From @YaleVM.YCC.YALE.EDU:LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET Fri May 21 10:44:27 1993 Received: from YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU by MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU via SMTP; Thu, 20 May 1993 18:44:12 -0400 Received: from CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU by YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 5298; Thu, 20 May 93 18:43:28 EDT Received: from CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU by CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Mailer R2.07) with BSMTP id 0511; Thu, 20 May 93 18:44:12 EDT Date: Fri, 21 May 1993 10:44:27 GMT+1200 Reply-To: Chris Handley Sender: Lojban list From: Chris Handley Organization: University of Otago Subject: Re: Cowan on morphology X-To: LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu To: Erik Rauch Status: O X-Status: Message-ID: <0MU67WsT_eJ.A.a3H.8z0kLB@chain.digitalkingdom.org> And writes: > A more rational design would make words self-segrating, but not morphemes. >Even if morphemes fail to self-segregate, they would still serve as clues >to the word's meaning. > As I see it, and as a very much peripheral Lojbanist I am more than likely wrong, the problem is not that morphemes may not self-segregate. but that they may segregate differently from the intension. Although the meaning of a word is accessible from a dictionary, we normally only consult a dictionary if we are unsure - we may be wrong but unaware of it. I can still remember my confusion on reading the words of the Evening Collect (old prayer book, Anglican Church) "Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, ...". It was not until I did Latin years later and realised that the word was formed from "prae + venio" = "come before" or in the modern translation : "Go before us, ...". I know this does not seem like the same problem, but I think it is. If we wish to put together an unlikely string of words in Lojban, then we may, and we can then attempt to puzzle out the meaning. If we wish to put an unlikely combination of morphemes to gether, than we should be able to. If 'legitimate' words pre-empt unlikely words by trespassing on their space, then we lose the ability to create the unlikely words. Remember -- colourless green ideas sleep less furiously in Lojban than the do in English. ====================================================================== Chris Handley chandley@otago.ac.nz Dept of Computer Science Ph (+64) 3-479-8499 University of Otago Fax (+64) 3-479-8577 Dunedin, NZ ______________________________________________________________________ The light at the end of the tunnel has been switched off to conserve power.