Re: Lojban

Anonymous <anyone@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>In article <s6tde3l5p3rttng62778q5mb3ag3urnno2@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, Bob
>LeChevalier <lojbab@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> Lojban IS simple compared to natural languages, and it IS easy to
>> learn.
>
>Lojban has been around for a while now and the number of people who can
>actually use it seems rather small. (granted, the same is true of many
>conlangs) This either means that it is hard to learn or very few people
>see any reason to learn it. 

The latter mostly.  Also, we have generally relied solely on
word-of-mouth advertising for many years.  People pretty much have to
come to the Lojban community to get community support.

There was a time when I was more actively seeking to promote the
language among new people, but we decided that serious promotion needs
to wait until we can produce a written dictionary, and until the
current baseline review completes (it is a slow process).

>The long debates in lojban forums about how to express various concepts,

.... reflects exactly the sort of thing I have been talking about in
this thread.  The problem is that Lojban speakers want to be precise
and correct in their wording choices, but it is difficult to figure
out what the English (or other natlang) concept really is.

This affects translation, which is generally NOT a beginning-learner
activity in most languages.  (How many first year Spanish or French
students would TRY to translate Genesis 11?  They are trying to learn
such things as "le plume de ma tante",  But every conlanger seems to
feel that they need to be able to translate such Bible verses before
they even have a speaking community.)  It does not affect expression
of ideas in the language that you come up with yourself.

>and the fact that many users rely on
>computer software to check the correctness of their "utterances" would
>seem to indicate that lojban is difficult in some ways.

No.  It indicates that Lojbanists are perfectionists.  I check
everything non-trivial with software myself.  I also look up words
when writing for a permanent audience.  But I *converse* in Lojban
without wordlist or dictionary, and have done so for 15 years now.

>> In Lojban, polysemy is not considered a good thing.
>
>But allomorphy is considered wonderful.

It is considered valuable, because it enables word-making to be
easier.

lojbab