[lojban-beginners] Re: Building a tanru with lujvo and gismu

["Michael Turniansky" <mturniansky@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 8:57 AM, Florian Larysch
<florolf@devbraindump.de> wrote:
> Assuming none of the lujvo are assigned, would there be a difference (in
> meaning) between {rodbo'ebrodi} and {rodbo'e brodi}?
>

Yes, there can be, since lujvo have, by definition, have only a single
meaning (defined by the creator), whereas tanru can be more flexible,
and may have more than one meaning.  The example given in the CLL
grammar is gerzda as opposed to "gerku zdani".  If no meaning is
defined, the exact interpretation of a three-rafsi lujvo may or may
not be what you expect. For example, is  "nolraitru" (king)  "nolrai
turni" (highest nobility type of ruler) or "nobli raitru" (noble type
of supreme ruler)?  In general, it probably will be interpreted as
broda brode brodi, absent any other given meaning, but on the other
hand, something like clafonta'a would probably be interpreted as
talking on the phone for a long time (clani fonta'a)  rather than
talking on a long phone (clani fonxa tavla ; clafonxa tavla), since
fonta'a already exists.  That's why it's important that lujvo be
defined, or risk being misunderstood.

                                      --gejyspa