Subject: [lojban] Re: Honorifics (was: RE: Re: The Any thread)

From: "Craig" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 18:59:25 -0500

>> >i la meris na nitcu la mikc.fus. noi mikce
>>
>> I was just wondering whether this is really the best way for me to
translate
>> "Doctor Foo". I have never seen honorifics in Lojban, and assume that in
>> native Lojban text there would be no equivalent of Mr., although Dr.
would
>> probably be used. However, more honorifics might become relevant in
>> translations.
>>
>> If nobody has addressed this yet, I propose that honorifics be gisms or
cvc
>> rafsi of an appropriate term.

>ga'i

Despite the gloss, ga'i does not cover honorific territory. It is necessary
for a true honorific system to be able to indicate more than rank. For
instance, most communist leaders would want an honorific indicating that
they are close to the people. The truly idealist ones would even be put off
by constant ga'inaiing, which would seem to them to be a way to address a
powerful member of the bourgeoisie.

Also, most honorifics that have nothing to do with leadership are not simply
rank. These include both honorific meanings of "Doctor", "Professor" when
used honorifically, "the Honorable" for judges, and probably some that I
can't think of. Also consider the English system, which it would help to be
able to translate for use when translating texts. Mister for male, Miss for
unmarried female, and suspensions that don't expand to anything anymore but
are pronounced "miz" and "misses" for generic and married female
respectively. This cannot be said with ga'i, and it is essential for
translations that it be translatable.

ga'i helps, of course, but it doesn't go far enough.