Re: Communal/collaborative languages now possible at CALS

The difference between Mandarin and Toki Pona is that the equivalent
sentence in Mandarin:
Ni3 shuo1 bu4 shuo1?
You talk not talk

means "Are you going to talk, or what?" either as a legitimate question (are
you going to tell your mum about your pregnancy?) or as a threat (are you
telling me or not?)

Hao3 "good" is not ambiguous in tat there isn't a volition involved.


Eugene

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:34 PM, Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>wrote:

> Hi!
>
> taliesin writes:
> >...
> > Mandarin is set as "question particle", though without examples
> > in the chapter text.
>
> Mandarin has both:
>
>    hao3 bu  hao3?
>    good not good
>    (Is it) good/ok?
>
>    hao3 ma?
>    good YN
>    (Is it) good/ok?
>
> For transitive verbs, mainland Mandarin allows the negated verb to be
> moved to the end of the clause (but IIRC, Taiwanese Mandarin typically
> does not):
>
>    ni3 you3 shu1 ma?
>    you have book YN
>    'Do you have a book?'
>
>    ni3 you3 mei3  you3 shu1?
>    you have don't have book?
>    'Do you have a book?'
>
>    ni3 you3 shu1 mei3  you3?
>    you have book don't have?
>    'Do you have a book?'
>
> **Henrik
>