Date:  Tue, 2 Dec 1997 14:06:58 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199712021906.OAA27110@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>
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Status: RO
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Jorge:
> This seems to be the line that And remembered:
> >ni'o co'i le cerni cu preti fofo'a feleli'i fo'a capu sipna ge'ekau
>
> "In the morning they asked her how she had slept."
>
> I would use {peikau} rather than {ge'ekau}, but in any
> case it is definitely an indirect question.

I infer that {ge`e} is a BAI question word. I must have seen it
and failed to realize that. (BTW, it's a pretty poor translation,
if {ge`e} is a BAI question. How would a version with {pei kau}
work?)

> As focus marker I would use {ba'e}:
>
>      mi djuno le du`u ba'e la djan dancatra la alis
>      I know that it was John that shot Alice.
>
>      ba'e la djan dancatra la alis
>      It was John that shot Alice.
>
> It is not very clear to me why {ba'e} couldn't just have been a UI,
> and thus spare yet another selmaho, but that's another story.

Then ba`e would have had to follow the word it marks, rather than
precede it. Maybe that was a factor.

Anyway, ba`e means "new info", which is not the same as focus.
The English it-cleft construction focalizes. So I think I'll
stick with kau as a focalizer.

--And