On Aug 19, 2016 5:23 PM, <collin.damskov@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I don't know a whole lot about lojban, but it seems to me that it would be difficult to learn simply because each selbri has its own implied place structures.
This is required, because in predicate logic, on which Lojban's built, the 'places' are predefined. It's the natural language's thing to have all predicates have 1, 2 or 3 places, sometimes supplying others with prepositions. In Lojban, all essential things in a relation are packed into the selbri.
> Is there no way to encode place structure by using a particle or something without reducing grammatical ambiguity?
1) You can define a predicate on your own, for example:
«lo ka ce'u ce'u ce'u broda cu ka ce'u zukte ce'u se va'u ce'u»
the property-of x1 x2 x3 broda (= the predicate defined) is-the-property-of x1 doing x2 for x3
After that, you can use your shiny new «broda».
2) You can use tags (kind of preposition), or make them on the fly. For example, «gau» = 'done by ...' could be used like this:
«gau mi do na xagji»
with-doer you, I not hungry
(You made me not hungry)
You didn't need to make a new selbri!
As for 'creating on the fly', «fi'o» is your choice. «fi'o» followed by a selbri creates a tag. It rips out the place signified by the selbri, and allows you to use it elsewhere. For example, «fi'o se cidja» will rip out the cidja2 (the thing/person to which cidja1 is food), and I can use it as
«ti nanba fi'o se cidja mi»
this is-bread with-potential-eater me
This is a bread being food to me.
> Why do it this way instead of something that doesn't require such intense memorization of place structures?
First of all, in natural languages, you find yourself having cases. This is fine and all, but the cases' usage is ambiguous, and you'd have to memorize which case to use in which situation, or even whole phrases with cases totally unrelated. Lojban simply numbers the 'cases'.
Secondly, it's not intense. Most gismu follow a pattern (e.g. plants and animals: x1 is a * of species x2). Most gismu have the essential things only, and order them by importance. Only a small bunch of gismu will cause trouble; the rest is predictable.
> Am I missing something important here?
Hope you no longer do.
— mi'e la uakci mu'o —
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