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xorxes:
> la and cusku di'e
>
> > > It would seem from this example that it can be paraphrased with
> > > a wh-ever in the next outer clause, but not further than that
> > > That is if Lojban is like English in this, which is not
> > > necessarily the case given that Lojban's questions are somewhat
> > > different than English, as they can be embedded as much as you
> > > like
> >
> >How are Lojban questions different from English? I'd have thought
> >questions, qua meanings rather than words, ought to be independent
> >of the particular language
>
> I was thinking of the surface expression of questions. In English
> the question word is always at the main bridi level as it were,
> as if it was always in the top prenex in terms of Lojban:
>
> What are you planning to ask her to give you?
> ma goi ko'a zo'u do platu lo'e nu cpedu lo'e nu ko'e dunda ko'a do
>
> In Lojban we can embed the question word directly:
>
> do platu lo'e nu cpedu lo'e nu ko'e dunda ma do
>
> so if there are any issues of {ma} belonging to a certain prenex
> they would not show up in English
>
> Probably irrelevant for questions, but it may be relevant for
> indirect questions
English also allows what have been called 'quizshow' or 'legalistic'
questions, where the interrogative phrase is left in situ rather
than moved:
"In 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated who?"
This then allows for certain ambiguities:
"John claimed to know who had eaten what"
-- the interrogative operator binding "what" may belong to
the main clause (so the sentence is a question) or to the
subordinate clause.
So English is pretty much like Lojban.
--And.