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[lojban-beginners] Re: (no subject)



As a stage magician, this might be how I indicate to my volunteer to pick a card from those spread in my hand.

You're thinking in terms of English; don't be surprised if in Lojban you can phrase sentences that aren't easily rendered in English. Lojban words do not form the same "parts of speech" as English, so why should we expect to marshal them the same way?

This is true in many languages-- not just Lojban.

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004 1:36pm, melissa@fastanimals.com wrote:
My understanding is that Lojban, like Loglan before it, has a goal of
making irrational statements impossible.  I assume that I could make a
statement that "green clouds sleep furiously," but that's semantics.
Purely syntactically, it should be impossible to make a statement which is
valid yet senseless.

If that is the case, what meaning would be taken from

mi dunda ma ko

It's part question and part command.

One possible translataion might be "Take whatever you want from me, but
you're required to take something."

Or perhaps "Act in such a way that I will give you the reward of your
choice."

Or, as a third option, "Behave such that I'll give *what* to you?" with the other party supposed to respond "Ice cream!" or some other previously
promised reward and thereby be reminded of the inspiration for obeying.

Do any of these interpretations make sense?  Is there a better
interpretation? Or is this just a goofy statement with no real meaning?

--
mylisys XOLynswyrt
mi tadni la lojban
Daniel E Huston
musicdreamer@tmail.com
(651)329-6608

"It is the character that makes the man... not the clay which is its abode."
--Edgar Rice Burroughs