Re: Is the Sev Trek 2 translation ready?
Rob Zook 
Wed, 08 Jul 1998 12:35:27 -0500

At 10:05 AM 7/8/98 -0500, Saul Epstein wrote:
<snip>
>>I had meant the -jia to be a kind of ? in the middle of the verb for
>>a [permissive] value positive or negative. But I guess we don't need
>>to have that kind of structure if we can say:
>>
>>qa th'nidroima "[Is it true?] I may ask"
>>
>>I think then that:
>>Gaudy: qa th'nidroima jitokh'hi Beta'a
>>
>>May be best to distinguish from forms of askings like you meantioned:
>>
>>qa th'nidroima [favor]'hi
>>qa th'nidroima [forgiveness]'hi
>
>Ah, yes. Good. My point there (which I reprinted above) was to suggest
>an even sharper distinction between the two kinds of asking. So
><th'nidroi> ~ "I inquire" but *<th'rikwest> ~ "I request" -- whether
>compliance, attention, forgiveness, a hug, whatever.

Ok, I'll buy that.


>In addition, we might have a sort of "requestive" as a counterpart to
>the imperative. So <kroika> ~ "Stop!" while *<kroicul> ~ "Please,
>stop."

That was behind my idea of adding the -jia suffix. I just didn't think
of calling it a "requestive" :). So, maybe we could say:

<th'nidroimajia jitokh'hi beita'a>
"Please, may I ask a personal question, Beta."


>I can see including <jitokh> if it means a specific kind of
>question -- in this case a "personal" one. The pattern I've been
>abstracting from the ZC implies that "question" in general is
><nidroi>.

Yes, a question that would breach the traditional bounds of
privacy.  And you mean "question" in terms of "asking a question"
as opposed to "inquiring after someone's health", or "requesting
help", right?


>>Did we talk about <yara> before and I forgot, or is this something
>>new you want to add?
>
>
>I just made it up, and looking back at it, I disapprove. ;-) We have
>to much <a> and <r> as it is. And I don't know that it needs adding, I
>just don't know how to represent an assignment operation.

Do you think that we need more than just <pu ci (statement) ic>?


>So, is this where we are?
>
>   G: qa th'nidroima jidokh'hi beita'a
>   B: s'ninidroima godi'a
>   G: qa s'izgezu ibumusko

I think, except for the intensively reduplicated nidroi in Beita's
reply. Why does that need to be there?


Rob Z.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
And isn't sanity really just a one-trick pony, anyway?  I mean, 
all you get is one trick, rational thinking, but when you're good 
and crazy, ooh ooh ooh, the sky's the limit! -- The Tick