Re: [lojban] Lojban wall of complexity (beginner thoughts)

[Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.optus.nu>]

On Friday 27 July 2012 16:03:10 Bruno Durin wrote:
> You and Pierre Arbat have greatly clarified the way to go. I just use
> whatever I like in lojban and my design will be evaluated through the use
> and feedback of other people.
> This is something a bit new for a French native as we have a very strong
> tradition of normalization by an authority (the French Academy dates back
> to something like the 18th century if I remember well). As a recent
> example, a lot of technical words these last 50 years are born in English
> and the use of the English word have been officially banned and replaced by
> French substitutes (like "courriel" for "e-mail" because "mail" in French
> is "courrier"). Of course not everybody uses them, I guess that people with
> no technical background are more inclined to use French equivalent that
> people that see the English terms at work or in the course of their hobby.
> Anyway, thanks for the clarifications! I go back to the study of the
> reference grammar...

I'm not a bat :)

I see English computer terms in Spanish sentences and it just sounds wrong to 
me. I'd rather see "logicial" than "software". I've used "corriel" in Spanish 
with no problem. I've also used "vepecista" (mail-order seller), which I had 
to explain, but the acronym "VPC" makes equally good sense in Spanish and 
French.

There is an Icelandic academy, which tries hard to keep non-Germanic 
influences out of the language, but the word "fíll" (elephant) is from 
Arabic. It entered the language in the Old Norse stage, so it's grandfathered 
in.

There is an authority of the Lojban language, namely the BPFK, but we're 
currently concerned with updating the CLL, resolving inconsistencies, 
defining unclear cmavo, and figuring out exactly what word forms are valid, 
rather than forbidding words (on any basis other than phonotactic or 
morphological) or coining new terms.

My opinion, which I've broken a few times, is that fu'ivla should be taken 
from:
*The six source languages, e.g. makpapi (poppy) from Russian and English.
*Taxonomic names, e.g. tarksako or tarsako (depending on morphology) 
(dandelion), from the genus name.
*Sounds, e.g. kuerporuile (whippoorwill) from the Spanish and English words, 
which are both imitative. (bois-pourri in French)
*Local languages, e.g. turdunu (bullroarer) from some Australian language. I 
tried "turndunu" first, but that's a type-3.

Pierre
-- 
sei do'anai mi'a djuno puze'e noroi nalselganse srera

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