{kau} and {du'u} and {jei}

[Jorge Llambias <jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU>]

la lojbab cusku di'e

> I need Nick Nicholas to come up with a definition for "kau" since he has by
> usage extended it a bit beyond its original purpose as listed in the cmavo
> list.  Please send me a new "line" to replace the exisiting one in the file,
> Nick.

I looked at some of that usage, and I'm not sure I understand it. Here are
some examples from Nick's texts:

> The question which is currently preoccupying the English press is:
> what will become of Ringo Starr's tonsils?
>
> .i lei gicygu'e karnysku cu se cinri lo preti
> po'u ledu'u le moklrtonsilo. be la ringos. cu bu'akaunai

Why {kaunai}? (Also, I prefer to use {mo} rather than {bu'a}, but it seems
anything will do.) There are other instances of this {kaunai} where I would
use {kau}, I don't understand the distinction.

Also there is one use where {kau} is not inside a {du'u} clause:

> no'i la xrist. ba cpacu loi vanju {mu'i lenu pinxe kei}
> gi'e te preti fo ko'a {felenu ko'a djica lenu la xrist. dunda dakau ko'a}
>
> Christ then took wine to drink, and asked the man what he wanted Christ to
> give him.

I would change {le nu ...} to {le du'u ...}, so I don't think this is
really any different usage. (Again, I prefer {makau})

On the same topic, how do we translate "whether" in places like
"I know whether John likes apples".

I think it should be:

        mi djuno le du'u xukau la djan nelci lei plise

(and the {xu} could even be dropped), but according to the grammar it's:

        mi djuno le jei la djan nelci lei plise

To me, the x2 of djuno is a fact (i.e. a du'u abstraction), and it can't
be a truth value. Then again, I can't really think of any use for
{le jei ...}, is it really a short form for {le du'u xukau ...}?

Also, the grammar says:

> 7.5)  mi kucli le du'u la frank. cu bebna [kei]
>       I am curious about whether Frank is a fool.
>
> and here "du'u" could probably be replaced by "jei" without much change
> in meaning.

I think that should be:

        mi kucli le du'u xukau la frank cu bebna

and without the {xukau}, it would mean: "I am curious about the fact
that Frank is a fool." This is not a common idiom in English, but to
be curious about something shouldn't be restricted to being uncertain
about its truth value.

.......................................................................

There is another proposed use for {kau}, to disambiguate in cases like:

        la xuan zmadu la paulas le ka prami dakau
        Juan exceeds Paula in the property of being loved

        la paulas zmadu la xuan le ka dakau prami
        Paula exceeds Juan in the property of loving (someone)


I guess this is the use not covered by the current definition. At first,
I didn't like this extension, but now it doesn't seem so alien to the
other use.

Jorge