Return-Path: Message-Id: From: cowan (John Cowan) Subject: Changes to grammar: summary To: lojban-list Date: Tue, 9 Jul 91 13:29:22 EDT X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Tue Jul 9 13:29:55 1991 X-From-Space-Address: cowan The following is an explanation of the set of grammar changes to the initial baseline. The changes are described only. Send a message to cowan@snark.thyrsus.com if you want a diff listing showing the actual changes to the YACC grammar. All of these changes are extremely minor. They were found in the effort to develop the EBNF description and then to produce a working Lojban parser. This process picked up a few errors and inconsistencies that were missed by less systematic analysis. The last few changes reflect discussions of semantics that picked up "holes in the system". Nearly all of these changes are additions to the language that do not take away from the set of utterances that are legal. A couple will change the grouping of such sentences in complex situations. This set of changes was baselined at LogFest '91. No further grammar changes will be entertained until the textbook is complete. Each change is explained in a three-part format: CURRENT LANGUAGE; PROPOSED CHANGE; RATIONALE. Executive Summary: 1 Joik connection between operands 2 Multiple EK_KEs between operands 3 Reorder BIhI GAhO GAhO to GAhO BIhI GAhO 4 Remove GAhOs in parentheses 5 NA SE without NAI in afterthought connectives 6 Negation/conversion of BIhI 7 KI by itself and after BAI 8 *ANNULLED* 9 GIhEK_KE priority change 10 *ANNULLED* 11 Attach freemods to tense_modal, not PU_mod 12 Allow ZI PU and VI FAhA 13 Change utterance ordinals to free modifiers 14 Allow only one NAhE before tense 15 *ANNULLED* 16 *ANNULLED* 17 Allow forethought joiks 18 Allow BU to suffix any word to produce a BY 19 Remove mekso relations 20 Allow stand-alone ZAhO in tenses 21 *ANNULLED* 22 Make CU optional rather than elidable 23 Change purpose of FAhO; make it a universal end-of-input 24 *ANNULLED* 25 Make PEhO (Polish notation flag) optional 26 Allow directional and non-directional tense intervals 27 Allow full mekso in subscripts and quantifier selbri 28 Add flag for modal conversions