From nobody@digitalkingdom.org Wed Jan 14 08:12:11 2009 Received: with ECARTIS (v1.0.0; list lojban-beginners); Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:12:12 -0800 (PST) Received: from nobody by chain.digitalkingdom.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1LN8Lj-0001xi-MP for lojban-beginners-real@lojban.org; Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:12:11 -0800 Received: from mail.geekisp.com ([216.168.135.169] helo=starfish.geekisp.com) by chain.digitalkingdom.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1LN8LY-0001w9-D8 for lojban-beginners@lojban.org; Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:12:11 -0800 Received: (qmail 31680 invoked by uid 1003); 14 Jan 2009 16:11:51 -0000 Received: from geekisp.com (localhost.geekisp.com [127.0.0.1]) by localhost.geekisp.com (tmda-ofmipd) with ESMTP; Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:11:47 -0500 Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:11:21 -0700 To: lojban-beginners@lojban.org Subject: [lojban-beginners] Re: Spelling "Alan" in lojban? Message-ID: <20090114161145.GT23891@sunflowerriver.org> References: <20090114154255.GS23891@sunflowerriver.org> <96f789a60901140750w7e57f830k426d2528280bb6d1@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <96f789a60901140750w7e57f830k426d2528280bb6d1@mail.gmail.com> X-Delivery-Agent: TMDA/1.1.11 (Ladyburn) From: Alan Post Mail-Followup-To: lojban-beginners@lojban.org X-Primary-Address: terminal@c0redump.org X-Spam-Score: 0.0 X-Spam-Score-Int: 0 X-Spam-Bar: / X-archive-position: 1189 X-ecartis-version: Ecartis v1.0.0 Sender: lojban-beginners-bounce@lojban.org Errors-to: lojban-beginners-bounce@lojban.org X-original-sender: terminal-keyword-lojban.416ddb@c0redump.org Precedence: bulk Reply-to: lojban-beginners@lojban.org X-list: lojban-beginners On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 10:50:56AM -0500, Michael Turniansky wrote: > On Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 10:42 AM, Alan Post > <[1]terminal-keyword-lojban.416ddb@c0redump.org> wrote: > > I am reading through the level0 brochure, and I think I have > gathered enough information to spell my first name (Alan) in > lojban. > > How did I do? Is there a closer approximation? > > Thank you! > > -Alyn. > > > fi'i alyn (welcome, Alan) > > You did fine. My brother (who passed away about a year ago) was also > named Alan. Assuming you are American, then the first "a" sound in your > name is normally pronounced like the "a" in cat, a sound which does not > exist in lojban. Therefore, yes, you have to compromise. You could go > with either "a" or "e" for the first vowel. > > --gejyspa (Mike Turniansky) > I am American, so you have guessed the correct pronunciation. In discussing lojban with my friend Kit last night, it occurred to me also that the "i" in "it" doesn't seem to have a lojban sound either. That the closest pronunciation of his name would be (using lojban pronunciation: "kit" /keet/, or "ket" /keht/. He has had non-english speakers pronounce his name /keet/, and liked that just fine. There doesn't seem to be a rising dipthong that gets any closer, though "kiut" /keaut/ is in the same class. From the Phonology chapter in What is Lojban?[1], there seem to be a fair number of potential rising dipthongs that aren't listed (.e.g., ea, eu.) Does that chapter list all the actual rising dipthongs in lojban, or are there more introduced later? Thank you, Mike. Alan was a decently popular given name when I was born, and all the same I don't encounter too many people that I haved shared it with. -Alan [1]: http://lojban.org/publications/level0/brochure/phonol.html