Re: replies re. ka & mamta be ma

[jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU]

And:
> I am now become dubious about the utility of Q-kau. {Makau} can
> notionally be replaced by {da}, thus:
>
>   koha djuno le duhu makau klama
>   koha djuno le duhu (da zohu) da klama

No, it may be that she knows that noone is coming.

> That is, to claim {koha djuno le duhu makau klama} is merely
> to claim "She knows whether there is someone that came". It
> seems the same as {koha djuno le duhu xukau da klama}.

Perhaps, but {ko'a djuno le du'u makau klama} strongly suggests
(without reaching the point of claiming) that she knows a useful
answer to the question, just as {ma klama} pragmatically asks for
a useful answer, even though in principle anything that makes
the sentence true is acceptable. (What is useful and how useful
it is depends, of course, on context.)

Jorge