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Rex May - Baloo wrote:
>
> I call for everybody's opinion. In the correlatives, for the
> nothing, nobody, nowhere series, should the prefix be bu, zoy, kayn, or does
> someone have a better idea?
It's an interesting question. Neither Japanese nor Mandarin have such
words. Both either use indefinites (some...) and negate the verb, or
use a pattern like, "There are not {noun} that {verb}." Sort of like
"Buten pe hu bupyar pam." or "Buten bupyar pam sa pe."
This seems to be part of the internal logic of these languages,
wherein that which does not exist cannot be the subject of a verb.
(There's something vaguely similar in Mandarin not negating the verb
"xiang3", when it means "to think", unless there is literally no
thinking going on.)
--
Mike Wright
http://www.CoastalFog.net
_____________________________________________________
"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."
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