PEG Morphology Algorithm
The traditional claim that a Lojban speech steam
can be uniquely partitioned into Lojban words
seems to be in trouble. the difficulties seem to
center on the "foreign" parts of the language,
cmevla and fuhivla — and lujvo insofar as they
impinge on the latter (though these last
questions seem to be getting solutions). Fuhivla
have always been a bit problematic as have cmene
in their relation both to their native languages
and to Lojban and various devices have come along
to deal with these problems, mainly restricted --
and often very complex — phonological patterns
and — for cmene at least — obligatory pauses.
These last have seemed impractical in actual
speech — people forget to make them and, when
they do, others fail to notice them as distinct
from nonsignificant pauses.
One possibility for relieving this latest problem
is to replace significant absences (pauses) by
significant presences, a unique sound or mark.
In the discussion of the morphological problems,
it turns out that the exact role of /iy/ and /uy/
is up for grabs (assuming they are allowed at
all). Thus, /uy/ could replace morphologically
obligatory pauses — a minimal utterance (well,
longer only than /y/, which is already dealt
with) could replace a troublesome pause. (Putting
/uy/ at the end of names is remeniscent of
Japanese postclitic "wa," though with a
different function and a m0re indistinct vowel.)
In the discussion of cmevla, one constant
complaint is the peculiar restriction agains
/doi/, /la/ and /lai/ occurring in the name even
when they are in the native original — poor Lila
Doyle! The solution usually made is to allow the
prohibited strings but to place an obligatory
pause before all names, so that the confusion
with the words {la, lai, doi} is prevented. Of
course, another obligatory pause (other than the
phonologically determined ones between final
vowel of one word and initial of the next) merely
extends the problem of obligatory pauses. So we
might again suggest that this pause become a
positive utterance, different from that for the
world final version and so /iy/. (The idea here
is that /coi iy djan/ is almost exactly the
pattern of /hiya John/.) /iy/ and /uy/ are
probably elidable in some cases, but that would
need to be investigated.
What can go between a /iy/ and a /uy/? Any
phonologically legal Lojban string speech string,
that is, one that contains no illegal vowel or
consonant clusters (nor /iy/ and /uy/ of course).
Not even a final consonant need be required,
though it might be for continuity's sake. But
this opens possibilities beyond dealing with
names; any foreign word of phrase suitably
Lojbanized can go in this space and be nativized,
not merely quoted. What happens between /iy/ and
/uy/ is not subject to further analysis beyond
whether it is phonologically permitted and the
whole is taken as a block. This block can be
used other than as the core of a cmene sumti.
In particular, it can be inserted as a unit what
is otherwise lujvo construction (with some
adjustments probably rerquired, but certainly
fewer restrictions than now are involved in
fuhivla — apparently just a glue between vowel
finals and /iy/ and /uy/ and vowel initials). I
think that the only limitation is that the block
can not be compound-final, which would mean that
the pattern of many fuhivla (which went agains
the usual Lojban modifier-modified anyhow) would
have to be changed to put the category last.
This is a radical suggestion, but it carries a
load of benefits. It does, on the other hand,
require a reworking of existing fuhivla, the cost
of which is not very clear at the moment.