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[lojban-beginners] Re: ku before fa'u (was: Re: lo mlatu lo gerku ma kau frica)



On 10/25/07, Timo Paulssen <timonator@perpetuum-immobile.de> wrote:
> turnip wrote:
> > (note: the ku is not grammatically necessary, but jboski doesn't like it
> > without it)
>
> this is not correct. the ku is needed, because fa'u is of selma'o JOI,
> which means it can connect either brivla together or sumti.

The (currently) official parser does require {ku} there, but it is not actually
needed for unambiguous parsing.

> this has something to do with the type of grammar, that it has to be
> able to identify what to join with one token of read-ahead or something
> similar.

Right, but Lojban grammar is not, in general, parsable with one token
lookahead. The official parser deals with this with a preparsing stage where
it handles numbers and other stuff.

Since Lojban grammar is not and cannot be LALR(1), it doesn't make
much sense to make the {ku} obligatory in that context, and parsers
such as camxes don't require it.

mu'o mi'e xorxes