From cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN Wed Oct 9 16:40:43 1991 Return-Path: Date: Wed Oct 9 16:40:43 1991 Message-Id: <9110092028.AA06998@relay1.UU.NET> Reply-To: cbmvax!uunet!gnu.ai.mit.edu!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!bob Sender: Lojban list Comments: Warning -- original Sender: tag was bob@GRACKLE.STOCKBRIDGE.MA.US From: cbmvax!uunet!GNU.AI.MIT.EDU!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!bob Subject: lojban predicates X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann Status: RO Here is a way to think about lojban predicates in contrast to English verbs. In the written language of arithmetic, we write expressions such as the following: 2 + 2 In this example, the plus-sign is the equivalent of a lojban gismu. If I write 2 + you know there is something missing...you yearn for another number, to complete the expression. The same with a lojban expression: mi klama I come/go is incomplete. In lojban, you yearn for a destination, departure, path, and means. However, the expression "mi klama" is not so badly incomplete as the expression "2 +". In normal arithmetic, "2 +" is not grammatical. Here is a better comparison to "mi klama": First, think in the context of expressions such as 2 + 3 = 5 3 + 4 = 7 Then, look at the expression 2 + 2 In this context, you see "2 + 2" and you know that it is a grammatical expression, but also that it is incomplete. You yearn to add "= 4" to the expression. (But note that the complete arithmetic expression consists of two predicates, the plus-sign and the equals-sign; the lojban expression using "klama" is an expression with only one predicate, asserting a relationship among five objects/states/processes/entitites in the universe.) Robert J. Chassell bob@gnu.ai.mit.edu Rattlesnake Mountain Road (413) 298-4725 or (617) 253-8568 or Stockbridge, MA 01262-0693 USA (617) 876-3296 (for messages)