Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 04:06:07 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199712120906.EAA27259@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Robin Turner Sender: Lojban list From: Robin Turner Subject: Re: ni, jei, perfectionism X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 918 X-From-Space-Date: Fri Dec 12 04:06:09 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU John Cowan wrote: >Indeed. I did an enquiry on Linguist List once to find out about this, >specifically with regard to Y/N indirect questions. IIRC, only >Turkish was anomalous, using Chinese-style "V-not-V" >questions in indirect form, but not in direct form. Interesting. I'd be interested to know if there were any more "anomalous" languages, though. Turkish is indeed weird in this respect, using repetition of the verb with two different participles e.g. gel - ip gel- me - diG - i - ni bil- mi- yor - um come-PART. come-NEG.-PART.-3dP.SING-ACC. know-NEG.-PROG.- 1stP.SING "I don't know if he came." Tourist brochures or teach-yourself books which say Turkish is easy to learn because it is "so regular" are having you on! Mind you, I sometimes get that feeling about Lojban, too ;-) Robin Turner Bilkent Universitesi, IDMYO, Ankara, Turkey.