Re: PLI: ZAhO and tanru

[Goran Topic <topic@STUDENT.MATH.HR>]

> > > But now you seem to be saying that it means "I begin to eat now",
> > > while {mi bao citka} wd mean "I am no longer eating".
> > Yes.  And this is is what perfectives mean in Russian too, which is
> > the only natlang I know that uses them. Actually Russian only has pu'o
> > ca'o and ba'o, come to think of it.

Actually, Croatian too, being related, and I think Chinese uses similar
techniques of aspect and does not have tenses, etc.

> I see. How would you say "I began to eat"? Is there any difference
> between {mi cao citka} and {mi ca citka}? How would you say "I
> was eating"?

1) .i mi puco'a citka
2) Usually no, but:

    .iru'a da mu'e ca darxi

    .ija'o    co'i darxi
    .ije   na ca'o darxi
    .ije      ca   darxi

> > na'e alters the meaning of the selbri itself - on some scale,
> > without necessarily referring to any of its sumti
>
> Does NAhE have sumti?

I do believe that he meant the selbri sumti, not NAhE sumti.

> > (which of course can make the implied scale rather ambiguous when
> > na'e is used inside a tanru)
>
> If {cukta nanmu} is "book person", then why shouldn't {cukta nae
> nanmu} be, no more and no less straightforwardly, "book non-person"?

I don't see how this can be disputed...

co'o mi'e. goran.

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