Subject: Re: -gua!spi (was Re: [lojban] Three more issues)

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 16:37:50 -0400

Robin Lee Powell wrote:

>> Those are *believed* to be *the most common* lujvo-making patterns.
>> No such claim of exclusivity is possible, as the chapter on lujvo-making
>> is at pains to point out. There are exceptional patterns.
>> (If you want -gua!spi, you know where to find it.)

In fact at http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/guaspi/

> I know very little about -gua!spi, save that it's tonal. What about the
> language are you making reference to here?

>From http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc/guaspi/acmpaper.txt

There are three main patterns to the compounds.
First, if the main word has a case with a default linker of
"vo" [Lojban nu] or "bi" [Lojban du'u] --- that is, a
case for an infinitive --- a word compounded with high even tone
[written -] is the predicate of that infinitive, and the main
word case before the infinitive (before conversion) becomes the
infinitive's first case. (Exceptions are noted in the
dictionary.)

:i !qo -kira /can -xna !fyni
Kira takes hold of the oar

can X1 changes so (\gua{vo}) X2 becomes true
xna X1 holds X2 with (body part) X3

[Compare:]

!qo -kira /xna !fyni
{Kira holds the oar (X2 of /can)

Second, the words may share an argument list. The effect is as if
you had made two sentences with the arguments copied into each.
This pattern is cued by tone ["-"] when the infinitive argument pattern
does not apply, or by a conjunction \qgua{-fe} when it does.

:i !do /suy -pne -qmy !kqua
It swims down through the water

!do /suy !kqua + !do /pne !kqua + !do /qmy !kqua
It swims to water; it penetrates that water; it is above that water.

A third pattern is found in which a transitive main word is
followed by its object as a compound. It is cued by the tone `='
[low].

:i -spo !bri =kqua |bir ^dri =fli
Maybe the pilot already drowned

bri X1 breathes X2
kqua X1 is a serving/portion of water
bri =kqua X1 drowns

dri X1 drives X2 to X3 ... (transitive motion word)
fli X1 flies to X2 ... (motion word)
dri =fli X1 pilots the flyer (airplane) to X2 ...

Though humans like to think of compound predicates as separate
words analogous to the primitive words, compounds are actually
defined through these transformations, so that each primitive
word heads a separate phrase. For example in the third type
of compound, the compounded object is to be taken off and
put in its proper case as a sub-phrase. Thus one can easily
and reliably interpret a compound word that one has never heard
before, as long as one knows all the primitive words.

-- 
There is / one art || John Cowan <[email-masked]>
no more / no less || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness \\ -- Piet Hein