Re: easy text

[jimc@MATH.UCLA.EDU]

fschulz@PYRAMID.COM sends out an easy text which I can actually read,
with gismu list lookups (aaah, the wonder of computers!)  It's good!

Here are my nitpick comments:

> .i zo lump cmene le cmalu mlatu
> .i zo mus cmene le barda mlatu

I anxiously await comments on how authoritative "le cmalu mlatu" is,
that is, whether it means exactly the same as "le mlatu poi cmalu" (not
likely), or is a metaphor along the lines of "broken heart", or whether
you have to kind of guess which cat is referred to.  The latter
procedure is commonly referred to as "using common sense", something a
computer language interpreter has little of.

> .i le nu le mlatu cu cliva le mi zdani cu se fanta

Stylistically, it's better to put the main predicate early in the
sentence, e.g. "fanta fe le nu ... cliva ..."  I believe that as
written this is an observative, but I can't remember what wriggling is
needed to de-observatize it.

> .i lo civla cu bartu le mi zdani

It looks like we have no gismu for "infest", "infect", or even "habitat".

> .i mi to'e djica le nu lo civla cu klama le mi zdani fu le mlatu

Suggestion: nerkla = come into.

> .i mi te vecnu lo mlatu salta tanxe

(cat salad) box: Cat salad is like chicken salad, and the box presumably
helps you cook it.  I hate tanru.

> ...   .i le re mlatu cu citka le srasu
> .i le barda mlatu cu xekri joi blabi...

Time for a paragraph mark ni'o (new topic).  By the way, I thought you
asserted that the cats were prevented from living in your house
(pragmatically implying that they in fact don't live there), while you
really mean that subsequent discourse (the ten sentences or so about
cat salad) tells a workaround which prevents the undesired result of
the cats not living in your house.  I'm not sure how to express this
right in Lojban.

> .i le mlatu na kakne le nu rorci

I don't have "rorci" on my list.  Closest I can come is jbena = born.
Maybe my list is old.

> .i le mlatu cu to'e nelci le nu vitke le danlu mikce

A.  Who is the guest?  Obviously it's the cat, but I would like to see
rules to govern this interpretation, not vague common sense.

B.  I'm not sure of "guest" as the predicate.  "le mlatu cu se mikce le
danlu mikce" is semantically better, but because it repeats "mikce"
the sentence is ugly.

> .i mi bevri le mlatu poi nenri le mlatu bevri tanxe ku'o le danlu mikce

Probably you want "noi" (supplementary subordinate clause) rather than
"poi" (restrictive clause).  What you actually said was "among the cats,
pick the one in the box; that's the one I carry."

Also, this section I think needs a long scope "habitual" tense, but I've
lost track of how to say that.  Without it, you focus on one or a few
specific instances.

> .i mi na djica le nu le mlatu cu krici le nu
>     le nu nenri le karce cu nibli le nu vitke le danlu mikce

This sentence is complicated, but is well constructed, and all parts
are needed.  I think "nibli" is not quite right, being (I think) for
things like theorems and logic.  I would use "zi se balvi" (future) or
"zi purci" (past), waffling on the causal connection, which cats can't
comprehend.  You can use "zi" (short interval) alone like this, can't
you?

> .i le mlatu cu catlu fi'o farna pagre [fe'u] le canko

So that's why you asked that particular question!  "fe'u" would go after
"le canko" because you want the clause to include it, and being terminal,
"fe'u" could be elided.

The story has interesting and cute content, and as far as I can see the
Lojban is very good.

James F. Carter        Voice 310 825 2897       FAX 310 206 6673
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