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on 4/7/02 10:51 PM, Mike Wright at darwin@hidden.email wrote: > > So, we can say: > > Ci hon. This (is [a/the]) book. > > But not: > > *Ci to hon. This (is) the book. > > It hardly seems worthwhile to do away with the copula in only a very > limited set of sentences. This is tricky. Probably best not think of bi as a copula, but as an equals sign. Or think of it as meaning "refers to the same thing as X does." It's reversible. I am the man. The man is me. but I am a man. A man is me. doesn't work. So, practically speaking, you're right, but for logical consistency, everything is a verb stuff, this makes sense. Oh, the Loglan explanation: Sam Clemens bi Mark Twain. A bi statement isn't a claim so much as it is an identification or a definition. -- >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/