Subject: Re: [lojban] cmegadri valfendi preti

From: "Lionel Vidal" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2002 10:34:51 +0100

Pierre Abbat:
> Assuming that the standard version follows the instructions above, process
> {doias}. Looking backward, find {doi}. It is preceded by nothing, so break
> it off. The result is two pieces, {doi} and {as}. But that is wrong, since
> {doias} must have a pause before {as}. The alahum version would not
> split it because {as} does not begin with a consonant.
> On {doi'as}, however, the standard version would again break it into {doi}
> and {'as}. {'as} would then be resolved as an error. The alahum version
> would not break it, and {doi'as} would be resolved as a cmene.
> So, for the standard version, should I look for a consonant or y'y after
> the cmegadri?

IMO, this is one flaw of the current algorithm.
Trying to strictly follow CLL:
-Any word starting with a vowel must be preceded by a pause
-No cmene may include {la}, {la'i} {lai} or {doi} unless preceded
by a consonnant
-The ' is used only as a transition between to vowels *of the same word*
(the * part is deduced from the first stated rule)
You should reject {doias} and {doi'as} as errors, or be non conformant :-)

> Another question: why is the cmegadri broken off from what precedes it,
> instead of just breaking between the cmene and the cmegadri and leaving
> the cmegadri to be found later? What about {MUstelaVIson}
> and {muSTElaVIson}? How
> should they be analyzed?

Because when you make that break you *must* flag the cmegadri part as a
cmegadri (otherwise a pause before the cmene would have been necessary),
whereas a further parsing may change what you thought was a cmegadri
to, say, a brivla ending... which would then invalidate your previously
parsed cmene! (I hope I am clear enough :-)
So: {MUstelaVIson} = {MUste la Vison} and {muSTElaVIson} is
rejected because a brivla cannot end with a stressed syllable.
Note that, while I consider that result correct, I find the error label
quite unlogical: a forward parsing would give an error after parsing
{muSTEla}, saying that a pause is needed before cmene {Vision},
which seems much more palatable: better error messages are another
advantage IMO of a change of the current backward algorithm
for a forward one.

-- Lionel