Message-Id: <199509150048.UAA29386@locke.ccil.org>
Date:         Thu, 14 Sep 1995 20:31:45 EDT
Reply-To: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@uga.cc.uga.edu>
From: jorge@PHYAST.PITT.EDU
Subject:      Re: lojban recordings
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR

And:
> First, can anyone answer this query I received in private email:
> > Do you know of any "official" tapes I could get a hold of?  Being at
> > the raw beginner stage continuous speech would be beyond me, but word
> > pronunciation would be very helpful.

I think that there is a tape that you can order from lojbab, that has
precisely that.

> > Not being a linguist, much of the discussion in the group is beyond
> > me, but I'm still hanging on in there.  Any help you can offer is
> > most welcome.

Remember that you don't have to be a linguist to contribute to the
discussion here (I'm not one, as I'm sure everyone can tell :).
Questions, comments, ideas, etc. from beginners are always welcome.

> > That sounds like the conversations that Chris, Nora, Lojbab and I had
> > during Logfest. We were able to converse almost without switching to
> > English, but with much hesitation and effort.
> Did they get recorded?

Unfortunately not. Lojbab mentioned something about recording it, but we
didn't do it in the end.

> I haven't checked. You ask about sequences of monosyllabic cmavo, &
> my intuition is that the stress on these would be affected by the
> stress on adjacent syllables, e.g. LE nu BROda, versus le NU selBROda.

I say "le NU BROda", not "LEnu BROda". The stress on the "nu" is less
than that on "BRO", but still more than that on "le".

> Re this point, Goran says:
> > mi FADni CUSku lu REmei LI'u .eKU'i lu so'Imei LI'u .Abo lu SO'imei LI'u
> [{bacru} rather than {cusku}?]
> - I'd have thought {so'Imei} is wrong. But {so'IRmei} would be
> correct.

I don't think it matters how a two-syllable cmavo is stressed, it is
still not ambiguous. In any case, I would say {so'iMEI}. The "so" stronger
than the "'i", but the main stress on "mei".

> I didn't get the impression that the speakers were that bothered about
> pauses or glottal stops or whatever.

I think I ignore them completely. A computer may get confused by that,
but humans can cope well.


>    what would you use for a backchannel, like "right,
> yeah, mhm" etc.?

"Yeah" is easy: {ie}. I think {go'i} is good to express agreement, too.

To express understanding, I think {ki'anai} should work.

> > .i LA'ezo XY. .e LA'ezo .Ybu .e LA'elu DENpabu LI'u .Enai lo DRAta
> > NA'e CMIma LE'i BANgu be MI SANce
>
> The set of languages spoken by you emit the sounds [x], [@] and [?]
> but not the other nonmembers??? KIe.

[ki'e=thanks; ki'a=???]

There should be a {cu} before {na'e cmima}, but you are reading a {cu}
before {sance} that is not there. {le'i bangu be mi sance} is "the set
of my language's sounds".

Jorge