[lojban-beginners] Re: Some AIW Questions

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

On 8/20/08, chris kerr <letsclimbhigher@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Lojban text: xu mi mi mintu ca le nu mi cikna binxo ca le zi cerni .i
> pe'iru'e ba'anai mi cinmo le nu mi frica milxe .i ku'i va'o le nu mi mi na
> mintu cu jersi preti fa le du'u mi du makau
>
> The first thing I'm wondering about is {mi cinmo le nu} wherein cinmo is
> wanting (ka) for x2.

Yes, I do tend to hesitate between ka and nu for the x2 of cinmo.
If you do use {ka} there, then {mi} should be omitted or changed to
{ce'u}: {mi cinmo lo ka [ce'u] frica milxe}

> The second thing is in {.i ku'i va'o le nu} wherein vanbi seems to be a word
> limited to referring to physical surroundings in the real world and thus
> wants (ind./mass) in x1. Such as a mass of pants, or an angry prenu, etc.
> But I've been seeing {va'o} used on #lojban when talking about things like
> grammer in bridi... so what kind of latitude is there in its use?

Lots of latitude. {va'o} is used for context/environment/conditions in the
widest sense, very often with counterfactual situations (as here).

> Seems
> like there's a number of other more appropriate modals which could be used:
>
> kai
> ki'i
> ji'u
> ri'a lo da'i za'i li'o
> ki'u lo da'i za'i li'o
> ni'i
> ma'i
>
> I guess there's a lot, I'll stop there.

"if" is hard in Lojban, so go with whatever makes you more comfortable.
I usually prefer {va'o}, but probably adding {da'i} wouldn't hurt there:
{va'o lo nu da'i mi mi na mintu}.

mu'o mi'e xorxes