Re: [lojban] The place structure of {selma'o}

[Cyril Slobin <cyril@slobin.pp.ru>]

2010/6/22 Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com>:

> We could make an effort and use "vlalei" instead of "selma'o" for that
> concept, but so far the word that has been generally used is "selma'o".

Sorry for resurrecting this thread three months later, but:

I was always believed that the general rule is: when lujvo is made
(i.e. included in "official" dictionary or such), one of the possible
meanings of the original tanru is chosen, and all other possible
meanings are therefore discarded.

For example, {carvi kosta} can mean "coat of rain" in some (presumably
poetic) text, but {cavykosta} is "raincoat" only (according to
jbovlaste and old noralujv.txt file). If, in some imaginary world,
people will been coated in rain more often than coated to protect
themselves from rain, the reverse could be possible, but in our world
the meaning of lujvo is fixed in our way.

But, in any way, {cavykosta} *is* {carvi kosta}, albeit the reverse is
not necessary true. Similarly, {se cmavo} is not technically a tanru,
but I believe the same rule applies here: the meaning of {selma'o} can
be narrower then of {se cmavo}, but not wider.

And concerning general usage: we have a precedent when widely used but
illogical term was fixed, and usage changed thereafter: {fu'ivla} was
{le'avla} time ago.

-- 
http://slobin.pp.ru/ `When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said,
<cyril@slobin.pp.ru> `it means just what I choose it to mean'

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