Re: Chapter 4

[cowan (John Cowan)]

la mark. clsn. [if that's his name] cusku di'e:
> First off, in the elision rules, page 4-17, it says, near the bottom of the
> page, that kei can always be elided before an explicit cu.  I'm not so
> sure.  We know that cu can occur within a tanru, so I can see cases where
> it would matter.  Let's see if I can cook up an example.

As you found out (look at the BNF) "cu" can't occur within a tanru.  The
only place "cu" is used in the language is to separate a selbri from any
terms (usually sumti) which precede it.

> The other weirdness I found is on page 4-28.  It gives the translation for
> (sexually neutral) parent as 'se panzi'....  It would make
> more sense to have one place for "parent(s)" and use a compound sumti to
> indicate both.  Then, 'se panzi' would work quite nicely for sing. and pl.
> parent(s), and all will be right with the world.

You are absolutely right.  The new place structure is indeed

	x1 is the biological offspring of parents x2

Note the distinction between "se panzi", the genetic parents; "se jbena",
the birth mother; and "rirni", the functional parents.  In the age of
adoption, in vitro fertilization, embryo transfer, and other such things,
these persons are often distinct.

> Oof.  Just turned the page.  Page 4-29, translation of 'spofa' as "... is
> broken/inoperable..."  I suppose "inoperative" would be better?  Sorry to
> pick nits on a public forum; it just hit me in mid-critique.

I was going to dispute this, but my dictionary agrees with you:  it defines
"operable" as "practicable" (plus the specialized medical use of "not
curable by surgical operation").  The intended sense is "not able to be
operated, unusable".  "Inoperative" seems to suggest "not in working order"
which is also a good gloss of "spofa".

> Am I driving everyone nuts with these little dumb questions (except la
> nitcion., who is, of course, already nuts .uibu)?

Not at all!  Every little bit helps.  BTW, "uibu" is the >name< of the
smiley face, but if you want to >say< what the smiley face says, use
"zo'o" = "humorous".

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