On Oct 17, 2009, at 17:19, Lindar Greenwood <
lindarthebard@yahoo.com> wrote:
I really do mean both ".i ko klama zo'e" and ".i do klama ma" at the
same time,
I don't think there necessarily has to be a way to express those at the
same time, any more than there's a way to express "I'll go with you"
and "You stink" at the same time. (Or is there?)
There isn't a -need- for it, but I see the possibility of it being used.
It seems to me that you're trying to accurately translate it to English,
then understand it, which can't be done, which is why many are saying that
it doesn't actually make sense. I see {ma} like a 'fill in the blank'
indicator, which is a unique property to Lojban. It doesn't make things
a question, it makes it (to me) and incomplete sentence with a request
for the information to be completed. {.i do klama ma} to me is more like
"You're going _____." with a little note that says "Please fill in the
blank! Thank you!" rather than literally being "Where are you going?".
Even if there was a parse order and you had to read it as ".i do
klama ma" first, then with 'ko', or vice-versa, I still mean both
regardless of which one you read first, assuming you have to read it
as one without the other, then the inverse.
The "priority" issue, as I've tried to explain above, is not about
which statement is effectively made first, but about which speech act
is dominant.
I'm not saying that either is dominant, and I'm actually fiercely stating
the opposite. Both are equally dominant in the sentence, and should be
read at the same time because the order in which they are read is
irrelevant. It's not "Tell me where you are going." it's "Go. Where?"