proposed extension to grammar

[CJ FINE <cbmvax!uunet!BRADFORD.AC.UK!cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu!C.J.Fine>]

I propose two extensions to the grammar for the next
baseline - both are for greater generality.

Lojban is canonically SVO (subject-verb-object) and AN (adjective-noun
or at least MH - modifier-head), but allows you to vary either of these
orders for style, effect, or concordance with the shape of another language.

There is one structure which is compulsorily HM (head-modifier), and
that is relative clauses/phrases.
        le zdani pe mi
        le dinju po'u la kreml
        le zdani noi lemi rirme'i cu xabju ke'a
etc.  [Actually, there is one slight exception - "lemi rirme'i"  is a MH
version of "le rirme'i pemi". I have always found this an admittedly
useful, but very ad hoc and awkward construction, particularly when the
modifier is more than just a KOhA.]

I would like to suggest that relative phrases/clauses be permitted
before the selbri of a description or name:
        le pemi zdani
        le po'u la kreml. dinju
        le noi lemi rirme'i cu xabju ke'a [ko'u] zdani.

I have not looked at the formal grammar, only the bnf, and I haven't a
parser, but it seems to me that this extension is simple and does not
cause ambiguity. I would change

        sumti_tail = [sumti-4] selbri

to read
        sumti-tail = [pre-relative] selbri
and add
        pre-relative = sumti-4 | relative-clauses

Note that the existing sumti-4 expression just becomes a zipfian contraction
("lemi zdani" for "lepemi zdani") rather like "ze prenu" for "ze lo prenu".

I am not claiming this allows you to express anything more than at
present, merely that it removes an unnecessary restriction for no
significant cost - and it allows translation from certain languages to
maintain the structural order:

In Japanese, adjectives are a special kind of verb, and a (verb-final)
relative clause precedes its head just like an adjective.

        omosiroi     hito
        interesting person

        boku ga   kinoo    mita hito
        I (subj) yesterday saw  person ("the person I saw yesterday")

        le poi mi viska cale prulamdei ke'a [ku'o] prenu

2. (This suggestion is less strongly motivated, but still worth
considering).
Extend this pre-relative to all sumti. This will need a cmavo - I have
picked "na'a" from the currently unused ones, but I have no particular
motivation for this choice. The cmavo then introduces a
relative-clause(s) which stands before the modified sumti. The only
question is what level of sumti it attaches to.

My suggestion would be to replace
        sumti-2 = sumti-3 [KE etc]
by
        sumti-2 = [NAhA pre-relative] sumti-3 [KE etc]

Thus:
        na'a poi xabju co lamji mi ku'o la fred.
        na'a ne le ckule la djenis
        na'a noi mi gleki lenu tirne ke'a ko'u ra
        na'ami la mam.

(again the last could be thought of as a contraction of "na'apemi la mam"

The main use I have thought of for this is epithets and restrictions
before names:

        na'a pe la bakin,mcr la xodjez  "The Buckinghamshire Hodges"
        na'a noi misno la ringos. star. "The famous Ringo Starr"
        na'a poi nolraitru la xusEIn.   "King Hussein"

There is actually a further wrinkle you can put in this one: in the NAhA
construction (not in the LE construction above) you could allow a
selbri, and interpret this as an omitted "poi" (you could actually go to
a sumti-tail or a full bridi-tail, but then you would always need to
terminate it, so I don't think that's worth it. ) This allows a rather
neat construction for titles that can be expressed by selbri:

        na'a nolraitru la xusEIn. "The Hussein who kings"
        na'a kicmu la uotsn.
        na'a misno la ringos. star. (restrictive: as opposed to all the
                                        non-famous ones)
        na'a nolraitru bero natmrbelgi'e la boduan "King of the Belgians
                                                        Baudouin"

Any takers?
                Colin
                c.j.fine@bradford.ac.uk