Return-Path: Message-Id: <9112200201.AA17488@relay1.UU.NET> Date: Thu Dec 19 21:44:30 1991 Reply-To: cbmvax!uunet!bradford.ac.uk!pucc.PRINCETON.EDU!C.J.Fine Sender: Lojban list From: CJ FINE Subject: Re: tutorial question X-To: fschulz@PYRPS5.ENG.PYRAMID.com X-Cc: Lojban list To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann In-Reply-To: ; from "F. Schulz" at Dec 18, 91 10:19 am Status: RO X-From-Space-Date: Thu Dec 19 21:44:30 1991 X-From-Space-Address: cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN > > > In > > Diagrammed Summary of Lojban Grammar Forms with Example Sentences > > the following appears: > > "po'u" identifies a sumti by giving another IDENTITY in the form of > another sumti that could equivalently replace the original: > > la djan. po'u le ctuca [ku] [ge'u] [cu] klama [vau] > -------- < ------------- | ===== > John, the teacher, comes. > > It appears to me that the cu in front of klama is not optional. > Or do I not understand what [ ] means? > > Frank Schulz ( fschulz@pyramid.com ) > At least one of the three optional cmavo is required, but any of them will do, so in a sense 'cu' is optional. However, the textbook suggests that given a choice of which to keep, you keep 'cu', which seems a good idea to me. Kolin