[lojban] Re: lots of questions

[sunrise2000@comcast.net]

Jonathan <jon214@gmail.com> writes:

> I think {ko'i goi lo prenu} and {lo prenu goi ko'i} mean roughly the same
> thing. See here:
> http://www.lojban.org/publications/reference_grammar/chapter7.html#e5d4(Example
> 5.4)

Agreed.  The grammar allows both {ko'i goi lo prenu} and {lo prenu goi
ko'i}, and the only real difference is word order.  Since {lo prenu}
is essentially a constant term (as opposed to {ko'i}, which acts like
a variable), it is clear which way the assignment is: {lo prenu} is
being assigned to {ko'i}.

What gets thorny is when the sumti on BOTH sides of {goi} are members
of KOhA, i.e.: {ko'a goi ko'e}.  Is this assigning the meaning of
{ko'e} to {ko'a}, or assigning the meaning of {ko'a} to {ko'e}?

Somewhere on the wiki there's talk about {goi} performing the
equivalent of mathematical unification.  That makes sense from a
logical perspective.  It could even be useful for computers that speak
Lojban to each other.  But, having to keep track of what members of
KOhA have been unified with what is probably more than my human brain
could handle.  It would be nice to have some convention, perhaps
involving {ra'o}, to distinguish between unification and simple
assignment.


To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to lojban-list-request@lojban.org
with the subject unsubscribe, or go to http://www.lojban.org/lsg2/, or if
you're really stuck, send mail to secretary@lojban.org for help.