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Re: [lojban] Speaker specificity: {.i da'i na vajni}





On Fri, Sep 26, 2014 at 11:34 PM, Pierre Abbat <phma@bezitopo.org> wrote:

Here are some verses from 1 Samuel 9 (which la mukti has been reviewing):

\v 3 .i cirko le fetxasli pe la .kic. noi patfu la .ca'ul .i ri cusku lu ko se
kansa lo selfu lo nu sisku le xasli li'u la .ca'ul.

The writer has specific donkeys in mind.

Does that mean that the writer would be able to identify the donkeys, or just that he's talking about Kish's donkeys, whichever they might be? What would be different if they had written "lo fetxasli pe la .kic."? 

\v 5 .i tolcliva la .tsuf .i la .ca'ul. cusku lu .e'u mi'o xruti mi'o
.itezu'ebo naku lo patfu be mi cu tolmo'i fi le xasli gi'e xanka tu'a mi'o li'u
le selfu noi kansa .sy

Saul has his father specifically in mind, but he has only one father, so
there's no need to signal the fact. But Kish may have other jennies who
weren't lost. (Kish's lost donkeys, like the one Balaam rode, were female, for
which Hebrew uses a completely different word.)

KJV has: "And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost." That suggests Kish didn't have other asses. If you were translating from this version, would you have used "lo"?

\v 6 .i dafsku lu le cevni nanmu cu xabju lo vi tcadu .i ra goi ko'a mutce
misno .i ro lo se cusku be ko'a cu binxo lo jetnu je'usai .i .e'u mi'o vitke
ko'a .i.a'o ko'a cusku lo sedu'u mi'o klama fo makau .ei kei mi'o li'u

The servant knows who the man of God is, but Saul doesn't know who he is or
even that there is one nearby.
 
What about "lo vi tcadu"? Doesn't he have a particular nearby city in mind? 

\v 15 ni'o ca lo prulamdei be lo nu la .ca'ul. tolcliva kei la .iaves.
tolmipri fi la .cmuel. lo nu ri tirna kei
\v 16 fe lu ba za lo djedi be li pa mi benji fo'a goi le nanmu pe lo la
.beniamin. tumla do li'o li'u

How can God *not* have a specific one in mind? :)

But if it's obvious then why should God need to signal it? And would God not have a specific one day period in mind as well? And a specific tumla?

It still seems to me that the choice of when to use "le" is more or less haphazard.

mu'o mi'e xorxes 

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