Re: current cmene project

[ucleaar <ucleaar@ucl.ac.uk>]

Bob Slaughter:
> Naming is speaker-referent, not absolute.  I'm sure the Native Americans had a
> name for the swamp we later called Washington, D.C., and in some point in the
> future, it may be called the Place-that-Was or some such by the
> pos-nuclear-holocaust inhabitants of the area. (see the short story "By the
> Waters of Babylon") Even now, some Americans have names for the place that are
> not really suitable for a public forum.

I quite agree, I can use any cmene I like to refer to Washington D.C.
My point is that if someone is going to the trouble of thinking up a
cmevla (cmene zei valsi) for Wash.D.C. then they might as well come
up with a fuhivla (which is not a name, & whose meaning is absolute),
since fuhivla are part of the language (or rather, I should say, part of
the lexicon/grammar).

What I am advocating is an innovation in the practise of Lojban, not
in its principle. We already have gismu (or at least lujvo) for some
countries, and fuhivla for other countries. I am merely extolling
the virtues of extending the practise to cities.

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And