From LOJBAN%CUVMB.BITNET@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU Thu Feb 1 05:10:13 1996 Received: from VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (vms.dc.lsoft.com [205.186.43.2]) by locke.ccil.org (8.6.9/8.6.10) with ESMTP id FAA00894 for ; Thu, 1 Feb 1996 05:10:07 -0500 Message-Id: <199602011010.FAA00894@locke.ccil.org> Received: from PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (205.186.43.4) by VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.0a) with SMTP id F3090755 ; Thu, 1 Feb 1996 4:33:51 -0500 Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 18:58:36 -0500 Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: Re: bridi, tanru and lujvo X-To: Lojban List X-cc: Logical Language Group To: John Cowan In-Reply-To: <199601312216.OAA06763@mtshasta.snowcrest.net> from "Edward Cherlin" at Jan 31, 96 02:12:58 pm Status: OR X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 2721 la .eduard. TCR,lin. cusku di'e > I am a beginner at lojban, but not at math and computer science. I hope > this is useful: [excellent explanation of relational algebra deleted] > Is there a reasonable, provably unambiguous way to represent arbitrary > relational join-projection operations in lojban, as bridi? There is, indeed. Predicate logic is a superset of relational logic, which is based on a carefully restricted form that's computationally easy to implement. > If not, how could we make one? Here's how to assert rigorously that Mon Repos is a doghouse for Spot: da poi me la spot. de poi me la mon. repos. di zo'u da gerku di .ije de gerku da (Ex)(x is Spot) (Ey)(y is Mon Repos) (Ez): (x is-a-dog-of-breed z) and (y is-a-nest-for x) There exists an x (Spot) and a y (Mon Repos) and a z such that x is a dog of breed z and y is a nest for x. > Can this be spoken and understood, in general? So we hope! > Can we apply the same idea to tanru? We could, but it vitiates the purpose of tanru, which is to be able to speak NON-rigorously. If, in order to express an idea which is not yet lexified, we must firmly establish what the exact relationship is that we are expressing, we will have trouble using the language in a spontaneous and natural manner. Similarly, there are other areas of deliberate semantic ambiguity. Notably, names are speaker-relative, not pinned down to some specific onomasticon, so we cannot know who "la djan." is without context. > Can we apply it to the generation of lujvo, where we might want to make > more than one lujvo from a particular pair of gismu? Remember that lujvo are not limited to gismu >pairs<; they can be arbitrarily long. As we say in Lojbanistan, the price of infinite precision is infinite verbosity. > Can we define lujvo explicitly on the fly as a sort of extensible > pro-bridi, as we make definitions in mathematics or carry out relational > operations against a DBMS, or do we have to go through a formal procedure > and haggle over the details each time? I personally hold with Humpty Dumpty > on this: "When I use a lujvo, it means exactly what I wish it to mean, > neither more nor less," because I wish to be able to say explicitly what I > wish it to mean, and I foresee a need to make up lots of them. It is a tanru, rather than a lujvo, which is Humpty-Dumpty-esque. The point of lujvo is to freeze useful interpretations about which there is, or ought to be, consensus. -- John Cowan sharing account for now e'osai ko sarji la lojban.