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Reflexive and reciprocal pro-sumti: the vo'a-series |
Brevity Is The Soul Of Language: Pro-sumti And Pro-bridi
The Lojban Reference Grammar |
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Relativized pro-sumti: ``ke'a'' |
The following cmavo are discussed in this section:
ma KOhA sumti question
mo GOhA bridi question
Lojban questions are more fully explained in Chapter 19, but ``ma'' and ``mo'' are
listed in this chapter for completeness. The cmavo ``ma'' asks
for a sumti to make the bridi true:
9.1) do klama ma
You go to-what-destination?
Where are you going?
The cmavo ``mo'', on the other hand, asks for a selbri which
makes the question bridi true. If the answer is a full bridi,
then the arguments of the answer override the arguments in the
question, in the same manner as the go'i-series cmavo. A simple
example is:
9.2) do mo
What predicate is true as applied to you?
How are you?
What are you doing?
What are you?
Example 9.3 is a truly pregnant question
that will have several meanings depending on context.
(One thing it probably does not mean is ``Who are you?'' in the sense ``What is your name/identity?'', which is better expressed by:
9.3) ma cmene do
What sumti is-the-name-of you?
What is your name?
or even
9.4) doi ma
O [what sumti?]
which uses the vocative ``doi'' to address someone, and
simultaneously asks who the someone is.)
A further example of ``mo'':
9.5) lo mo prenu cu darxi do
.i barda
A [what selbri?] type-of person hit you?
(Observative:) A big thing.
Which person hit you? The big one.
When ``ma'' or ``mo'' is repeated, multiple questions are being
asked simultaneously:
9.6) ma djuno ma
[what sumti] knows [what sumti]?
Who knows what?
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Previous
Reflexive and reciprocal pro-sumti: the vo'a-series |
Brevity Is The Soul Of Language: Pro-sumti And Pro-bridi
The Lojban Reference Grammar |
Next
Relativized pro-sumti: ``ke'a'' |