[lojban-beginners] Re: Lojban - really for beginners

["Jorge Llambías" <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 8/1/08, Tom Gysel <to_mu1975@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> I don't agree though with :
> but for names of places
> everyone can use any stress they like
> That was the problem, in the course I didn't know what the word uacintyn
> meant, written or when i spoke it aloud. Language is meant to convey
> information, and if people don't give enough of it i don't know what they
> mean. I couldn't figure out what uacintyn meant. They should give me
> the right syllable to stress, so I'm able to think of washington.

There is no single "right" syllable stress for the Loban word "uacintyn".
Any stress for it is valid and correct Lojban.

If the person you are speaking with knows you are an English speaker,
and that person knows the way English speakers stress the English
word "Washington", they may choose to use a similar stress pattern
for your benefit. But it is not necessary for a Lojban speaker to know
English (at least in theory, in practice most/all current speakers do know
at least some English) and the Lojban word "uacintyn" can be stressed
in any way and it remains the same word in Lojban. I don't know Chinese,
and I don't know which tones are used in Chinese for the Chinese word
for Washington, but it is valid to use the same tones for Lojban "uacintyn",
and also it is valid to use different tones. Neither tone nor stress are
relevant to the Lojban word "uacintyn".

mu'o mi'e xorxes