From jimc@MATH.UCLA.EDU Wed Sep 05 09:49:14 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: jimc@math.ucla.edu X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2); 5 Sep 2001 16:49:14 -0000 Received: (qmail 66305 invoked from network); 5 Sep 2001 16:26:55 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.26) by l10.egroups.com with QMQP; 5 Sep 2001 16:26:55 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO simba.math.ucla.edu) (128.97.4.125) by mta1 with SMTP; 5 Sep 2001 16:26:55 -0000 Received: from localhost (jimc@localhost) by simba.math.ucla.edu (8.11.2/8.11.2/SuSE Linux 8.11.1-0.5) with ESMTP id f85GQ2V01440 for ; Wed, 5 Sep 2001 09:26:02 -0700 X-Authentication-Warning: simba.math.ucla.edu: jimc owned process doing -bs Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 09:26:02 -0700 (PDT) To: Subject: Re: [lojban] Questions and observations about taxonomy In-Reply-To: <0109050059520X.05217@neofelis> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: "James F. Carter" X-Yahoo-Message-Num: 10461 I don't claim authoritativeness for any of these; call them personal preferences. On Wed, 5 Sep 2001, Pierre Abbat wrote: > Is {panju} the correct term for a sponge, meaning animal of the phylum > Porifera? Or is it the thing that holds water, whether it's the skeleton of > said animal or a piece of cellulose foam? A malglico demon tells me to go with present-day secular usage and say /panju/ is the solid foam. But we have /fonmo/ and I think the truly lojbanic way would be, for the techological device, to use /sligu-lig/ in a lujvo: /ligfonmo/. /panju/ is reserved for the poriferan creature. > Are both millipedes and centipedes clacinki? They both have the long body form (clani). But (a) they aren't insects (cinki); (b) many arthropoda are long. In any case, any reasonable metaphor would cover both. What's the official distinction anyway: four vs. two legs per segment? > Should the colloquial term {miptera} "bug" be applied to both Hemiptera and > Homoptera, or should {moptera} be used for the latter? If I remember my taxonomy, definitely homoptera should be kept separate from hemiptera, particularly if there's a nice contrasting fu'ivla. > {salmone} includes both trout and salmon. The two terms are mixed in the > genera, with no obvious arrangement. Right, it's sufficient to cover genus Salmo with one cognate word, even if Western fishermen are accustomed to a separate word for the trout species. In Los Angeles, fishmongers sell "red trout", which looks and tastes very similar to salmon, but is obviously from a smaller fish. > Can anyone think of a better common name for a pigeon than {tcacpi}? /voiratcu/ = "flying rat". > Does the term {xanto} include the mammoth as well as the elephants? (asked by > nitcion) I say yes. And both the forest and savanna elephants (recently shown to be separate species, not mere variant populations) should even so be included. If you need to distinguish, add a modifier. > What exactly does {smani} mean? (asked by me a long time ago, with no answer, > and again by nitcion) The whole order Primates. It's pretty clear from the way all the keywords are strung out that that was the original intent. And then "la broda cu smani" is literally true. Anyone familiar with USA politics knows the referent of "la broda". > Is {gurni} the correct term inclusive of mavji, bavmi, zumri, e lo simsa? Looks like it to me. But my (old) gismu list includes /sobde/ = soy with the keyword "grain/bean", which to my mind is cheating on "grain". Hmmm, I'm wrong. /gurni/ is the *seed* of such a plant. How about /gruspa = gurni spati/ = "grain plant" for the category? But if we're doing taxonomy, agricultural relevance is not a taxonomic trait, and /srasu-sas/ = "grass" might be a better root word. James F. Carter Voice 310 825 2897 FAX 310 206 6673 UCLA-Mathnet; 6115 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA 90095-1555 Email: jimc@math.ucla.edu http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)