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> I'm taking it that the tiger sentences pretty much call for > typical tigers. To me they just call for anything defined as tigers. For example, when you study tigers, you don't study a single typical ideal tiger, unless you're a child - if you're a scientist, you study all the different species of tigers. If you're going to be eaten by a tiger, that could be any tiger. When you say tigers are dangerous, you're saying that about most tigers, not necessarily just the typical one. I see the meaning as the same in all three sentences that I gave. > Now, the Swede thing is ambiguous in English. Like I said, he > could have a > particular Swede in mind, or not. > > I see the distinction as: > > Kul Franjin bi jin. > Tuya Franjin bol Franbol. > > Go fu zbanho to swejini. I'm going to marry the Swede (You and I > both know > the exact person I'm referring to) > Go fu zbanho tuya swejini. I'm going to marry a typical Swede, not picked > out yet, because I want to marry someone with typical Swedish > characteristics. That is, a Swedish citizen of Moroccan descent isn't > included. this seems to be something beyond the sentences I gave or the meaning of "ki". If I were to express this in minyeva, I'd use a content word meaning "typical". > Go fu zbanho tawa swejini. I'm going to marry a Swede, already picked out > and known about by me. > Go fu zbanho ta swejini. I'm going to marry a Swede (any Swede at all, it > will be any Swede, not necessarily a typical Swede. Because, > say, I need to > marry such a person to obtain Swedish citizenship.) > Go fu zbanho te swejini. Includes, I think, all the meanings above. > > Question is, is tawa going to be useful? I think the tawa meaning is a lot more common than the typical meaning, so it is very useful. It is used any time you are introducing something new to someone else. > -- > > Rex F. May (Baloo) > Daily cartoon at: > http://www.cnsnews.com/cartoon/baloo.asp > Buy my book at: > http://www.kiva.net/~jonabook/book-GesundheitDummy.htm > -- Garrett Jones http://www.alkaline.org