Message-Id: <199601220847.DAA07836@locke.ccil.org>
Date:         Sun, 21 Jan 1996 22:50:47 -0500
Reply-To: Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: Logical Language Group <lojbab@ACCESS.DIGEX.NET>
Subject:      Re: sera'aku SNU: ki'e doi skot.
To: John Cowan <cowan@LOCKE.CCIL.ORG>
Status: OR
Content-Length: 1162

>> Lojban content words are going to be PREDOMINANTLY 3, 4, 5 or 6
>> syllables. ideally Zipf will work to make it possible to have the
>> shortest words be the most common ones
>
>What's the mechanism for that? If a long lujvo starts getting used a
>lot, how can it be abbreviated?

1.  Most likely, people will use a less specific word with fewer terms.

2. People will leave out se/nu/ke terms in lujvo making

3. ultimately, people could ask for a gismu to be assigned to the word or to
a major component of it that is used in many lujvo.  (or in spontaneous use, of
 course, they just start using a gismu).

These are in order of preference.  I really doubtthat many long lujvo will
be so overused as to get a gismu assigned.  There will probably be some
objective criteria to meet before I would accept such a word, say by comparing
frequency of word use to average frequency of gismu and 2 term lujvo.  But
this in particular is one thing I could see being considered after the 5 year
baseline ends - consideration to adding to gismu to shorten some high
frequency long words (the long words needn't go away, they will just have a
short synonym).

lojbab