>What I propose broadly to
>respond to this (utterly unfixable) overall situation is what I have
>called "cimjvo", cilmo zei lujvo, moist lujvo, lujvo which are wet
>with meaning, or to put it more concretely: lujvo with an elided
>"-pev-". (The lujvo "cimjvo" is of course self-describing, for
>instance.)
>I think it would be a good idea to use the flavored words we have for
>various specific needs, like taske and xagji, as additional bases for
>families of words about wanting and needing.
This seems like an absolutely fantastic idea.
Also, on the question of "if you don't need to sleep and you don't want to sleep, then how are you sleepy?", it seems like such an elementary concept, but I guess it doesn't cross all cultures. Need is
an entirely subjective matter, warranted by circumstance. One does not -need- to eat lunch, but it is beneficial, and usually desired.
I honestly think that this concept is one solidly embedded in a culture that doesn't exist outside of myself, and those that don't already understand it just aren't going to understand it. I'm pretty much going to give up on this crusade of mine and say "small-need" is adequate enough unless this cimjvo idea takes off.
>I consider it important, but not as important as fixing mistakes. At this
>point, I think a good way to handle the evolution of Lojban would be to split
>it into two "branches": a main branch that continues to use the language as
>described in the CLL and as it is currently being used, with no conscious
>changes made, and one "experimental" branch controlled by the BPFK that is
>changed & optimized constantly in order to address current and future
problems.
This sounds like an absolutely FANTASTIC idea as it can be rapidly evolved amongst the small user-base in the IRC chat while remaining mutually intelligible due to only semantic differences. Consider practically any massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, such as City of Heroes/Villains, in that they have a beta server wherein they impliment experimental patches to be hard-tested by actual users. They throw it on to a live beta server with the disclaimer that it isn't going to always work, and terrible things may happen, so participate at your own risk. I think that it would be lovely to have a group meant specifically to stress-test words with a big yellow decal on the whole 'dialect' stating "WARNING: If you speak this language you run the risk of sounding like a complete fool and/or being misunderstood by the general Lojban community.".
I shall promote this beta-Lojban (norlojban?) idea with violent zealotry until I am
burned at the stake as a witch. =P