Re: FANVA

[HACKER G N <c9709244@ALINGA.NEWCASTLE.EDU.AU>]

On Sat, 25 Oct 1997, Chris Bogart wrote:

> Revised translation based on Jorge's good suggestions:
> > >Translation (of a translation) of the Tao Te Ching, chapter 4:
>
> la dadjo cu cimni le ka ce'u vasru makau
> .i se pilno le sevzi gi'enai malclu le munje
> .i gau da na ka'e se katna gi'a jgena gi'a kandi gi'a smaji

For my own two bob's worth, doesn't the "na" here append only to the
first bridi-tail? Whereas, if you said

i naku gau da ka'e se katna gi'a jgena gi'a kandi gi'a smaji

then the "na" belongs clearly to the first part of the sentence and
thereby can modify all subsequent bridi-tails. Or so it seems to me.

If I say

mi na klama le zarci gi'e nelci la djan

am I saying, "I don't go to the store, and I like John", or does the "na"
have to append to every other bridi-tail? And if it does, then how do I
say, "I don't go to the store, and I like John", or more coloquially, "I
don't go to the store, but I do like John" or some other such thing?

> * the object of djuno must be an abstraction, not a simple sumti;
>   for Jorge this comes easier because djuno/selsau parallel
>   saber/conocer.

It's the same with German wissen/kennen, incidentally. :)

> * This book is an interesting mixture of cryptic poetic
>   fluff and subtle logical statements.  It cries out for
>   further translation.

I'd like to see somebody translate it from the original CHINESE. Then
we'll see just how good Lojban is as an interlanguage.

Geoff