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Re: [katanda] Re: Test: Is this list dead?



"maikxlx" <maikxlx@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dayva dayvimu,
> 

This translates roughly as 'All of the say there!'.

I think you meant:

    Dayva, Daybyo vimu!
    'Say there, everybody!'

The word meaning 'hello' will be derived from the speech act verb
meaning 'to greet', which I haven't yet created.

>
> I think ponende should be pone;
> 

They are, essentially.  "Ponende" is a case tag and its linkage is not
precise, while "pone" is a conjunction and its linkage IS precise.
"Ponende" is especially useful in machine translation because the
linkage of a natural language construction may not be clear.  It's also
useful if a clause and a noun phrase has to be linked, as in:

    Goy sesku mi nango ponende tumi.
    = I'll buy the boat depending on you.

>
> catsa should be tatsa.
> 

I strongly disagree.  "Ca" has 'desire' as one of its senses which is
compatible with "catsa" = 'to have as a purpose or goal'.  "Ta" has
'speech' as one of its senses which is compatible with "tatsa" = 'to
mean or signify'.

>
> Batsa tujunti magidanzi va cansa.
> 

"Magidanzi" (meaning 'question') is not acceptable because it eliminates
the possibility of an external patient.  The correct derivation is
"mamyagidambi".  Also, since cumulative adjective modification is left-
to-right in Katanda, "mamyagidambi va cansa" literally means 'the good
one of a question', which doesn't make sense (at least in the
singular).  Here's the correct sentence and the computer translation:

    Batsa tujunti mamyagidambi cansa va.
    = That's a good question.

>
> Mepi si mi batsandi.
>

Good.  Computer output:

    'I was thinking about the same thing.'

>
> Xebenza mi xenidunda Katanda letadya va tatsando liku wish poku ne
> liku hope poku ne liku wonder poku. :-)
> 

You need to use "zane" instead of "poku ne" in a quoted list of
conjuncts.  Also, "tatsando" should be the open adjective "tatsandu".
Here's the correct version and the MT output:

    Xebenza mi xenidunda Katanda letadya tatsandu liku <wish>dya zane
	<hope>dya zane <wonder>dya poku.
    = I think that Katanda needs the words meaning "wish", "hope", and
	"wonder".

Note that I got rid of "va".  Keep in mind that "va" is an INDEFINITE
article.

By the way, I agree with you. :-)  I'll get around to it eventually.

>
> Dwiva cansampoy lemadanzi foy pone bucansanta dahi.
> 

The same reasons for "mamyagidambi" also apply to "mamyadambi".  The
faulty dictionary entry has been fixed.  (Thanks!)

The semi-corrected version is:

    Dwiva cansampoy lemamyadambi foy pone bucansanta dahi.

MT output:

    Please fix my statements if they'll be bad.

First of all, I would personally rather use "xetadya" = 'sentence'
instead of "mamyadambi" = 'statement'.  Second, since imperative
"cansampoy" is inherently future, the conjunct is also future.  Here's
the result:

    Dwiva cansampoy lexetadya foy pone sa bucansanta xehi.
    = Please fix my sentences if they are bad.

Mission accomplished!


Regards,

Rick Morneau
http://www.srv.net/~ram
http://www.eskimo.com/~ram