[lojban] Should I propose an experimental cmavo? (was non-urgent research request to help Lojban.)

[Oren <get.oren@gmail.com>]

"In answer to your question[1]. If I want to say "forget it" or
"nevermind" I'll use {ju'inai}."
--Luke Bergen <lukeabergen@gmail.com>

The problem with { ju'i } is that it's a COI vocative, which leads me
to interpret it as informing 'paying attention to' or 'ignoring' the
utterance itself, not commenting on the content. The glosses seem to
agree with this interpretation. To illustrate:

{ .i ju'i mi klama } "Hey listen up, I'm going."
{ .i ju'inai mi klama } "Don't pay attention [to me saying this], I'm going."

What I want to say, however, is approximately:

"Recall, I'm going." or "Remember, I'm going." or, "I'm going, ya know!"
...meaning I'm reminding you that I'm going. It's important that you
(the listener) know this; "Don't forget."
"Never mind me going." or "Forget about me going." or, "Whatever, I'm going."
...meaning I'm anti-reminding you. It's not important that you know
this. "Forget about it/ never mind."

co'o mi'e korbi

P.S. I think I may be proposing an experimental BAI cmavo soon for
this term. Even in isolation it could be a useful term: we already are
accustomed to "never mind" in English. The complimentary "don't
forget" meaning of the word would fill in a gap in English that makes
dialogue like this example more ambiguous than it needs to be:

[scene: A and B just made a little plan about something, now B is leaving.]
A: Goodbye, B
B: Goodbye, A. [heads for door to leave]
A: ...Oh, and B--
B: [halfway out the door] Yes?
A: ...[knowing glance]...
B: ...er, what's that look supposed to mean?
A: Don't forget!
B: Oh, right, of course not. Bye.

[now, in Lojban, using BAI for this concept i'm describing]
A: co'o bybu
B: co'o abu
A: BAI
B: je'e co'o

[1] From the learner list:
"In chinese, a number of attitudinals have particle counterparts, for
example 吧 corresponds with { .e'u }. However, one particle that
Chinese has that lojban doesn't seem to is 'make note/don't forget.'
In chinese it's 哦/噢 and it's used pretty commonly-- perhaps best
characterized by caring parent-like expressions; i.e. "You'd better
bundle up 哦."

"I'd imagine that if we had a "reminder/exhortation" cmavo, putting a nai on it
would mean something like "forget about it/never mind," another pretty
common phrase... how do we say these things in Lojbanistan?"

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