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``Pretty Little Girls' School'': The Structure Of Lojban selbri
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The following cmavo are discussed in this section:
ke KE start grouping ke'e KEhE end groupingThere is, in fact, a fifth grouping of ``pretty little girls' school'' that cannot be expressed with the resources explained so far. To handle it, we must introduce the grouping parentheses cmavo, ``ke'' and ``ke'e'' (belonging to selma'o KE and KEhE respectively). Any portion of a selbri sandwiched between these two cmavo is taken to be a single tanru component, independently of what is adjacent to it. Thus, Example 4.2 can be rewritten in any of the following ways:
5.1) ta ke melbi cmalu ke'e nixli ckule That is-a-( pretty little ) girl school. 5.2) ta ke ke melbi cmalu ke'e nixli ke'e ckule That is-a-( ( pretty little ) girl ) school. 5.3) ta ke ke ke melbi cmalu ke'e nixli ke'e ckule ke'e That is-a-( ( ( pretty little ) girl ) school ).
Even more versions could be created simply by placing any number of ``ke'' cmavo at the beginning of the selbri, and a like number of ``ke'e'' cmavo at its end. Obviously, all of these are a waste of breath once the left-grouping rule has been grasped. However, the following is equivalent to Example 4.4 and may be easier to understand:
5.4) ta melbi ke cmalu nixli ke'e ckule That is-a-(pretty type-of ( little type-of girl )) type-of school.
Likewise, a ``ke'' and ``ke'e'' version of Example 4.3 would be:
5.5) ta melbi cmalu ke nixli ckule [ke'e] That is-a-(pretty type-of little) ( girl type-of school ).
The final ``ke'e'' is given in square brackets here to indicate that it can be elided. It is always possible to elide ``ke'e'' at the end of the selbri, making Example 5.5 as terse as Example 4.3.
Now how about that fifth grouping? It is
5.6) ta melbi ke cmalu nixli ckule [ke'e] That is-a-pretty type-of ( (little type-of girl) type-of school ) That is a beautiful school for small girls.Example 5.6 is distinctly different in meaning from any of Examples 4.2 through 4.5. Note that within the ``ke ... ke'e'' parentheses, the left-grouping rule is applied to ``cmalu nixli ckule''.
It is perfectly all right to mix ``bo'' and ``ke ... ke'e'' in a single selbri. For instance, Example 4.5, which in pure ``ke ... ke'e'' form is
5.7) ta melbi ke cmalu ke nixli ckule [ke'e] [ke'e] That is-a-pretty type-of ( little type-of ( girl type-of school ) ).can equivalently be expressed as:
5.8) ta melbi ke cmalu nixli bo ckule [ke'e] That is-a-pretty type-of ( little type-of (girl type-of school) ).and in many other different forms as well.
Previous
Complex tanru grouping |
``Pretty Little Girls' School'': The Structure Of Lojban selbri
The Lojban Reference Grammar |
Next
Logical connection within tanru |