From LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU Wed Dec 6 16:29:07 1995 Reply-To: ucleaar Date: Wed Dec 6 16:29:07 1995 Sender: Lojban list From: ucleaar Subject: Re: buffer vowel X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan Status: OR Message-ID: > >The difference is that with natlangs you have clearly specified rules, etc > >but that we cope pretty easily with the rules being broken, and rampant > >rule breaking is constrained only by the need to remain comprehensible, > >while with lojban there are no rules (of the relevant type) but the > >need to be comprehensible means interlocutors must adopt ad hoc ones. > Hunh? Natlangs have NO clearly specified rules for anything. And Lojban > has LOTS of specified rules (not sure how clearly), and only one not-too > specific rule that constrains how one may violate the other rules in a > failure mode (since I view buffereing as a failure mode) At present I think it reasonable to presume that natlangs do have clearly specified rules, which is why we can speak them, especially when learnt from birth. For Lojban there are no rules mapping 7 vowel phonemes to vowel space, and all that constrains any arbitrary mapping is the need to be understood. --- And