Re: darxi

[Logical Language Group <lojbab@access.digex.net>]

>In the gismu.lst:
>darxi   hit/hitter ... with ...
>
>But in the mini-lesson:
>do darxi la suzn. le bikla ku le cukta ku
>(You hit Susan in the arm with the book).
>
>Why?

The place structure for darxi in the gismu list is:

x1 hits/strikes/[beats] x2 with instrument [or body-part] x3 at locus x4          
In the example sentence
x1 is "do"  (You are the hitter)
x2 is "la suzn" (Susan is the one hit)
x3 is supposed to be the instrument
x4 is supposed to be the place hit 
So x3 should be le cukta ku and x4 should be le birka ku (not bikla).

The textbook (which is where you got this from - not the minilesson) is
aounrd 6 years old and there have been some minor place structure changes
in the words that have made this kind of error common, though I am not
sure that I've been told about this one before.  There was one attempt to
correct such errors when John Cowan put the textbook in its current 22
lesson form, but there were many places that were missed.

It is useful to study the textbook to get general ideas how things work
but the much newer reference grammar is the better choice to get clear
and correct language information.

lojbab