PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD VERSION. The current version is linked from The Complete Lojban Language.

11. Space interval modifiers: FEhE

The following cmavo is discussed in this section:

       fe'e    FEhE    space interval modifier flag
Like time intervals, space intervals can also be continuous, discontinuous, or repetitive. Rather than having a whole separate set of selma'o for space interval properties, we instead prefix the flag ``fe'e'' to the cmavo used for time interval properties. A space interval property would be placed just after the space interval size and/or dimensionality cmavo:

11.1)    ko vi'i fe'e di'i
        sombo le gurni
    You-imperative [1-dimensional] [space:] [regularly]
        sow the grain.
    Sow the grain in a line and evenly!
11.2)    mi fe'e ciroi
        tervecnu lo selsalta
    I [space:] [three places]
        buy those-which-are salad-ingredients.
    I buy salad ingredients in three locations.
11.3)    ze'e roroi ve'e
        fe'e roroi ku
        li re su'i re du li vo
    [whole time] [all times] [whole space]
        [space:] [all places]
        The-number 2 + 2 = the-number 4.
    Always and everywhere, two plus two is four.

As shown in Example 11.3, when a tense comes first in a bridi, rather than in its normal position before the selbri (in this case ``du''), it is emphasized.

The ``fe'e'' marker can also be used for the same purpose before members of ZAhO. (The cmavo ``be'a'' belongs to selma'o FAhA; it is the space direction meaning ``north of''.)

11.4)    tu ve'abe'a
        fe'e co'a rokci
    that-yonder [medium space interval - north]
        [space] [initiative] is-a-rock.
    That is the beginning of a rock extending to my north.
    That is the south face of a rock.
Here the notion of a ``beginning point'' represented by the cmavo ``co'a'' is transferred from ``beginning in time'' to ``beginning in space'' under the influence of the ``fe'e'' flag. Space is not inherently oriented, unlike time, which flows from past to future: therefore, some indication of orientation is necessary, and the ``ve'abe'a'' provides an orientation in which the south face is the ``beginning'' and the north face is the ``end'', since the rock extends from south (near me) to north (away from me).

Many natural languages represent time by a space-based metaphor: in English, what is past is said to be ``behind us''. In other languages, the metaphor is reversed. Here, Lojban is representing space (or space interval modifiers) by a time-based metaphor: the choice of a FAhA cmavo following a VEhA cmavo indicates which direction is mapped onto the future. (The choice of future rather than past is arbitrary, but convenient for English-speakers.)

If both a TAhE (or ROI) and a ZAhO are present as space interval modifiers, the ``fe'e'' flag must be prefixed to each.