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beginning conversation: asking for a name
- From: MorphemeAddict <lytlesw@hidden.email>
- Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 19:32:58 -0500
- Subject: beginning conversation: asking for a name
- To: Latejami@yahoogroups.com
To ask someone's name, you can ask "Dasu tedapa xevi tomeni?" or its equivalent "Dasu tedapena xevi?".
The answer would be "Dasu tedapa bavi _____." The question is what kind of answer goes in the blank.
In the sentence "Kiva bavi Lajonbegi" ("I saw John"), "Lajonbegi" is a name, but it refers to a person. When asking for someone's name, you want a name word, not a person. So would John's name be "Lajonbegi" for this question, or something else, maybe with the performance component classifier "kus", i.e., jonkusi or Lajonkusi?
For the time being I shall assume that one would use "Lajonbegi" in this kind of case. This would produce the answer "Dasu tedapa bavi Lajonbegi". Now, does this name need to be quoted, since John isn't the same as his name "John"?
Is the answer "Dasu tedapa bavi tejopaw Lajonbegi xijopi"? Quoting the name is cumbersome, though, so I wonder if it would just be done in the most formal or detailed circumstances.
stevo