Message-Id: <199601201823.UAA01493@xiron.pc.helsinki.fi>
Date:         Sat, 20 Jan 1996 17:45:44 +0000
Reply-To: ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Sender: Lojban list <LOJBAN@CUVMB.BITNET>
From: ucleaar <ucleaar@UCL.AC.UK>
Subject:      Re: sera'aku SNU: ki'e doi skot.
To: Veijo Vilva <veion@XIRON.PC.HELSINKI.FI>
Content-Length: 845
Lines: 23

Lojbab:
> What I am hearing is that somehow people have the idea that lujvo are
> 2nd class words

They are. They're longer than gismu, don't have their own rafsi, and
can lose their identity in larger lujvo.

> There is also the undercurrent, which is getting me nervous - that all
> words need to be 2 or 3 syllables.

I sense it too. It's interesting. I remember you posting some stats
about preferences for rafsi type, showing how use of CCV and CVV is
much greater than CVC and CV'V - there appears to be some presiding
aesthetic in the community.

> 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?

coo, mie and