Re: [lojban] Hesitation sounds in natural langauge

[Stela Selckiku <selckiku@gmail.com>]

On Tue, Jun 14, 2011 at 3:05 PM, .arpis. <rpglover64+jbobau@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have never heard natural (not scripted) lojban conversations, and to the
> best of my knowledge, there is only one hesitation sound in lojban (ybu).

You can hear some natural conversations in the old episodes of la
tcati tcika.  I forget what hesitation sounds we used.  But I think
there was probably a lot of ybu in there!

In IRC Lojban-- and let's just note at the outset that I do not
condone this activity, and indeed have told people I think they should
stop it, but I'm just being descriptive for a moment-- there are at
least two hesitation sounds, ".y." and ".yyyyyyy."  The latter, which
is usually spelled with at least five ys, is clearly distinguished
from the former by length, which is taboo in Lojban for fairly good
reasons.  If you're right that it's more usual to have two hesitation
sounds that could explain why this variation has persisted for years
in spite of its condemnation.

I agree with la .tijlan.'s suggestions, and also I would suggest that
many of the uses of ".yyyyyyy." that I've seen could be sensibly
replaced with ".y. .ua nai".  In Lojban we should express uncertainty
and do conversation management like turn taking explicitly, and have
".y." mean only and exactly that you are hesitating for a moment
because you're considering what to say next.  But realistically,
there's a current of malgli habit to swim against in establishing that
clarity.

mi'e la stela selckiku mu'o

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