[lojban-beginners] Re: precise definition of cmene

["Adam D. Lopresto" <adam@pubcrawler.org>]

On Thu, 26 Feb 2004, Scott Weller wrote:

> One of the finer rules of cmene constuction says that a cmene cannot contain
> (among a few other things) the element 'la'.  If we allowed 'la
> labrydor.rytrivyr' there would be ambiguity as to whether that might really
> be 'la la brydor.rytrivyr' (whatever that might mean).

Ok, this has been bugging me for a long time, but I might as well ask.  What is
the ambiguity this presents?  As I understand it, "la cmen" is grammatically a
sumti, while "cmen" is is a cmene.  Where could there possibly be confusion?
Where can either one be acceptable?  What would "la la brydor.rytrivr.' mean?
Every time the "no la/lai/doi in cmene" rule pops up, I try to figure out its
purpose, and I always fail and feel stupid.  Can someone enlighten me?
.a'iro'e .a'o
-- 
Adam Lopresto
http://cec.wustl.edu/~adam/

Blond Klingons: because it was a good day to dye!