[lojban-beginners] Re: I'm... My name's...

[m.kornig@sondal.net]

Selon "Turniansky, Michael \\[UNK\\]" <MICHAEL.A.TURNIANSKY@saic.com>:

>   Periods are _always_ optional to WRITE,

OK. Should beginners learn to write periods then?
Should textbooks contain periods? That's my main
consern.

I would say: yes, because the written text should be
as close as possible to the spoken text. If there
must be a pause in the spoken text and you can indicate
this in writing then you should do it. Don't you agree?
Reading the text aloud would be easier then for beginners?

> they just indiciate where
> pauses must be left when the sentence is SPOKEN.

If someone asks you {ma cmene do} and you just reply
{tim}, i.e. an isolated word, not a complete
sentence, there would be no need for periods in the
written text then because pauses before and after your
name are pretty obvious?

Also, I wonder whether or not periods can be considered
to be PART of the name. For instance if you sign a letter
or fill in a form you would probably not write any
periods around your name, would you?

Or if a document lists names (one name per line)
periods around these names would make no sense either,
would they?

And what about dictionaries? Would it make sense to
have periods in front of keywords starting with a
vowel? Maybe not, because there again pauses are
pretty obvious since you ususally start a new line
(or even a new paragraph) for each keyword.

Martin