[lojban] Re: required commas (was Re: Stress of cmene)

[Lionel Vidal <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

Pierre Abbat wrote:

> I see two possibilities:
> 1. Two cmene differing only in stress are the same. Commas are ignored.
I'm not sure I understand what you mean:  commas can change the sounds 
of the word and
so cannot be ignored. (and you may need them at first anyway, to 
determine the default stress).

> 2. Two cmene differing only in stress are different. Commas are ignored unless 
> they change the syllabication of vowels.
> The problem with 2 is that syllabication of vowels can be changed without 
> changing the sound of the word, e.g. {malau,is} vs. {mala,uis}.
>  
But the sound are different in that case, and so I think we have 
different cmene.
I prefer this possibility, but I would avoid reference to syllabication,
which may prove difficult to define precisely.  Why not just:
                 consider two cmene differing only in stress the same.
(and as always use commas to determine the intended pronouncation and 
the stress
if not already indicated)

Note that my main motivation for that rule is a practical one, as we 
have a tendency to put
stress on names according to our native language usage, especially if 
the name does exist
in our language with the same pronouncation.

> As to the ,=' rule, I think it's a mistake. Apostrophes are always 
> distinctive, whereas commas are not.
>
>  
I agree.  Allowing a comma to be pronounced as an already assigned phonem
(' or anything else already assigned) gains very little IMO in term of 
ease for a speaker
and looses big in terms of potential ambiguity and added complexity of 
morphology.

Best wishes,
Lionel