Re: [lojban] si and quotes

[Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 10:32 PM, Luke Bergen <lukeabergen@gmail.com> wrote:
> So, I understand what happens with zo si si si.

With the PEG grammar you only use one "si" to delete the whole "zo
si", and there is no way to delete the quoted word alone. This is
because magic words work on a "first come first served" basis, and
once a word has been quoted with "zo" they form an inseparable unit.

"Magic words" are ZO, ZEI, BU, SI, SA, SU, LOhU-LEhU and ZOI. The
peculiarity of these words is that they see all other words as just
words, they don't care what selma'o they belong to, they treat them
all the same. And once they've grabbed them they won't let them go, so
essentially they form a compound that behaves like a single word.

> But what happens if I say
> {.i mi cusku lu mi nelci lo xunre li'u si gerk li'u}.  Does the si
> successfully "take back" the first li'u such that the "gerku" is still part
> of the quote?

Yes. "lu" and "li'u" behave like ordinary words. They do care what
selma'o the words they have dealings with belong to.

But in "lo'u si si si si si si si le'u si", all the "si" inside
lo'u-le'u are deactivated (because lo'u came first and treats anything
until "le'u" as just-a-word, it doesn't care what word it is. But then
the whole construction "lo'u si si si si si si si le'u" is now a
single entity and the final "si" can take revenge and delete it all in
one swoop.

Similarly a single "si" is enough to delete "broda zei brode" just as
it deletes "brodybrode", and it will delete ".abu" just as it deletes
"by".

mu'o mi'e xorxes

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