From jcowan@reutershealth.com Mon Apr 16 13:37:34 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: jcowan@reutershealth.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_1_2); 16 Apr 2001 20:37:34 -0000 Received: (qmail 12391 invoked from network); 16 Apr 2001 20:37:33 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by l8.egroups.com with QMQP; 16 Apr 2001 20:37:33 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mail.reutershealth.com) (204.243.9.36) by mta2 with SMTP; 16 Apr 2001 20:37:33 -0000 Received: from reutershealth.com ([192.168.3.11]) by mail.reutershealth.com (Pro-8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA15098; Mon, 16 Apr 2001 16:40:29 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <3ADB581E.5020709@reutershealth.com> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 16:37:50 -0400 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux 2.2.16-22 i686; en-US; 0.8) Gecko/20010215 X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Robin Lee Powell Cc: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: -gua!spi (was Re: [lojban] Three more issues) References: <200104161418.f3GEIFP31641@hobbiton.org> <3ADB1FD7.4090900@reutershealth.com> <20010416131318.R13826@digitalkingdom.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: John Cowan X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 6589 Robin Lee Powell wrote: >> Those are *believed* to be *the most common* lujvo-making patterns. >> No such claim of exclusivity is possible, as the chapter on lujvo-making >> is at pains to point out. There are exceptional patterns. >> (If you want -gua!spi, you know where to find it.) In fact at http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/guaspi/ > I know very little about -gua!spi, save that it's tonal. What about the > language are you making reference to here? From http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/guaspi/acmpaper.txt There are three main patterns to the compounds. First, if the main word has a case with a default linker of "vo" [Lojban nu] or "bi" [Lojban du'u] --- that is, a case for an infinitive --- a word compounded with high even tone [written -] is the predicate of that infinitive, and the main word case before the infinitive (before conversion) becomes the infinitive's first case. (Exceptions are noted in the dictionary.) :i !qo -kira /can -xna !fyni Kira takes hold of the oar can X1 changes so (\gua{vo}) X2 becomes true xna X1 holds X2 with (body part) X3 [Compare:] !qo -kira /xna !fyni {Kira holds the oar (X2 of /can) Second, the words may share an argument list. The effect is as if you had made two sentences with the arguments copied into each. This pattern is cued by tone ["-"] when the infinitive argument pattern does not apply, or by a conjunction \qgua{-fe} when it does. :i !do /suy -pne -qmy !kqua It swims down through the water !do /suy !kqua + !do /pne !kqua + !do /qmy !kqua It swims to water; it penetrates that water; it is above that water. A third pattern is found in which a transitive main word is followed by its object as a compound. It is cued by the tone `=' [low]. :i -spo !bri =kqua |bir ^dri =fli Maybe the pilot already drowned bri X1 breathes X2 kqua X1 is a serving/portion of water bri =kqua X1 drowns dri X1 drives X2 to X3 ... (transitive motion word) fli X1 flies to X2 ... (motion word) dri =fli X1 pilots the flyer (airplane) to X2 ... Though humans like to think of compound predicates as separate words analogous to the primitive words, compounds are actually defined through these transformations, so that each primitive word heads a separate phrase. For example in the third type of compound, the compounded object is to be taken off and put in its proper case as a sub-phrase. Thus one can easily and reliably interpret a compound word that one has never heard before, as long as one knows all the primitive words. -- There is / one art || John Cowan no more / no less || http://www.reutershealth.com to do / all things || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan with art- / lessness \\ -- Piet Hein