news brief

[snark.uu.net!lojbab]

Lojban news briefs.  Details at 11:00 (or whenever I get the nect JL done.)

Lojban received international publicity with a story released 2/17 by the
French news agency ASP.  The story has appeared in Quebec, among other places.

The LLG Board has set as highest product priority the publishing of the
first Lojban textbook.  I hope to have a review draft circulating by Logfest
in June, with publication sometime this summer.  It will cover about half
the language, the part most used in reading, writing and conversation.

Next in priority will be the first Lojban reference dictionary, which
should be out not too much after the textbook.  It will have gismu, cmavo,
and rafsi tables complete revised and updated with new place structures.  The
number of lujvo will be limited; we'll probably have English entries
corresponding to conversion and abstraction operators - perhaps 3000 English
and 3000 Lojban entries.  The (hopefully) baselined grammar will also be
included, as well as miscellaneous other tables and reference materials.

Both books will be issued in limited edition, with an expected life of about
1-2 years before revision.  The number we print will depend on advance orders,
and the amount we receive in donations, since we need several thousand dollars
to publish.

Prices for each book will probably be around $10-12.  We will be giving a 20%
discount for advanced paid orders from people who are level 3, and people
who have a positive balance at the time of their order.

I am getting a 386 machine by mid-March with a big enough disk to support
dictionary work.  A laser printer is scheduled probably in time for the May
JL12.

Speaking of which, LK12 will not appear till late-May, and will be sent ONLY
to new people and to level 0.  It will be written by condensing the JL12
issue, which will come out a week or two earlier.  JL12 will have all the
detailed news that you've previously seen in LK issues.  LK will become a
very short news brief (like this one) of only a few pages.  The reason - money.
Only 3% of level 0 people are paying for materials, and several have said that
LK is too long and too detailed for their level of interest.

The parser has been put off to support the book publishing.  We don't have
time and money to do both at once.

We now have an audio tape that goes with the lessons.  We unfortunately
don't have the money to mass produce it, so I have to make each copy, one
at a time on my home recorder.  Thus I am presently taking paid orders ONLY,
and only from level 3 students or from people who will be using the tape for
a presentation or convention.  I may offer it more broadly after a couple
of months.  It has had only first editing; we don't have time to polish it.
Price is $9, or $7.20 if you have a positive balance at time of order.

We may have the ability to accept both balance contributions and donations
via Master Card and Visa by the end of March.

We now have non-profit status with the post office, which should save us a
little money on JL and LK issues.  A small benefit, after the last two months
of torture.  Believe it or not, there are still some of you who are level 1
or higher that still have not received our Dec 21 mailing.

We have reached about 100 level 3 people - people who actually have started
seriously studying the language.  Our totals are about 635 people, with about
20 people added last month, mostly through word of mouth.

I am now putting together JL11, and should mail it out by mid-month to all
of you who have signed up with a snail address at level 1 or higher.  It will
have an article discussing the '16 rules of Esperanto' and how they compare
with Lojban's rules.  There is a discussion by D. Morrow on using Lojban for
stream-of-consciousness writing.  We also have a report on the first academic
class strongly incorporating Lojban - taught at St. Mary's College in northern
California.  Also the first original Lojban poetry, some limericks and a bit
of haiku.

Athelstan is starting another DC-area class on Tuesday at U. of Maryland. I've
had a report that one of the Blacksburg VA students will be starting the second
class there in April.  I've had no reports from our NYC and Boston organizers
on the status of classes there (Hint Hint).

John Parks-Clifford will be vsiiting at the end of March and we hope to
resolve all outstanding technical decisions on the grammar when he is here.

Lots happening.  Are you involved?  If you are not level 1 or higher, you will
miss out on JL11.  Send me your snail address ASAP if you aren't registered.
Or upgrade from level 0 if you are still at that level.

And send money if you can.  That way we can pay for the issue.

For now:
   lojbab = Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group
   2904 Beau Lane Fairfax VA 22031 USA  703-385-0273 days or evenings.