From cbmvax!uunet!cuvma.bitnet!LOJBAN Tue Dec 3 20:52:00 1991 Return-Path: Date: Tue Dec 3 20:52:00 1991 Message-Id: <9112040037.AA23564@relay1.UU.NET> Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: sefi'e X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Ken Taylor Status: RO Dave Cortesi asks (apparently) how sefi'e can be used as a modal when fi'e is the rafsi for 'finpe- = 'fish'. There is about 95% coverage of the CVV/CV'V cmavo space, so virtually every CVV/CV'V rafsi is also a cmavo. However, there is never any confusion between them since rafsi are used in lujvo only, and nowhere else, and cmavo are used only alone (or in cmavo compounds which may be broken down into separate words). You can identify a cmavo compound by the fact that there is no consonant cluster - all lujvo and le'avla must have a consonant cluster in the first 6 characters. "sefi'e" is thus "se fi'e", while "selfi'e" is the x1/x2 conversion of finpe, made into a lujvo. OFTEN, we have chosen cmavo so that they are somewhat mnemonic to some related gismu. If possible, we chose the CVV/CV'V rafsi for that gismu as the cmavo. But this wasn;t possible all that often, so it shouldn't be counted on. Just consider it a freebie hint if it worked out that way. Thus "tai" is the modal for method (tadji), while "ta'i" is the modal for shape/ form/similarity (tarmi). The latter is actually much more used than the former, so if we were abiding purely by Zipf, they would be reversed, but "tai" is the rafsi for "tadji" while "tarmi" has no CVV/CV'V rafsi, so we assigned them in the more mnemonic pattern. lojbab