Subject: [lojban] Re: Why linguists might be interested in Lojban (was: RE: Re: a new kind of fundamentalism

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 17:38:33 -0400 (EDT)

Robin Turner scripsit:

> The two Lojbanisms that really caught on amongst the players 
> were "mabla" (correct usage) and "le do mamta cu gerku" (incorrect, in 
> canonical Lojban).

Well, it's *false*, but that doesn't mean it doesn't communicate. When
GWB says that Iran and Iraq form part of a (transnational) axis, what he
says is surely false (they fought a 10-year war not so long ago, after all),
but it communicates something nevertheless.

This is a great example of why I think the semantics/pragmatics split is
intellectually pernicious.

"Big Brother is ungood."
--blasphemy in Newspeak

-- 
John Cowan [email-masked] www.reutershealth.com ccil.org/~cowan
Dievas dave dantis; Dievas duos duonos	--Lithuanian proverb
Deus dedit dentes; deus dabit panem	--Latin version thereof
Deity donated dentition;
deity'll donate doughnuts	--English version by Muke Tever