Subject: [lojban] Re: Why linguists might be interested in Lojban (was:

From: Invent Yourself <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 11:23:50 -0400 (EDT)

On Tue, 8 Oct 2002, Robert LeChevalier wrote:

> 2. It fills in the gaps in the language design so that we have a complete
> language that can be learned as a language for experimental
> purposes. JCB's original "engineering" was so incomplete, that he reported
> that the users could not use it - it sort of just "rattled around in their
> brains" - there was not enough flesh on the design for the language to be
> spoken. We'e spent 40 years since then adding additional design so that it
> no longer rattles. But it seems impossible to construct a complete
> language, so at some point usage has to fill in the gaps.

Interesting idea. What is a complete language? How can tell detect
completion?

> We cannot expect more than incidental mention of Lojban until we get people
> willing to spend money and time doing Lojban research at more than the
> hobbyist level. We're also unlikely to get any major research results from
> the language so long as it wholly a spare time endeavor. The incidental
> mentions we've been getting serve to establish credibility that warrants
> serious expenditure, but is not the end in itself.

What if hobbyists could achieve L1 fluency?

-- 
Before Sept. 11 there was not the present excited talk about a strike
on Iraq. There is no evidence of any connection between Iraq and that
act of terrorism. Why would that event change the situation?
-- Howard Zinn