Vocatives (was: Questions)

[John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>]

> > la xorxes. cusku di'e
> > > {ki'e danfu} means "thank you Answer", i.e. you are using {danfu} as
> > > a name. Probably you meant {i ckire fi tu'a le danfu}
> >
> > No, "ki'e danfu" means "ki'e lo danfu"; old-timers will recognize this as
> > the "Hey, girl with the red hair" problem ("joi xunkrexli").

    should have been:                           ju'i

> What's the difference? You mean that instead of "name" I should have
> said that it's the vocative case of "answer"?  That's what I meant
> to say by "using it as a name".

Ah.  I read your remark as saying that "ki'e danfu" was synonymous with
"ki'e la danfu", probably triggered by your capitalization of "Answer",
as if it were a proper name.  The form "COI predicate" is intended to be
used in situations where you want to attract someone's attention by
giving a description which the listener recognizes as a characterization
of him/herself.  This description must be veridical, because otherwise
the listener has to read your mind.  To get the attention of someone
named Bear, you have to say "ju'i la cribe", for "ju'i cribe" will
probably get a growl in response.  :-)

--
John Cowan                                              cowan@ccil.org
                        e'osai ko sarji la lojban.