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RE: [lojban] Linguistic universals and Lojban
Pierre:
> I found a page http://ling.uni-konstanz.de:591/Universals/introduction.html
> listing universals and am trying to correlate them to Lojban. Two are:
>
> In languages with prepositions the genitive almost always follows the
> governing noun.
> In languages with postpositions the genitive almost always precedes the
> governing noun.
>
> Lojban has prepositions, not postpositions, but it is not at all obvious to
> me what corresponds to a genitive construction. The Lojban noun cannot do
> anything but form a sumti by adding "la" (or "lai" or "la'i") or form a
> vocative phrase. It has no genitive. Most nounly things are done with verbs,
> which don't have genitive either. Both "pe"-phrases and "be"-phrases can be
> sometimes translated as a genitive, but they follow their heads. Does either
> correspond to a genitive construction?
If I had to label some Lojban construction as a 'genitive', I'd nominate
"le MI cukta" and "le cukta PO mi". (Or is it po'e? The possessives in
NE, anyway.)
--And.