Re: cmavo word order

[Chris Bogart <cbogart@QUETZAL.COM>]

la rabzuk cusku di'e:
>I also feel confused about the meaning changes when you put a cmavo
>in different places inside a bridi. For example in:

>le mo'u zdani cu po'ayfa'u  - "the expired house fell to pieces"
>|---sumpti--| |--selbri--|

You need an "r", not a "y" as the glue in this lujvo: po'arfa'u.  Use y =
after
a consonant, r after a vowel.  But otherwise your diagramming is good.  =
By
the way, the "p" in "sumti" is silent, like the "m" in "fish".  :-)

>If my diagramming seems correct here, would <le zdani mo'u> have a
>different meaning? Would the glosses "the completed house", "the =
fulfilled
>house", and "the ended house" all work for <le mo'u zdani>?

{mo'u} isn't one of those cmavo that you can put just anywhere.  It =
always comes at the beginning of the selbri (even if the selbri is =
inside a sumti).  So you can't say {le zdani mo'u} (well, you could, but =
the mo'u would not be part of the sumti.  It would attach to po'arfa'u, =
if you left off {cu}).

Regarding the meaning, I think it helps to think of zdani as a verb: x1 =
is a house; so mo'u zdani would mean that x1 finishes being a house -- =
it's fallen apart, or been demolished, or it's been turned into a =
McDonald's.  Some of your glosses sound to me like they mean the =
builders are done building it, and it's ready to be lived in -- which I =
don't think is right.

co'o mi'e kris