Re: [lojban] la .alis.

[Michael Everson <michael.everson@gmail.com>]

On 29 Mar 2010, at 22:06, John E Clifford wrote:

> Amazing as it may seem, Lojban, as a language, is a spoken object.  Since there are few people who would claim that they actually speak it (and even fewer who could back up that claim in a face-to-face) , for most Lojbanist Lojban exists as a written object.  Thus, *how* Lojban is written takes on many of the aspects that would occur in a normal language about how it was spoken -- with favored dialects and accents and so on.  And, as in most cases where snobbery is an issue, discussion can get to be rather intense -- and off topic and off courtesy.  The only requirement for a writing system for Lojban is that there be a written-spoken isomorphism; what that isomorphism is doesn't really matter (as witness  the range of variations already accepted).  A Lojban writing system with proper names capitalized and the first functional word of each sentence similarly, would still be an adequate writing system, though with a slightly more complex isomorphism (after all G and g stand for the same sound), and if we threw in a few punctuation marks proper (commas for subordinate clauses, say, question marks, and quotes of one sort or another), an isomorphism would still hold (though again a slightly more complex one).  And some clarity might occasionally be gained.  And some elegance or whatever lost.  

On 29 Mar 2010, at 22:06, John E Clifford wrote:

> amazing as it may seem lojban as a language is a spoken object since there are few people who would claim that they actually speak it and even fewer who could back up that claim in a facetoface for most lojbanist lojban exists as a written object thus how lojban is written takes on many of the aspects that would occur in a normal language about how it was spoken with favored dialects and accents and so on and as in most cases where snobbery is an issue discussion can get to be rather intense and off topic and off courtesy the only requirement for a writing system for lojban is that there be a writtenspoken isomorphism; what that isomorphism is doesnt really matter as witness the range of variations already accepted a lojban writing system with proper names capitalized and the first functional word of each sentence similarly would still be an adequate writing system though with a slightly more complex isomorphism after all g and g stand for the same sound and if we threw in a few punctuation marks proper commas for subordinate clauses say question marks and quotes of one sort or another an isomorphism would still hold though again a slightly more complex one and some clarity might occasionally be gained and some elegance or whatever lost 

Note that these texts are the same.\

Michael

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