: The Lojban Space/Time Tense System
The Lojban Reference Grammar 		Next
Interval properties: TAhE and ``roi''

8. Movement in space: MOhI

The following cmavo is discussed in this section:

   mo'i    MOhI    movement flag
All the information carried by the tense constructs so far presented has been presumed to be static: the bridi is occurring somewhere or other in space and time, more or less remote from the speaker. Suppose the truth of the bridi itself depends on the result of a movement, or represents an action being done while the speaker is moving? This too can be represented by the tense system, using the cmavo ``mo'i'' (of selma'o MOhI) plus a spatial direction and optional distance; the direction now refers to a direction of motion rather than a static direction from the speaker. 

8.1)  le verba mo'i ri'u cadzu le bisli
    The child [movement] [right] walks-on the ice.
    The child walks toward my right on the ice.

This is quite different from:

8.2)  le verba ri'u cadzu le bisli
    The child [right] walks-on the ice.
    To the right of me, the child walks on the ice.
In either case, however, the reference frame for defining ``right'' and ``left'' is the speaker's, not the child's. This can be changed thus: 

8.3)  le verba mo'i ri'u cadzu le bisli
        ma'i vo'a
    The child [movement] [right] walks on the ice
        in-reference-frame the-x1-place.
    The child walks toward her right on the ice.
Example 8.3 is analogous to Example 8.1. The cmavo ``ma'i'' belongs to selma'o BAI (explained in Chapter 9), and allows specifying a reference frame.

Both a regular and a ``mo'i''-flagged spatial tense can be combined, with the ``mo'i'' construct coming last:

8.4)  le verba zu'avu mo'i ri'uvi
        cadzu le bisli
    The child [left] [long] [movement] [right] [short]
        walks-on the ice.
    Far to the left of me, the child walks a short
        distance toward my right on the ice.
It is not grammatical to use multiple directions like ``zu'a ca'u'' after ``mo'i'', but complex movements can be expressed in a separate bridi.

Here is an example of a movement tense on a bridi not inherently involving movement:

8.5)  mi mo'i ca'uvu citka le mi sanmi
    I [movement] [front] [long] eat my meal.
    While moving a long way forward, I eat my meal.
(Perhaps I am eating in an airplane.)

There is no parallel facility in Lojban at present for expressing movement in time --- time travel --- but one could be added easily if it ever becomes useful.

Previous
Dimensionality: VIhA 		Imaginary Journeys: The Lojban Space/Time Tense System
The Lojban Reference Grammar 		Next
Interval properties: TAhE and ``roi''