From - Thu May 22 11:46:00 1997 Reply-To: mark.vines@wholefoods.com Date: Thu May 22 11:46:00 1997 Sender: Lojban list From: Mark Vines Subject: Caretaker Phrases: Kissing Game To: LOJBAN@CUVMB.COLUMBIA.EDU X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 Content-Length: 2556 Message-ID: coidoi lobypli I have been trying to translate into Lojban some of the English-language "Caretaker Phrases" that I've heard people use when they / we talk to our baby daughter Erin. I have the notion that a list of such phrases might be useful for anyone interested in teaching Lojban to young children ... especially if others will contribute to the list, so it won't be limited to the caretaker phrases from a single household. I would appreciate any comments, criticisms or suggestions on how to improve &or expand my list of phrases used in caretaker speech. Most of the phrases I've collected can be assigned to one of several game-like interactions between caretaker & child. One of these is the interaction which I call the "Kissing Game". In this interaction, the caretaker warns the baby that the caretaker is about to kiss the baby - often specifying the part of the baby's body that the caretaker will kiss - & repeats the warning. Then the caretaker kisses the baby, often exaggerating the sound of the kiss. Then the caretaker describes what has just happened - again, often specifying the part of the baby's body that the caretaker has kissed - & repeats the description. Here are my tentative translations of Kissing Game Caretaker Phrases into Lojban: KG01 I'm gonna kiss you! mi bu cinba do I'm gonna kiss you! mi bu cinba do KG02 I kissed you! mi pa cinba do I kissed you! mi pa cinba do KG03 I'm gonna kiss your face! mi bu cinba do le flira I'm gonna kiss your face! mi bu cinba do le flira KG04 I kissed your face! mi pa cinba do le flira I kissed your face! mi pa cinba do le flira Of course, KG03-KG04 may be modified so as to specify an x3 (locus of kissing) other than the face: brow = mebri cheek = firmla (zunle, pritu) nose = nazbi lips = ctebi hand = xance (zunle, pritu) finger = xandegji arm = birka (zunle, pritu) chest = cutne belly = betfu leg = tuple (zunle, pritu) foot = jamfu (zunle, pritu) toe = jmadegji IMO, the Kissing Game may help children to learn how temporal / tense / sequential relations are represented in the language (or languages) that they are learning. Obviously, children also have opportunities to learn about body-part names from the Kissing Game interaction. Accordingly, I have emphasized simple tense markers (bu, pa) & body-part names in my translations. co'omi'e markl.