Subject: Re: [lojban] Linguistic universals and Lojban

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 20:19:33 EST

In a message dated 2/16/2002 5:57:02 PM Central Standard Time, 
[email-masked] writes:

> Here's the 231st:
> 
> If constituent order is rigid (or if there is no case inflection), then the 
> 
> gradation of adjectives is expressed by function words; if constituent 
> order 
> is flexible (or if there is case inflection), then the gradation of 
> adjectives is expressed inflectionally.
> 
> If I understand this correctly, constituent order is semirigid in Lojban; 
> there is an order such that cases need not be marked. There is no case 
> inflection; rather, cases are marked by words preceding the sumti. But the 
> gradation of "adjectives" is expressed by suffixes (-mau, -me'a, -rai). Am 
> I 
> misunderstanding the rule, or does Lojban violate the rule?
> 

Lojban seems right on track, semirigid order, "case" dealt with by something 
like function words, so you expect that gradation is going to be somewhere 
between inflection and function words, and derivation fills that bill pretty 
well (we might want to check other cases to see if this analogy holds).