On Aug 26, 2016 1:47 PM, <vpbr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> coi ro do
>
> I am trying to understand the rules for eliding terminators.
> The CLL comments on several special cases for when terminators may or may not be elided,
> but the only general principle I can find is CLL 21.2 EBNF Grammar of Lojban, point 10:
>
> // encloses an elidable terminator, which may be omitted (without change of meaning) if no grammatical ambiguity results.
>
> Still, grammatical ambiguity doesn't seem to me to be the deciding factor.I agree — that note is misleading. Terminators can be elided only when the meaning doesn't change.
> Consider these two examples.
>
> i mi noi le mlatu ku sisku keha vau kuho cu sipna vau
> I, whom the cat is seeking, am sleeping.This example with only the needed stuff would be «mi noi le mlatu cu sisku tu'a ke'a cu sipna».
> The "ku" should be elidable, because when it is omitted, there is only one possible place to insert it -- no grammatical ambiguity.
No, once the «ku» is removed, we get «mlatu sisku», which is a tanru.
> But, a parser says it cannot be elided, and it does look somehow strange with the "ku" omitted.
In this case, you can also use «cu». But you can't drop both.
>
> i le mlatu poi xekri vau kuho cu sipna vau
> The black cat sleeps.This example would be «le mlatu poi xekri cu sipna».
>
> The "le mlatu" needs a "ku" that can go in one of two places, before or after the relative clause.Relative clauses follow the LE-clause, so «ku» is assumed automagically.
> These choices are semantically equivalent, but grammatically (syntactically) different.
> You can look at the parse trees and see they are different.
> Still, the parser says that eliding this "ku" is OK.
>
> Why? Why kind of ambiguity is CLL talking about here?
>
> mihe la bremenli nohu Vincent Broman~ uakci
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