Date:  Thu, 27 Nov 1997 12:32:55 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199711271732.MAA00611@locke.ccil.org>
Reply-To: And Rosta <a.rosta@UCLAN.AC.UK>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: And Rosta <a.rosta@UCLAN.AC.UK>
Organization: University of Central Lancashire
Subject:      Re: kau
X-To:         LOJBAN@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR
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X-From-Space-Date: Thu Nov 27 12:32:56 1997
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Jorge:
> cu'u la djan
> >"kau" can be used after non-question words, in which case the
> >word it is attached to is suggested as the answer to the
> >indirect question, as in "I wonder whether it was John who
> >shot Alice", which uses "la djan. kau"
>
> which means that {kau} after a non-question word is just
> short for {xukau}:
>
>         la djan xu dancatra la alis
>         Was it John who shot Alice?
>
>         mi kucli le du'u la djan xukau dancatra la alis
>         I wonder whether it was John who shot Alice.
>
> >What is not defined is the use of "kau" outside "du'u"
> >abstractions.
>
> I suppose it's for things like these:
>
>             makau tadji le nu mulgau dei
>             How to fill in this questionaire.
>
> For any utterance you can assume a leading: {mi xusra le du'u ...}
> or something sililar, so if kau is defined inside a du'u it has a natural
> extension to what it means outside.

Does anyone have access to a translation of the Princess and the
Pea, done by Colin Fine and published in Ju`i Lobypli? I seem
to recall him using kau as a general focus marker, as in

  mi djuno le du`u la djan kau dancatra la alis
  I know that it was John that shot Alice.

  la djan kau dancatra la alis
  It was John that shot Alice.

Is this valid? I don't see why it shouldn't be.

--And