From rob@twcny.rr.com Sat Mar 31 21:02:51 2001 Return-Path: X-Sender: rob@twcny.rr.com X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_1_0_1); 1 Apr 2001 05:02:50 -0000 Received: (qmail 3965 invoked from network); 1 Apr 2001 05:02:50 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by l10.egroups.com with QMQP; 1 Apr 2001 05:02:50 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO mailout4-0.nyroc.rr.com) (24.92.226.120) by mta2 with SMTP; 1 Apr 2001 05:02:50 -0000 Received: from mail1.twcny.rr.com (mail1-0 [24.92.226.74]) by mailout4-0.nyroc.rr.com (8.11.2/RoadRunner 1.03) with ESMTP id f3150Ib05780 for ; Sun, 1 Apr 2001 00:00:18 -0500 (EST) Received: from riff ([24.161.104.50]) by mail1.twcny.rr.com (Post.Office MTA v3.5.3 release 223 ID# 0-59787U250000L250000S0V35) with ESMTP id com for ; Sun, 1 Apr 2001 00:00:17 -0500 Received: from rob by riff with local (Exim 3.22 #1 (Debian)) id 14jZyV-00045c-00 for ; Sun, 01 Apr 2001 00:00:27 -0500 Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2001 00:00:27 -0500 To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Why {selbroda}? Message-ID: <20010401000027.A15664@twcny.rr.com> Reply-To: rob@twcny.rr.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.15i X-Is-It-Not-Nifty: www.sluggy.com From: Rob Speer The discussion about {nalmorji} brought up something that's been bothering me. Why do we use words like {selbroda} at all in Lojban? Doesn't it mean exactly the same as {se broda}? {se broda} has the same number of syllables and one less consonant to pronounce as well. Additionally, the typical usage I see is that people use {selbroda} when they are using it as a noun, and {se broda} when it is a verb. 1a. mi se broda ti 1b. mi selbroda ti 2a. le se broda cu brode 2b. le selbroda cu brode I believe that 1a and 1b, and 2a and 2b, mean exactly the same thing. Yet in the usage of Lojban here you'd see 1a and 2b often, and you'd never see 1b or 2a. The tendency to make nouns single words, while allowing verbs to be modified by structure words instead, seems rather malglico to me. I can't think of an example in English that would exactly match that above, but something like "That is a _lawnmower_" and "The lawn _is mowed_" comes to mind. Is there any reason in Lojban to distinguish between parts of speech like this? -- Rob Speer