Athelstan update - good Lojbanic news!

[Logical Language Group <cbmvax!uunet!GREBYN.COM!lojbab>]

I saw Athelstan today for the first time in a couple of weeks.  Now at the
rehabilitation center, he is improving rapidly. The difference is exciting.

Most significant to Lojbanists perhaps.  I greeted him with "coi.
.atlstan." and he erupted in a happy grin, almost a giggle, and said
"'coi', I know that! coi!".  He then said something I couldn't
understand, but it MAY have been an attempt to say something else in
Lojban, since it had a Lojbanic speech rhythm (penultimate stress).

He also clearly recognized and grinned at "ko ko kurji", the first
Lojban "idiom", which he invented.  But he didn't respond linguistically
to it, so that I don't know whether he understood it, or just recognized
it as familiar.  He said he did not recognize or understand ".e'osai ko
sarji la lojban.", although he surprisingly understood that I was asking
him whether he understood/knew it, and shook his head sadly while saying
'no'.

Athelstan can't yet carry on a conversation - much of what he says
sounds like slurred words but probably don't mean anything.  He tends to
repeat himself a lot in trying to phrase things (it took 5 minutes of
muttering about a rash on his chest that he was scratching before he
suddenly and clearly but slowly sounded out the word "irritation" - with
no prompting).  He also repeats what everyone says to him, sometimes for
a couple of minutes, as he tries to understand it.

lojbab