Subject: Re: [lojban] specificity of 'ma'

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 17:03:41 -0400 (EDT)

[email-masked] scripsit:

> > {la mo} works. But "who" doesn't insist on a name.
> 
> Will {la mo} guarantee a name? 

No (for not all names are predicates). But if you want a name,
*ask* for a name: ma cmene lo klama be le zarci
should provoke zo djan.

> and {lo} won't usually work ("a certain" is an English quantifier trick, not 
> specific -- or is it definite? -- outside of certain special cases -- nothing 
> seems to work like it in Lojban --- though I did try.) 

"A certain x" is +specific -definite, or lebi'unai.

-- 
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan [email-masked]
Please leave your values | Check your assumptions. In fact,
at the front desk. | check your assumptions at the door.
--sign in Paris hotel | --Miles Vorkosigan