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[lojban-beginners] Re: (no subject)




On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 3:13pm, melissa@fastanimals.com wrote:
On Fri, 27 Feb 2004, Daniel E Huston wrote:

re "mi dunda ma ko"

 As a stage magician, this might be how I indicate to my volunteer to
 pick a card from those spread in my hand.

But why would you use "ma" instead of the term for a card? Does not "ma"
request the hearer to fill in its meaning?


Although Lojban allows one to phrase statements independent of context-- so far-- as a stage magician I would still use context. In fact, that's a key part of how I would do illusions. The human brain perceives context as well as detail. That's what makes the illusionist's art possible. I would argue that even though Lojban may be context-free (& I'm not convinced that it is), Lojban speakers are not!

I suppose this would make sense if you're simultaneously requesting the
listener to announce the card's value. E.g., you already determined the
correct card and want him to confirm that it's the same card.


That's one idea, although not what I would have intended. But it works out even better. It keeps my volunteer & the audience wonderfully distracted while prestidigitating.

You're thinking in terms of English; don't be surprised if in Lojban you
 can phrase sentences that aren't easily rendered in English. Lojban
 words do not form the same "parts of speech" as English, so why should
 we expect to marshal them the same way?

I don't. I just can't think in Lojban yet. Give me a few more weeks. :-)

Don't feel bad: I'm new at it too! I just have a lot of experience with weirdness...



--
mylisys XOLynswyrt
mi tadni la lojban
Daniel E Huston
musicdreamer@tmail.com
(651)329-6608

"It is the character that makes the man... not the clay which is its abode."
--Edgar Rice Burroughs