From cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG Sat Mar 6 22:45:13 2010 Date: Mon, 15 May 1995 13:31:13 -0400 From: John Cowan Subject: Vocatives (was: Questions) To: Bob LeChevalier X-From-Space-Date: Mon May 15 18:37:16 1995 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu Message-ID: > > 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.