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on 3/10/02 7:27 PM, Mike Wright at darwin@hidden.email wrote: > > While we're at it, I notice that the definition of "da" includes > "they". It's interesting that even in languages that don't have > obligatory number, there are still explicitly plural pronouns. I think > that this is because you can't normally put a number, or an adjective > of quantity, in front of a pronoun. So, my inclination would be to add > a pluralizer for "da". Maybe "dada", to match "zida" and "goda"? > I think we can say zeda. Also, possible to say zezi. And, for that matter, handa and hanzi, when we want to make it clear that it's singular. For that matter, when speaking in chorus, we can sa zego. use the first? Because it's shorter? I'm moving in >> that direction. > > I think so, but I'd tend to retain the combination with "vo", thus > keeping "kul", "ci", "jaw", and so on as true modifiers, rather than > sometimes modifier, sometimes noun--just for the feeling of > consistency. (But is "vo" a particle, as advertised, or is it a noun? > Could it be considered a kind of all-purpose pronoun?) I think of it as meaning 'one.' Also as analagous with Mandarin de when it doesn't precede a noun. As for using the prefixes without vo... They really make for nice short words, and can we say that in a sentence like 'Ci bi kwa?' there isn't any other possible meaning for the words than 'what is this?' So does it make it better if we don't think of them as nouns, always use them as prefixes or in -sa constructions, but sometimes shorten Xvo to X when no confusion will result? Like, on the correlatives page, just add to the -vo series, "Vo may be dropped in concise speech when no confusion will result." -- >PLEASE NOTE MY NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS: rmay@hidden.email > Rex F. May (Baloo) > Daily cartoon at: http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/baloo.asp > Buy my book at: http://www.kiva.net/~jonabook/gdummy.htm > Language site at: http://www.geocities.com/ceqli/Uploadexp.htm >Discuss my auxiliary language at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/txeqli/