7.8. Reflexive and reciprocal pro-sumti: the vo'a-series

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

vo'a

KOhA

vo'a-series

x1 of this bridi

vo'e

KOhA

vo'a-series

x2 of this bridi

vo'i

KOhA

vo'a-series

x3 of this bridi

vo'o

KOhA

vo'a-series

x4 of this bridi

vo'u

KOhA

vo'a-series

x5 of this bridi

soi

SOI

reciprocity

se'u

SEhU

soi terminator

The cmavo of the vo'a-series are pro-sumti anaphora, like those of the ri-series, but have a specific function. These cmavo refer to the other places of the same bridi; the five of them represent up to five places. The same vo'a-series cmavo mean different things in different bridi. Some examples:

Example 7.57. 

mi lumci vo'a

I wash myself


Example 7.58. 

mi klama le zarci vo'e

I go to the store from itself [by some route unspecified].


To refer to places of neighboring bridi, constructions like le se go'i ku do the job: this refers to the 2nd place of the previous main bridi, as explained in Section 7.6.

The cmavo of the vo'a-series are also used with soi (of selma'o SOI) to precisely express reciprocity, which in English is imprecisely expressed with a discursive phrase like vice versa:

Example 7.59. 

mi prami do soi vo'a vo'e
I love you [reciprocity] [x1 of this bridi] [x2 of this bridi].

I love you and vice versa (swapping I and you).


The significance of soi vo'a vo'e is that the bridi is still true even if the x1 (specified by vo'a) and the x2 (specified by vo'e) places are interchanged. If only a single sumti follows soi, then the sumti immediately preceding soi is understood to be one of those involved:

Example 7.60. 

mi prami do soi vo'a
I love you [reciprocity] [x1 of this bridi].

again involves the x1 and x2 places.

Of course, other places can be involved, and other sumti may be used in place of vo'a-series cmavo, provided those other sumti can be reasonably understood as referring to the same things mentioned in the bridi proper. Here are several examples that mean the same thing:

Example 7.61. 

mi bajykla ti ta soi vo'e -

mi bajykla ti ta soi vo'e vo'i

soi vo'e vo'i mi bajykla ti ta

I runningly-go to this from that and vice versa (to that from this).


The elidable terminator for soi is se'u (selma'o SEhU), which is normally needed only if there is just one sumti after the soi, and the soi construction is not at the end of the bridi. Constructions using soi are free modifiers, and as such can go almost anywhere. Here is an example where se'u is required:

Example 7.62. 

mi bajykla ti soi vo'i se'u   ta
I runningly-go-to this [reciprocity] [x3 of this bridi]   from that

I runningly-go to this from that and vice versa.