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Re: [katanda] le- with mass nouns



I've added the following to the section that discusses the test for
modality:

    Do NOT use passive forms of verbs for any of the above tests.
    For example, "known" and "said" pass the above tests even though
    they are obviously not modalities.

>
> Does 'le-' force a mass noun to become a count noun, or does the 'lo-'
> have to be there too?
> 

"Lo-" is not needed if "le-" is used.

>
> In K-E "meto" has no Katanda example sentence:
>
> meto - kitchen, room where food is cooked or prepared. I cooked
>    the fish in the kitchen.
>

An oversight.  Thanks!

>
> Based on similar examples in K-E, it looks like the Katanda should be
> "Megompa mi lanju di meto", but couldn't it also be "Megompa mi lanju
> dindu meto", indicating where the fish was rather than where the
> cooking took place?
> 

Correct.

>
> The K-E entries for "nanku" and "natoa" have no example sentences:
> 
> nanku - marsh fern. "Nanku" includes all members of family
>     Thelypteridaceae.
>
> natoa - squid. "Natoa" includes all members of order Dibranchia.  
>

Any volunteers?

>
> I think the definitions of "fusi" and "zwe" in K-E would be clearer if
> they read:
> 
> fusi - happy about/that
> zwe - piece of furniture
>

The entries are also used verbatim in the English-to-Katanda dictionary.
"About/that" is unnecessary clutter, and people will look up
"furniture", not "piece of furniture".  All four dictionaries that are
on my web site are actually generated automatically from a single,
marked-up source file.


Regards,

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