Subject: Re: mine, thine, hisn, hern, itsn ourn, yourn and theirn (was[lojban] si'o)

From: Nick NICHOLAS <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2001 22:20:23 -0700 (PDT)

la pier. ba'o facki la'edi'e:

> tanru_unit_B_152 : ME_477 sumti_90 MEhU_gap_465 MOI_476

Oh my God.

There is only one explanation for this, which is that Lojban Central
wanted normal sumti, and not just numbers, to be ordinals.

So you can say the apple-th man, or the I-am-going-to-the-store-th
instance of insubordination.

Please God, someone tell me this isn't so. Did Lojban Central really
intend this? With MOI?!

On this one --- not for reasons of the supplicatory model any more, but
for reasons of psychological research --- I'd like an answer. What is that
rule meant to mean?

... I found this in the refgramm; dunno whether it answers my question,
but it horrifies me even more:

***

It is perfectly possible to use non-numerical sumti after ``me'' and
before a member of MOI, producing strange results indeed:

11.15) le nu mi nolraitru
cu me le'e snime bolci
be vi la xel. cu'o
The event-of me being-a-nobly-superlative-ruler
has-the-stereotypical snow type-of-ball
at Hell probability.
I have a snowball's chance in Hell of being king.

Note: the elidable terminator ``boi'' is not used between a number and a
member of MOI. As a result, the ``me'u'' in Example 11.14 could also be
replaced by a ``boi'',
which would serve the same function of preventing the ``pa'' and ``moi''
from joining into a compound

***

I'm going to have to say this again.

No, don't stop me.

I really really mean it.

... This construction should have died in the arse.

How absolutely spiffy. We have a special construction in the language,
just for being able to say "I have a snowball's chance in hell" as a
numerical sumti.

Well, live by the baseline, die by the baseline. So be it; .i ku'i lenu mi
ba pilno lu me zo'e moi li'u cu me le'e snime bolci bevi le fabri pe la
daptutra me'o cu'o

[P.S. No flame intended to the author of the example, who I know was
scrambling for something to illustrate this.]

-- 
== == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ==
Nick Nicholas, Breathing {le'o ko na rivbi fi'inai palci je tolvri danlu}
[email-masked] -- Miguel Cervantes tr. Jorge LLambias