On 8/12/05, Sunnan <sunnan@handgranat.org> wrote:
Is {.i ko smaji .ijonai mi cecla fa'a do} grammatical and does it mean
(roughly) "shut up or I'll shoot you"?
If not, what are your suggested improvements?
{ijonai} contains both a threat and a promise:
If you don't shut up, then I'll shoot you (the threat).
If you do shut up, then I won't shoot you (the promise).
Given the rest of the lyrics, I think the person making the threat
is not making any promises along with it. With {ija} there is only
the threat, you keep your options open in case they do shut up.
I'd say {nu cinba}.
{nu} covers all {zu'o}, {pu'u}, {za'i} and {mu'e}, so you don't really need
to choose between them. Ordinarily, I'd say a kiss is {lo mu'e cinba}.
I'd say that {lo zu'o cinba} is more like "his kissing" than "his kisses",
focusing more in the action itself. {pu'u cinba} only if the kiss goes
through different stages, which is also a possibility in some cases
I suppose.