Re: Lojban

On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:43:47 -0400, Bob LeChevalier
<lojbab@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>>> and do so without a speaker having
>>>to stop and analyse or philosophize about the precise meaning of
>>>something.  
>>
>>Exactly. We do this all the time on the conlang lists. Little
>>translation exercises where we have to devise new words (sometimes for
>>concepts we know must exist in the language's culture; sometimes for
>>entirely new cultural concepts) on the fly.
>
>This is a Usenet newsgroup and not a "conlang list".  

This is true. Never would have figured that one out! ;) The point is
simply this: any conlanger on a "conlang list" or on a conlang related
NG (such as this one) can very easily do what you've proven reticent
to do.

>The audience is arguably quite different.

Possibly not so different as you might imagine. Conlangs are
artificial (devised, not naturally occuring) languages. This is a NG
devoted to such languages. The audiences in both places are probably
more congruous than you would lead me to believe. Also that I
recognise many names here from other provinces of the  Secret Vice is
indicative of an audience that is not "quite different".

>I rarely participate in those exercises even on the conlang lists

You should try it. Practice your language a little. You won't find
yourself flubbing around when asked for a simple piece of Lojban!

>a) they lack context

They _do_ have context, so you're quite wrong there. Context is not
always stipulated to the smallest minutiae, but then, such resolution
of detail is not required.

>b) I don't see a lot of value in translating something into a language
>that the people reading it don't know, without explanation of all the
>nuances, and such explanation is seldom appreciated.

Perhaps we would like to see your conlang in action. At this point in
time, I don't really care anymore. I was interested in seeing how
Lojban would deal with the given situation, but you're simply being a
prat about the whole thing now, and the moment has passed.

Rest snipped. I don't really care to listen to you whine. Either you
can produce a sensible Lojban sentence (with commentary as to how it
works) or you can't. The latter is obviously the case.

Padraic

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