ni

[JORGE JOAQUIN LLAMBIAS <jorge@INTERMEDIA.COM.AR>]

 Lee:
>{mitre} is a special case because it already has a place for
>measurement, so I might agree that {le ni mitre} is just the same
>thing as {le se mitre}.  But something like {ninmu} makes it more
>useful: {mi nelci le ni ti ninmu} "I like the amount-of she is-a-
>woman/I like her degree of femininity".

This is how I would say it: {mi nelci le nu ti ninmu la'u makau}
 "I like to what extent she is a woman".

If {ni} is used as above for indirect questions, then it shouldn't
be used for amounts. There you are not saying that you like an
amount. If Mary's degree of femininity is the same as Jane's that
doesn't mean that if you like Mary's degree of femininity you will
also like Jane's, does it?

>>                     le clani cu ckaji le ka clani
>>                     le tordu cu claxu le ka clani
>>                     le clatce cu mutce le ka clani
>
>That seems OK, but for something like {ninmu}, {ka} and {ni}
>are very different: {mi nelci le ka ti ninmu} expresses not that I
>like the degree of her femininity, but merely the existence of it.

That would be: {mi nelci le nu ti ninmu} "I like that she is a woman".
I don't know what {le ka ti ninmu} is, because the bridi after ka
should always have an empty place. {le ka [ke'a] ninmu} is the
property of being a woman, but is {le ka ti ninmu} anything different
from {le nu ti ninmu}?

co'o mi'e xorxes