Re: TEXT.REV: le noraixli nega'u le dembi ge'uku xici

[Nick Nicholas <nsn@MULLIAN.EE.MU.OZ.AU>]

Sorry I didn't get around to this sooner, but I've been busy. That's busy,
as opposed to productive *sigh*.

}gi'e sisku pa go'i   .iku'i roroi nabmi   .i sa'e ge lo nolraixli cu
}raumei ju'o gi loniri nolraixli ku ko'a na se birti .uu   .i roroiku
}le no'e drani vau

Hm. Because I equate the referent of {lo nolraixli} with the earlier one in
the tale (He seeks a princess), this sounds like "the princess is enough".
But of course, the lojban doesn't say that at all; nolraixli is quantified
afresh here. Still, might it not make more sense to say {raumei lo nolraixli}
or {loi nolraixli cu raumei}? I don't recall the place structure of {mei}
right now. And I'd have said {roroiku da no'e drani} (note that, for
quantification, the roroiku has to go before the da, else we assert that there
is one thing *always* awry, rather than one thing *each* time. (We do need
a quantification paper badly).

}.i ri selkecmlu .uuse'inai ri'a tu'a lo carvi .ebo lo xlali viltcima

I didn't realise you could do that with {.ebo}; I'd always used lu'i...

}se sezycu'u

Is this new rafsi assignment? Certainly in the old rafsi list, cu'u means
worm, not cusku (most frequent rafsi error).

}ni'o co'i le cerni cu preti fofo'a feleli'i fo'a capu sipna ge'ekau

This remains a clever use of {kau}, and should get mentioned in any write-up
about it. Btw, from my reading, it does seem that lambda calculus is the
best way to explain {kau}. For those unfamiliar with it: lambda calculus
explains maths at a deep level. LAMBDA(x.x+x) is the function taking x as
an argument and returning x+x. Lambda(x.x+x) 1 is a function application to
1, and evaluates to 2. The lambda expression itself is a function waiting
for an argument. Lojban selbri aren't lambda fns; their arguments are filled
with zo'e, or explicit values. In "I know who did it", though, the predicate
"did it" is crying out for an argument to fill in x1:
(LAMBDA zo'ekau.zo'ekau gasnu ri). For that matter, a lot of the elliptical
places, as John has mentioned, get explained by it: Being a parent is
difficult --- not being a parent of John, or of Mary, but
(LAMBDA zo'ekau.mi rirni zo'ekau).

End digression.

}.i mi su'eso'uroi .uu ganga'i le kanla ca'o piro le nicte .i ma? za'anai
}pausai nenri le ckana

I still don't like {ganga'i}, but that's a matter of taste. I rather like
the {za'anai pausai}.

}.i seni'ibo co'i djuno ledu'u fo'a nolraixli je'a mulno ki'u lenu fo'a fi le
                                                        ^ KEI
Her feeling the pea does not cause her to be a princess, but causes them to
know it.

}ledu'u vo'a kansa le mulno beloka nolraixli   .i le dembi ba se punji
}fi la larkumfa tosa'a remoi pinka toi   .i caji'a go'i

I don't know about {go'i} --- what is true now is that the pea remains there,
not that it is still being placed there.

I'll come out in favour of Colin's story more strongly than I did at the same
time last year; it's quite fluent and readable, and entirely ready for
publication.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nick S. Nicholas,                      "Rode like foam on the river of pity
CogSci & CompSci student,               Turned its tide to strength
University of Melbourne, Australia.     Healed the hole that ripped in living"
nsn@{munagin.ee|mundil.cs}.mu.oz.au           - Suzanne Vega, Book Of Dreams
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