I would have said "ki'u ma" is the most general one, "what is the explanation for ...?", and not "from what can we deduce that ...?" which is what "ni'i ma" asks. I guess a logical entailment can also work as an explanation: All Russian-style buildings have many doors. This is a Russian-style building. Therefore, this building has many doors. That's the kind of answer provided, so "ni'i ma" is not ncessarily wrong, but I don't see that reasons, motives and physical causes can be logical entailments.
I've always thought that {se ja'e ma} is the most general version. It's just
"as a result of", without specifying what kind of result.
--
Adam Lopresto
http://cec.wustl.edu/~adam/
You can't get a leopard to change his spots. In fact, now that I come to
think of it, you can't really get a leopard to appreciate the notion that it
*has* spots. You can explain it carefully to the leopard, but it will just sit
there looking at you, knowing that you are made of meat. After a while it
will perhaps kill you.
--Geoffrey K. Pullum
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