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As Easy As A-B-C? The Lojban Letteral System And Its Uses
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The rules of Section 9 make it impossible to use unmarked lerfu words to refer to lerfu themselves. In the sentence:
10.1) .abu. cu lerfu
A is-a-letteral.
the hearer would try to find what previous sumti ``.abu''
refers to. The solution to this problem makes use of the cmavo
``me'o'' of selma'o LI, which makes a lerfu string into a sumti
representing that very string of lerfu. This use of ``me'o'' is
a special case of its mathematical use, which is to introduce a
mathematical expression used literally rather than for its
value.
10.2) me'o .abu cu lerfu
the-expression ``a'' is-a-letteral.
Now we can translate Example 1.1 into Lojban:
10.4) dei vasru vo lerfu
po'u me'o .ebu
this-sentence contains four letterals
which-are the-expression ``e''.
This sentence contains four ``e''s.
Since the Lojban sentence has only four ``e'' lerfu rather than fourteen, the translation is not a literal one --- but Example 10.4 is a Lojban truth just as Example 1.1 is an English truth. Coincidentally, the colloquial English translation of Example 10.4 is also true!
The reader might be tempted to use quotation with ``lu ... li'u'' instead of ``me'o'', producing:
10.4.5) lu .abu li'u cu lerfu
[quote] .abu [unquote] is-a-letteral.
(The single-word quote ``zo'' cannot be used, because ``.abu''
is a compound cmavo.) But Example 10.4 is
false, because it says:
10.5) The word ``.abu'' is a letteralwhich is not the case; rather, the thing symbolized by the word ``.abu'' is a letteral. In Lojban, that would be:
10.6) la'e lu .abu li'u cu lerfu
The-referent-of [quote] .abu [unquote] is-a-letteral.
which is correct.
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Previous
lerfu words as pro-sumti |
As Easy As A-B-C? The Lojban Letteral System And Its Uses
The Lojban Reference Grammar |
Next
Mathematical uses of lerfu strings |