From rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org Fri May 14 16:36:06 2004
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Date: Fri, 14 May 2004 16:36:00 -0700
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Subject: [lojban] Archivist: Experimental cmavo space usage?
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From: Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org>
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In another mailing list, we are discussing what to do if one wishes to
propose that the BPFK adopt a particular experimental cmavo.

Do you simply declare the cmavo (which is in experimental cmavo space)
official?  Do you need to re-partition experimental space?  What?

My comments:

- cut -

xorxes said:
> I'm probably missing something on the philosophy of the experimental
> space. What is the correct way to use it?

    A simple cmavo thus has the property of having only one or two
    vowels, or of having a single consonant followed by one or two
    vowels. Words consisting of three or more vowels in a row, or a
    single consonant followed by three or more vowels, are also of cmavo
    form, but are reserved for experimental use: a few examples are
    ``ku'a'e'', ``sau'e'', and ``bai'ai''. All CVV cmavo beginning with
    the letter ``x'' are also reserved for experimental use. In general,
    though, the form of a cmavo tells you little or nothing about its
    grammatical use.

    ``Experimental use'' means that the language designers will not
    assign any standard meaning or usage to these words, and words and
    usages coined by Lojban speakers will not appear in official
    dictionaries for the indefinite future. Experimental-use words
    provide an escape hatch for adding grammatical mechanisms (as
    opposed to semantic concepts) the need for which was not foreseen.

My reading of that is that to actually officially publish a cmavo, it
must not be in experimental space.  This means either re-allocating
experimental space, or changing the cmavo.

-Robin

-- 
http://www.digitalkingdom.org/~rlpowell/  ***  I'm a *male* Robin.
"Many philosophical problems are caused by such things as the simple
inability to shut up." -- David Stove, liberally paraphrased.
http://www.lojban.org/  ***  loi pimlu na srana .i ti rokci morsi