gism: Difference between revisions

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The final letters of gismu remind me of verb endings in other langauges: they are completely arbitrary and meaningless.  We might as well have all the gismu end with "a".  It'd be so much easier to memorize.
'''gism''' is the concept of removing or reusing final vowels in gismu.


''No it wouldn't. They are there from the gismu creation process to provide mnemonic assistance. How quickly would you learn ''bangu'' without the ''angu'' of the English (pronounced '''l''angu''edj''')? Would a Chinese speaker learn ''vanju'' as easily without the chinese ''jiu'' (pronounced'' '''ju''''') being the entire second syllable? If we did this, we would have to redo the gismu creation process to keep the same mnemonic advantage. I would agree with you, if it weren't already a ''very'' important part of the baseline - and one whose violation would result in everything I have ever written in the language becoming meaningless (at best). [[ki'ai|ki'ai]] [[Nalgol|nabjol]]! - mi'e. [[.kreig.daniyl.|.kreig.daniyl.]]''
The final letters of gismu remind of verb endings in other languages: they are completely arbitrary and meaningless. Lojban might as well have had all the gismu end with '''a'''. It'd be arguably easier to memorize them.


Yes, well, the same could be argued for pretty much any natural language. But in fact, the potential reform would not render meaningless your entire work; it would make it easier for others to make their own works, but yours would remain intact.  We don't necessarily have to change all the endings to "a"--all that is really necessary is dropping the necessity of using the arbitrary endings already assigned.  Maybe the final letter should be a matter of choice.  If it's easier for you to remember "gismu" than just "gism-", go ahead and use that, but don't restrict others' right to say "gismi".  If we're going to assign endings arbitrarily, we might as well not fix them permanently.
However, they are there from the gismu creation process to provide mnemonic assistance. How quickly would you learn '''bangu''' without the ''angu'' of the English (pronounced ''l<u>angu</u>edj'')? Would a Chinese speaker learn '''vanju''' as easily without the chinese "jiu" (pronounced <nowiki>[dziou]</nowiki>) being the entire second syllable?
 
''Yes, but if you are going to assign them ''non''-arbitrarily, then we should fix them permanently. You seem to have convieniently forgotten everything I said above when you went to respond to it. If you are told that it is ''vanj'' then you are not going to think of saying ''vanju'' just because it fits with the chinese word. However, a Chinese speaker will find vanju easier to remember than vanj, just as I at least find bangu easier to remember than bang. The reform that would render my writing meaningless is to provide the same level of aid by doing the whole process over again without including the final vowel.''
 
''Not that we ''are'' restricting your right to say 'gismi' and be understood, as the final vowel is redundant and people will know you meant gismu, it is just that it is nonstandard. This is a Good Thing, as it also provides error-checking. When I wrote ''cuska'' in [[Round two|round two]] of the [[Broken Phone|broken phone]] game, [[User:Pier.abat|Pierre]] knew I had screwed up. He also knew that it was equally likely to be cusku as ciska. He was right, typos do not conform to the morphology of the typoer's language unless they think in words (which I do not). So, under your proposal, ''ko'a cmala'' will be interpreted as ''ko'a is small'', when in fact it may very well be a typo of ''ko'a laughs''; in a world of perfect typosts you would be absolutely right but there is no such beast - even the best writer makes a mistake every once in a while. Do you want mistakes to be meaning-altering with this frequency? Or would you rather have the spell check notice that you would under your proposal have just said the opposite of what you meant? And do you really want to destroy the ''broda''-series?'
 
''Since you do not like to respond to more than the last sentence of my posts (in case you didn't bother to read this one either it is noted up above that you ignored most of my previous comment) I am hereby not adding any content whatsoever to this sentence, except to remind you that you ought to read the entirity of both posts because otherwise your next response will make you sound like an idiot. - mi'e. [[.kreig.daniyl.|.kreig.daniyl.]]''
 
ni'o .e'a .i ku'i finti le gismu zo'e lo valsi bei le no'e logji bangu ja'e le nu no'e logji

Latest revision as of 15:53, 10 May 2014

gism is the concept of removing or reusing final vowels in gismu.

The final letters of gismu remind of verb endings in other languages: they are completely arbitrary and meaningless. Lojban might as well have had all the gismu end with a. It'd be arguably easier to memorize them.

However, they are there from the gismu creation process to provide mnemonic assistance. How quickly would you learn bangu without the angu of the English (pronounced languedj)? Would a Chinese speaker learn vanju as easily without the chinese "jiu" (pronounced [dziou]) being the entire second syllable?