[lojban] Re: Digest Number 1754

[Jorge "Llambías" <jjllambias2000@yahoo.com.ar>]

la nitcion cusku di'e
> >>  ... and that they are function words and not content words.
> >Some cmavo are content words too. The clearest case is BAIs, each
> >of which has the full semantic content of a gismu.
> 
> I really should resist the temptation here, but: the point of the 
> content/function distinction is the function, not the content. A word 
> that adds an argument to a predicate with no other obvious syntactic 
> function --- an adposition --- is pretty canonical as an instance of 
> a function word. How is BAI not an adposition?

A brivla in selbri position adds places for all of its arguments,
in fi'o position it makes available a single place corresponding 
to one of its arguments. BAIs are a shortcut for this function.
Functionally, BAIs are much closer to BRIVLA than to, say, UIs
(most of which are also content words), or to something like VAU,
which is purely functional.

mu'o mi'e xorxes


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