Re: [lojban] Re:lanzu usage

[Pierre Abbat <phma@webjockey.net>]

On Thursday 25 March 2004 04:31, xahlee.org wrote:
> Thanks for all the help and explanations on lanzu.
>
> la_okus, your examples is a bit more advanced for me at the moment.
>
> the part i find most difficult when learning lojban is when encountering
> the much of cmavo. For brivla, i can often look it up in the core word
> list. But for cmavo, it's hard to find what they mean. I'm not sure what
> are "lai", "zi'o", "so'i", "le'e", "ca", "lei". The one example i can most
> easily understand is
>
> "lai braun lanzu mi"
>
> is lai some kind of "la"?

Yes. "lai braun" means "the mass named braun", that is, "the Browns". (A mass 
can consist of a single individual, or be a non-count object. Some have 
mistaken the mass articles for plural, or used them as such, but they 
aren't.) There are mass forms of the definite and indefinite article too, 
respectively "lei" and "loi". The distinction is as follows:
lei gerku cu megygra li pa. The dogs, taken together, weigh a ton.
le gerku cu megygra li pa. The dogs each weigh a ton.
lo djacu. A piece of water, possibly several distinct pieces.
loi djacu. Water, not necessarily a distinct piece, maybe a drop in the ocean.

"le'e" is the typical definite article; the typical indefinite article is 
"lo'e". There is no typical name article.

As to "zi'o", the example given is incorrect. "zi'o lanzu so'i dzena le'e 
ponjo" actually means "There are many ancestors who are familially related to 
a stereotypically Japanese way of being a family, not necessarily the same 
way for each elder, and without necessarily being in an actual family." A 
better way to say what okus meant is "le'e ponjo cu lanzu so'i dzena", or "lo 
ponjo cu te lanzu fi le'e lanzu fe so'i dzena".

Some better examples of "zi'o" are:
zilcmi: x1 is a set, as distinguished from selcmi, x1 is a set with members 
x2. The empty set zilcmi gi'enai selcmi.
la filip. muvdu la acdod. fo zi'o (Acts 8:40). Philip went to Ashdod without 
following a path; the Spirit picked him up from where he was talking with the 
Ethiopian and dropped him in Ashdod.

There's a cmavo list available in the file server area on lojban.org.

> How do one say "this is my family" (pointing to a photo of me and my
> parents & siblings) "ti lanzu mi" ? (which means "i'm a member of this
> family".)

Yes.

phma
-- 
li fi'u vu'u fi'u fi'u du li pa


To unsubscribe, send mail to lojban-unsubscribe@onelist.com 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lojban/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     lojban-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/