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Rex May - Baloo wrote:
>
> on 3/8/02 2:51 PM, Mike Wright at darwin@hidden.email wrote:
>
> > 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."
>
> I wouldn't be surprised if that usage tended to be more common than the
> 'zoype' idea, but I want Ceqli to be capable of both. Come to think of it,
> English is capable of both, tho it would only say 'Buten pe hu bupyar pam'
> in classes in logic. So Mandarin seems to be more logic-inclined, in these
> cases at least, than English.
> >
> > 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.)
>
> So how does it deal with
> "I don't think it's raining."
"I think it's not raining."
Wo3 xiang3 xian4zai4 bu4 xia4yu3.
I think now NEG fall:rain.
or
Wo3 kan4 xian4zai4 bu4 xia4yu3.
I opine (literally "look") ...
Which reminds me. I hope Ceqli will avoid that bogus "it" subject that
English requires sometimes.
> (Actually, this whole Ceqli project is just a clever plan to get Mike to
> teach me Mandarin for free)
The bill is in the mail. :-)
--
Mike Wright
http://www.CoastalFog.net
_____________________________________________________
"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."
-- Charles de Gaulle