Re: lojban changes (were Dialectology and Grammar change and...)

[Undetermined origin c/o Postmaster <POSTMASTER@CUVMB.BITNET>]

> So, yes, the needed
> Lojban community does hinge on getting a refgram and a
> dictionary into people's hands -- until that happens, the most
> reliable folks are not going to join in.
>
> { very good points snipped for brevity's sake }
>
> So my suggestion is publish and be damned (Wellington).  Solving today's
> problems will not make the published text more problem-free and may (as we
> have seen with earlier fixes) end up making matters worse a couple of
> years down the line, when the data really comes in.  But, with a fixed
> target, the data can be generated by a significantly sized community of
> serious learners and the first round of reforms -- in five or so years
> (hopefully longer, or sooner for overwhelming reasons) -- will be the
> better for it.  I suggest that the list for that first reform begins, say,
> September 1, 1995.  We can live with guheks (well, I'm not sure I can) and
> without fuzzy fussiness for a while, as we have these 40 or 8 years.  And
> we can have plenty of time to build our cases for this and that, ready for
> January 1, 2001 and the millennium. (Sure, I'd like to see some of the
> things I *know* are missing added, but I can wait and get them even
> righter in five years.)

Here. here.  Let's stop arguing, start using, and let Lojbab, et.al., get
the "textbook" out there for others to see and *use*.  Those of us that
notice needed changes, ought to work carefully on getting our proposals
carefully worded and tested to make sure that they don't break the
language in other ways.  They can even be used by you in the interim,
perhaps as part of the testing.  Then int 5+ years, when we have a
sizable body of speakers, Lojban Central (which might not be Lojbab
then) can say "Based on your *usage* over the past few years, what
changes are *essential* to make to the language to actually make it
fully usable?"

Bob Slaughter                         Model railroad enthusiast
haldane@iglou.com                     lojban language learner
Technical Support Services     Iglou Internet Services  1-800-I-DO-IGLOU
see http://www.iglou.com/haldane                        (1-800-436-4456)