Re: A question and introduction

H.S.Teoh wrote:
>That's right. The nullar number of a noun indicates its absence.
>
>Another example:
>1) ekaa's3    juli'r.
>   (singular)
>   "Ekasi (masc. name) is in the house."
>
>2) emy'kasi juli'r.
>   (nullar)
>   "Ekasi is not in the house."
>
>The prefix e- is the masculine proper name prefix, which you could think
>of as "Mr.". So, (1) can be read as "Mr. Ekasi is in the house", and (2)
>can be read as "Mr. no-Ekasi is in the house."
>
Just offhand, I see a problem here.

(knock on door)
A-- Is Ekasi in the house?

B1-- no-Ekasi is in the house (he indeed lives here, but is out at the
moment)
B2-- no-Ekasi is in the house (no such person lives here).

It strikes me that 2) emy'kasi juli'r. (nullar) "Ekasi is not in the house."
is more apt as response to B2 than B1...but whatever you say.  I'm sure
there's a way around it.

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