Coi
Sorry for not responding sooner, I learned a trick awhile ago that relates to figuring out how many possible gismu their can be (or at least getting a very close estimate).
Gismu can be C V C C V or C C V C V
In lojban there are 18 consonants and 6 vowels.
For now lets assume that C V C C V is the only way to have a gismu, and that within a gismu a letter cannot be repeated.
For my first letter I can have any consonant. So I have 18 letters to choose from
For my second letter I can have any vowel. So I have 6 letters to choose from
For my third letter I can have any of the remaining consonants. So I have 17 letters to choose from
For my fourth letter I can have any of the remaining consonants. So I have 16 letters to choose from.
For my fifth letter I can have any of the remaining vowels to choose from. So I have 5 vowels to choose from.
So C V C C V
Becomes 18 * 6 * 17 * 16 * 5
Which equals 146,880
Now we subtract the 1300 current gismu
This equals 145,580 possible gismu
Now there are 146,880 more combinations using C C V C V
But they would be so close to the 145,580 others that I won’t count them
(even though some of them have to possibility to work)
Some of the 145,580 possible gismu I have counted will be somewhat hard to say. But because of the equation I used their will be no letters that repeat themselves, so the gismu that can’t be spoken won’t make up too large of a portion of the 145,580. Plus if I couldn't say the word sdaro (CCVCV) I could be able to say sadro (CVCCV) this uses the same letters, but swaps the "d" and "a", which isn't another combination I have already counted because its part of the CVCCV which I discarded.
Since some gismu have a repeated letter (like cmene) there are more possible gismu that have repeated letters (For Example: my equation could turn into 18*6*18*17*5). The added gismu I would have haven't been included in my 145,580.
So the gismu I have counted but don’t work will probably be made up for by the gismu I haven’t counted but do work with extra gismu to spare
Because of this I’m not very concerned about us running out of gismu, even if we make-up 5 new gismu per year, because we wouldn’t run out for 29,116 years.
Also if we run out of gismu that fit within the limits we have created we could just expand the limits of what letter combinations we consider gismu (so we could continue to make new gismu). It would be hard, we would have to make some serious changes in the language but it is possible.
(For example 8 letter words could become gismu)
I know I haven’t proved how my equation works; it is very hard to explain unless you’re here with me. But if anyone is interested they can e-mail me at moorkids@juno.com and I will try to explain, and show them a few examples as to why this does work.