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Re: [lojban] Re: Three (4) more questions
At 04:39 PM 04/16/2001 -0400, pycyn@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 4/16/2001 9:23:45 AM Central Daylight Time,
biomass@hobbiton.org writes:
<Why the hell does <brivla> mean what it means? How do the two terms
connect, and why would it mean only one word? What's the real
difference between a brivla and a selbri, then? I mean, <nu prenu kei>
is lo valsi, isn't it?>
Skipping a long story of sloppy communication and mutual misunderstandings
and misapplied technical terms (in short, the history of Loglan/Lojban
technical terminology), this is a hard one to answer -- and the tale is too
long for even a face-to-face. And it is probably too late to try to do it
all over again right, but a brief attempt may be ok. {bridi} means
"predication," a predicate-centered construction that can be asserted,
questioned, applied as a description and so on. At the center of a
predication is, obviously, a predicate, which may be expressed in one or
several words and with a variety of auxiliary devices. A one-word predicate
is a brivla (actually, as the list notes, a selbrivla) and it keeps that
status even when it is combined into a more complex predicate in a
predication.
Furthermore, a brivla standing alone constitutes a valid bridi, so it works
in the sense of "bridi-in-one-word" as well as with your longer explanation.
The predicate of a predication is (automatically) a selbri,
whatever it is made up of -- one word, several in an unmarked structure, or
in a structure of whatever complexity. And no, {nu prenu kei} is not a valsi
but a valsi porsi (porsi lo valsi). It is a potential selbri, though not a
functional one as given, but it is not a brivla, since not a valsi.
On the other hand, it does constitute "lo valsi" if one allows for the fact
that unmarked-number is not necessarily singular. Still, most people tend
to think in terms of singular usages.
lojbab
--
lojbab lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org