The following cmavo are discussed in this section:
ma |
KOhA |
sumti question |
mo |
GOhA |
bridi question |
Lojban questions are more fully explained in Section 19.5, but ma and mo are listed in this chapter for completeness. The cmavo ma asks for a sumti to make the bridi true:
The cmavo mo, on the other hand, asks for a selbri which makes the question bridi true. If the answer is a full bridi, then the arguments of the answer override the arguments in the question, in the same manner as the go'i-series cmavo. A simple example is:
Example 7.64 is a truly pregnant question that will have several meanings depending on context.
(One thing it probably does not mean is “Who are you?” in the sense “What is your name/identity?”, which is better expressed by:
or even
which uses the vocative doi to address someone, and simultaneously asks who the someone is.)
A further example of mo:
lo | mo | prenu | cu | darxi | do | .i | barda | |
A | [what selbri?] | type-of | person | hit | you? | A big thing. |
Which person hit you? The big one. |
When ma or mo is repeated, multiple questions are being asked simultaneously: