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Subject: Re: [lojban] Dumb answers to good questions
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 00:20:19 -0400
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From: Pierre Abbat <phma@oltronics.net>
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On Thursday 20 September 2001 00:07, mark@kli.org wrote:
> For some reason, I've found myself thinking about a few points in
> Lojban and coming up with questions that I couldn't answer easily.
> The concepts are so simple and basic I'm sure they've come up
> before, but I don't recall how or where.  Here's the first:
>
> Consider the question {mu'i ma la bab. darxi la fred.}  "Why did Bob
> hit Fred?"  A reasonable question.  Reasonable answers include
> things like {mu'i le nu by. fengu} or {mu'i le nu fy. pu gletu le
> mensi be by} or whatever.  But I could also just as easily answer
> {mu'i le nu fy. duksu leni barda le nu by. ka'e citka}.  ("Why did
> he hit him?  Well, he was too big to eat, and he couldn't wear him
> as a hat because he clashed with his shoes, and...")  Or "Well, Jack
> was too far away/too big."  These are all valid answers, but under
> many circumstances, they are completely unhelpful.  OK, a lot of
> Lojban permits answers that are unhelpful.  But how do you ask more
> explicitly?  Why did Bob HIT Fred (as opposed to kissing him or
> doing something else)?  Why did Bob hit FRED (as opposed to Susan or
> Jolene)?  I suppose {ba'e} *might* do the job, but I'm not sure it's
> specific enough.  Stuff with {.enai lo drata} won't do it.  Maybe
> Bob *did* hit Susan and Jolene (and I know why), but I want to know
> why Fred had to get popped.

I'm not sure how to say "Why did Bob HIT Fred?", but here's how I'd say "Why 
did Bob hit FRED?": {la bab. darxi la fred. pe mu'i ma?} This is the 
threefold difference between be, pe, and neither in BAI constructions:
la bab. darxi le sazri be mu'i ma? Why is the one Bob hit the driver?
la bab. darxi le sazri pe mu'i ma? Why did Bob hit the DRIVER?
la bab. darxi le sazri mu'i ma? Why did Bob hit the driver?

phma