[lojban] Re: "la" rule

["Adam D. Lopresto" <lojban-out@lojban.org>]

On Mon, 13 Nov 2006, Robin Lee Powell wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 13, 2006 at 07:55:52PM -0500, Robert McIvor wrote:
> > 
> > No.  In Loglan Hoi would be used only before a bare name (which
> > could  be a predicate or series of predicates e.g O Wild West
> > Wind.  What is  the purpose of doi before an argument?
> 
> I guess that that feature is to save people having to remember to
> drop the {la} when greeting someone.  I don't actually know.

Well, the other purpose is that it allows any sumti (argument, whatever it is
in loglan-speak) to apply to the vocative.  So we can do things like {doi la
.djan. joi la .bab.} to address several people, and use different gadri
(articles), distinguishing between {doi le finpe} (addressing the fish), {doi
lo finpe} (addressing some fish) and {doi la finpe} (addressing someone named
Fish).  It's my understanding that in lojban, {doi finpe} actually acts as
shorthand for {doi le finpe}, the descriptive, and if you want to use the
predicate as a name, you need the {la}.
-- 
Adam Lopresto
http://cec.wustl.edu/~adam/

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