Re: [lojban] kona, but not the coffee

[pycyn@aol.com]

In a message dated 6/17/2001 5:11:13 AM Central Daylight Time,
thinkit8@lycos.com writes:

when you say "ko na bacru", are you saying "shut up", or just
saying "it is not true that i am asking you to utter"?  what it be
any different for the prenex version (na ku zo'u ko bacru)?

i think it should be the latter.  then to say shut up, just use ko
na'e bacru.

And the poison spreads! If you say {ko ...} you are not making a claim but
issuing a command (a directive, with whatever powerplay additions you can
manage).  So, in particular you are not saying "I am asking you to...;"  that
would a bridi whose agent term is {mi}.  Nor does the position of the {na}
make any difference -- the sentence remains a directive.  There a dozens of
uses of bridi, most of them fairly clearly marked in Lojban.  One way to mark
directives in Lojban is to use {ko} ({e'o} and {e'u} also work).  Directive
language is inherently not assertive, it makes no claim.  It does presuppose
that what is being directed to occur is not known to be occurring at the
moment.