Message-Id: <199511241656.LAA29885@locke.ccil.org>
Date:         Fri, 24 Nov 1995 09:36:00 -0700
Reply-To: Chris Bogart <cbogart@QUETZAL.COM>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Chris Bogart <cbogart@QUETZAL.COM>
Subject:      Re: self-descriptions?
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR

>> ji'a I don't understand the second, either. Why sexipa? Isn't that the
>> same as {mi nundraci kelci}?
>
>I thought {se xi pa} gives the x6 place. x6 of {nundraci} is the actor.

Not sure, but in nundraci doesn't the x1 of draci, the actor, get moved to
x2, x2 to x3, etc. and x5 to x6?  Or does the x1 jump immediately to x6?

>> I spent 5 to 10 minutes translating this jufra! What an obfuscation!
>
>Well done, then. Why did you find it difficult? It's in an unfamiliar
>style, but there isn't lots of deep subordination and tons of terminators
>and stuff. Note too that I couldn't write and English or Serbocroat
>sentence of that length that would take you so long to puzzle out.
>This shows how limited our command of the language still is.

Another possibility: it shows that Lojban is capable of more obfuscation
than some other languages.  Perhaps a comparable sentence in Latin could
have been made that difficult even for a fluent Latinist (since Latin like
Lojban lets you thoroughly scramble word order)

                     ____
 Chris Bogart        \  /  http://www.quetzal.com
 Boulder, CO          \/   cbogart@quetzal.com