Re: Getting started with a newborn lang

J Y S Czhang wrote:
>>>
In a message dated 2002.03.01 03.50.16 PM,
exponent@TECHNOLOGIST.COM quotes me & writes:

>Ah hell, might as well give you my shot at the whole thing ;)
>
>"Per cosa è la vita? La vita è per la bellezza, e sostanza, e suono,
>e colore; e anche quelli sono spesso proibiti da legge [convenzioni
>socioculturali]. Perchè non siete liberi, e vivete le vostre proprie
>vite? Perchè seguite le regole altrui vivendo per piacere ad altri?"
"...So what is life for? Life is for beauty and substance and sound and
colour; and even those are often forbidden by law [socio-cultural
conventions]. . . . Why not be free and live your own life? Why follow other
people's rules and live to please others?..." ~Lieh-Tzu/Liezi, Taoist Sage
(c. 450- c. 375 BCE) ~~~
<<<

I'm not a native Italian speaker either, so I ask out of curiosity rather
than authority:

If I'd had to translate 'Perchè non siete liberi?', I would have made it
'Why are you not free?', rather than 'Why not be free?'.  My instinct would
be for 'Perchè non essere libero, e vivere la propria vita?  Perchè
seguire ... e vivere ...' - but perhaps this reflects my imperfect Italian.

Is the construction 'Why not...?' used in Italian anyway?  Do we have
any Italian L1s to help us out?

ObConlang: What we need here is a language which can leave the
subject fully ambiguous - enter Telona, stage right ... :)

Jonathan.

'O dear white children casual as birds,
Playing among the ruined languages...'
W. H. Auden, 'Hymn to St. Cecilia'