[YG Conlang Archives] > [katanda group] > messages [Date Index] [Thread Index] >

[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next]

Re: [katanda] nahi vs. xehi

Title: Re: [katanda] nahi vs. xehi
In a message dated 2002-09-18 11:53:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time, sts@hidden.email writes:
lesson28:
    Peter asked me for a steel bathtub but it was too
      expensive.
    Nida Kapedebyo mi xenasyu va te gebiste nane sebinsanta
      toyuva xehi.
sts:
i thought it must be "nahi" instead of "xehi". "xe" is just a prefix,
i thought. so i mismemorized something.

stefo,
i used to think so too, but the polarity "prefixes" are treated in some ways the same as "bu-", i.e., as semi-morphs.  otherwise, as in a later sentence with sinks and tubs, how would you distinguish between the two (nasyu vs. xenasyu)?
steven

steven,
thank you. i'll keep in mind that polarity prefixes have to be taken into account. but how do you distinguish between "nabyo" and "nasay"? using the table-words (tabelvortoj) in esperanto, the answer would be obvious:

who = ki-byo (esperanto: ki-u)
what = ki-vatsi (esperanto: ki-o)

i mean, i would like to say something like "ti-vatsi" and "ti-byo" for "this thing" and "this person" and maybe "hi-vatsi" and "hi-byo" for "it" and "he/her".
stephan,
sts.