lojbo karni number 9

From Lojban
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Copyright, 1989, 1991, by the Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904	Beau Lane,
Fairfax	VA 22031-1303 USA Phone	(703) 385-0273
[email protected]

All rights reserved.  Permission to copy granted subject to your
verification that this is the latest version of	this document, that your
distribution be	for the	promotion of Lojban, that there	is no charge for
the product, and that this copyright notice is included	intact in the
copy.

		      le lojbo
						     karni

			      Number 9 - May 1989
		Published by:  The Logical Language Group, Inc.
	       2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031	USA (703)385-0273
		     Editor and	President:  Bob	LeChevalier

     This publication is the news and product announcements section of Ju'i
Lobypli, the quarterly publication of The Logical Language Group, Inc.,	known in
these pages as la lojbangirz.  la lojbangirz. is a non-profit organization
formed for the purpose of completing and spreading the logical human language
"Lojban".
     This issue	is coming out only two months after lojbo karni	#8 in order to
ensure that everyone has information in	time to	plan for  LogFest 89, which will
be in Fairfax VA centered on the weekend of June 17-18,	1989.  All Lojbanists
are invited to this celebration	of the language; with real speakers of the
language, the gathering	should be better than ever.  We	will also have activi-
ties of	interest to new	people,	and the	formal annual meeting of la lojbangirz.,
which all are welcome to attend.
     We	will try to get	Ju'i Lobypli #9	out by the end of this month, but may
have some trouble with simultaneous planning for LogFest and textbook writing,
or I may end up	dropping some of the material in order to get it out sooner.  We
should,	however, continue on a quarterly schedule after	this issue, with issue #
10 scheduled for the beginning of August.

			   Welcome to New Lojbanists

     This issue	welcomes over 50 new Lojbanists, primarily respondents to our
reviews	in Fact	Sheet Five and our ad in Discover magazine.  We	are growing at
an excellent and accelerating pace.  New people	are responding from both rural
and urban areas, primarily from	the US,	but a few from other countries.
     All new people are	being assigned to level	0 unless we hear otherwise from
you.  See the descriptions of mailing codes below.  You	will not receive Ju'i
Lobypli	unless we hear from you.  We will be sending copies of the "Overview of
Lojban"	separately, so that you	are familiar with some of our special
terminology, and the nature of the Lojban language design.
     As	you will see in	this newsletter, we have the potential for classes
throughout the US, possibly starting as	early as this summer.  We will also make
a maximal effort to support those of you in rural areas	without	nearby
Lojbanists, enabling you to study the language on your own, and	correspond with
other Lojbanists either	sharing	similar	interests or located relatively	nearby.

				    Contents

Your Mailing Code, Finances (Again), Tough Decisions - page 2
LogFest	89 Plans - page	3
Products - page	4
Research and Development - page	5
     Lojban Parser Status, Lojban Grammar Status, Baseline Changes, Place
     Structure Inputs Sought
Education - page 6
     DC	Lojban Class Status; Status of Other Classes - Blacksburg and Elsewhere;
     Self-Teaching Lojbanists; Lesson 1	Comments and Responses;	Advertising and
     Publication Efforts; Analog, Mathematical Intelligencer, and the Press;
     Lojban Video Plans; Athelstan's Travels; Worldcon
Other News - page 9
Contents of Ju'i Lobypli #9 - page 10
Our 501(c)(3) Submittal	- page 10
Map To LogFest 89 - page 13
				       2
			       Your Mailing Label

Your mailing label reports to you your current mailing status, and your	current
voluntary balance including this issue.	 Please	notify us if you wish to be in a
different mailing code category.  Those	persons	with an	'x' or 'y' by their
names will have	their mailing code category lowered if we don't	hear from you.
Balances reflect contributions received	thru 9 May.  Mailing codes (and	ap-
proximate annual balance needs)	are defined as follows:

Level B	- Product Announcements	Only	     Level 0 - le lojbo	karni only - $5
balance	requested
Level 1	- le lojbo karni and Ju'i Lobypli - $15	balance	requested
Level 2	- Level	1 materials and	baselined/final	products - $20 balance requested
Level 3	- Level	2 materials and	draft textbook lesson materials	as developed -
$50 balance or more

Feel free to call or write to ask about	your balance account or	mailing	code
assignment.

This issue of le lojbo karni will be distributed to about 450 people, including
all Ju'i Lobypli subscribers.  Some 275	of you will receive Ju'i Lobypli #9.
You are	scheduled to receive Ju'i Lobypli if the level code on the top line of
your mailing label is "1", "2",	or "3",	but not	if it is "0".  If you listed as
mailing	code "0", YOU MUST WRITE TO US TO RECEIVE Ju'i Lobypli.	 Our finances
are finally forcing us to make tough decisions about who we can	send our
materials to; see below	for details.

				Finances (Again)

     Our finances have deteriorated since the last issue of lojbo karni.  As JL8
recipients know, our bank balance almost disappeared in	producing that issue.
Some have responded by bringing	their balances up to zero or positive, but the
majority of you	have never contributed to your balance.	 Please	help out, if
only a little.	It gets	monotonous pleading for	money every issue.  We know that
the ones who contribute	get tired of hearing about the wolf at the door.
However, our only income is your contributions,	and most of our	expenditures go
for publications that you and others like you receive.	With our mailing list
growing	in excess of one per day now, we are spending almost $1000 per month
(this translates to about $20 per person per year).  We	need to	improve	our
situation dramatically if we are to publish the	textbook and promote the
language overseas.
     Remember that if our prices seem high, it is because we are still doing
small press runs and mailing first class.  As we grow, our prices will drop.
Also, if more of you are paying	for materials, we will be able to give a price
break to those giving us higher	amounts	of support.  We	also have no paid
advertising and	do not sell our	mailing	list; the price	of most	magazines is
kept low through these additional means	of income.  In spite of	this, since we
are not	trying to make a profit, a year's subscription to Ju'i Lobypli costs
less than most magazines on the	market,	and we suspect that most of you	who are
receiving JL are reading a higher percentage of	it than	you usually read of a
magazine.
     We	seek donations independent of your contributions to voluntary balances.
We have	now filed with the IRS for Section 501(c)(3) status, approval of which
will officially	allow your donations (not contributions	to your	voluntary
balance) to be tax-deductible.	We hope	to have	approval by the	end of the year.
We are operating in accordance with that section, which	means that your
donations now should be	deductible if approval is obtained later, although there
is always the possibility of disapproval.  We will inform all donors at	the end
of the year as to the status of	deductibility of their gifts.  We also note for
all potential donors that our bylaws require us	to spend no more than 30% of our
receipts on administrative and overhead	expenses, and that you are welcome to
make you gifts conditional upon	our meeting this requirement.


				Tough Decisions

				       3

     The mailing code idea seems to be working - we are	developing a fairly
clear idea of each individual's	level of interest, and can tailor the volume and
detail of materials that we send to each person.  Two problems,	both related to
our miserable finances,	are going to require modifications to how we've
categorized you.

     We	have well over 100 of you in mailing code 3, the most active group that
is specified to	receive	teaching materials as they are developed.  If enough of
you want the lessons as	they are written, we can print and mail	them at	about 9
cents per page,	instead	of the non-bulk	16 cents.  Lessons thru	number 6 run
almost 250 pages, costing us $20.00 or more per	copy to	send out.  100 copies is
$2000; we don't	have that much.	 Since only about half of you at mailing level 3
have a positive	balance, and only a few	have over $20, we can't	afford to send
to all of you.	This means the remaining people	have to	pay a higher rate,
almost twice as	much, since I can't get	the bulk printing price.  I'm hoping
that more of you will be interested in getting the lessons, and	will contact us
(with a	contribution).
     (I'm looking at ways to reduce or partially subsidize the higher rate - we
want to	encourage people to start learning the language, not discourage	them.
Any such reduction will	be primarily targeted to help those who	are helping us
with contributions, detailed comments on the lessons, or recruiting and
organizing of local Lojbanists.	 I do not intend to charge more	than $50.00 plus
net postage to anyone receiving	draft lessons, since $50.00 is all I'm charging
the class for tuition.	Also - if you are truly	serious	about learning the
language NOW, but can't	afford this price, let us know and pay whatever	amount
you can	afford.	 We may	expect you to help in non-monetary ways	instead, but I
don't intend to	have anyone not	learn Lojban if	the reason is that they	don't
have money to give us.)
     Those who are already getting the lessons will obviously continue to get
them.  Those I am omitting will	have an	'x' after their	mailing	code '3' on
their mailing label; if	I don't	hear from you, I will reduce your code,	usually
to level '2', which differs from level 3 only in whether you are getting these
lessons.
     Due to finances, I	am also	going to have to trim our Ju'i Lobypli mailing
list a little.	Each copy costs	us between $3 and $6 to	produce	and send.  Some
of you receiving JL have never contributed to your balance, and	have been
receiving JL and other materials for over 2 years; as a	result,	you typically
have balances of negative $25 or more.	Also,some fairly new people (but from
before our current mailing code	system)	have never contacted us	since their
initial	letter or call,	nor contributed	money; if we don't hear	from you, we
will be	putting	you in level 0 like those who have more	recently responded.
Those with a 'y' after their mailing code will have their mailing code reduced
after JL9; you will continue to	get lojbo karni, but will not continue to get
Ju'i Lobypli unless you	write or call to show you continued interest, and either
contribute or plead 'poverty'; we'll happily keep sending to you if we know the
material is being read and appreciated.	 If we don't hear from you, these
changes	will cut 30-50 people from our Ju'i Lobypli list, saving us $200-$300.
We will	not cut	the list below the bulk	mail threshold.

If you have an 'x' or a	'y' after your mailing code, I hope to hear from you
soon.  Your support has	helped us grow strong in numbers and in	interest in
learning Lojban.  A few	more months and	people will be speaking	and writing in
it, and	we want	you all	to be among them.  The bills have to be	paid, though, so
we need	as much	help as	you and	others can give	us.


				LogFest	89 Plans

     The major event of	the next few months is our fourth annual gathering of
Lojbanists at our (Bob & Nora LeChevalier's) house in Fairfax, Virginia	in the
Washington DC suburbs.	This year, the activities will center on the weekend of
June 17-18, 1989, but some people will arrive during the week before or	stay on
after the weekend, so activities will not be limited to	the weekend.  The formal
annual meeting of la lojbangirz. will take place at 2PM	on Saturday the	17th.

				       4
All Lojbanists are welcome.  We	will be	discussing our plans for classes, the
textbook and other teaching materials, and our efforts to attract new people.
     We	will have people from the Lojban classes showing off their
conversational,	translation, and writing skills.  We will have introductions to
pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar for people who haven't yet started
learning.  There will be computers with	vocabulary teaching programs, the random
sentence generator, the	parser,	and at least one speech	synthesizer.  There will
be technical discussions at various technical levels, and possibly some
decisions on language features.	 If you	are interested,	you can	find out about
the history (and yes, politics)	of the Loglan project -	I have a fairly	complete
archive	of materials for reference.  Some of the activities will be scheduled,
but the	schedule is not	yet final; if you need to know the schedule in advance
to plan	your attendance, give me a call	at 703-385-0273, or write to the
masthead address.

     Some specific activities not mentioned above will be:

     Decisions on gismu	Place Structure	issues (see R&D	news section below)
		  Any proposals	for gismu Baseline amendments
	    Discussion of how a	Sapir-Whorf Test could be conducted
       Additional Discussion of	Sapir-Whorf Issues raised by Ralph Dumain
	   Evaluation of the in-progress textbook and class materials

In spite of all	of our planning, previous experience indicates that most of the
activities will	be unplanned, with lively discussions on a wide	variety	of both
Lojbanic and non-Lojbanic topics going on all over our house, and lasting late
into the night.	 We doubt if anyone, of	any level of knowledge,	will be	bored.

     I will be trying to arrange for some press	coverage, and the people working
on the Lojban video may	be filming some	of our activities.
     As	usual, we will have many of the	major figures from the 'Lojban world'
present, including John	Parks-Clifford from St.	Louis and Jeff Taylor from
California.  We	also expect people from	Florida	in the south and Boston	in the
north.	If previous years are a	reasonable guide, we expect over 40 people
coming for portions of the weekend, with over 20 at peak activity times.  (If
you are	interested in coming and can offer (or need) ride-sharing, let us know
right away.  Ride-sharing may be possible from Boston, New York, New Jersey, and
various	parts of Pennsylvania, at minimum, especially if you can be a little
flexible in travelling schedule.)
     All attendees are welcome to stay at our place - bring a sleeping bag if
possible.  We will have	tents in the back yard and plenty of couch and floor
space for the rest.  There are also motels fairly nearby, if you want more
comfort.  Food and beverages will be plentiful.	 We are	asking people to
contribute towards our food costs (which will also be plentiful), but do not
require	it for your attendance.	 ($10-30, depending on how much	you eat	and how
long you stay, is suggested.)
     We	are close to the Vienna	station	of the Washington Metro	subway line.
This gives excellent access from Union Station if you come by train, or
Washington National airport if you come	by plane.  If you come from either, you
will not need a	rental car.  We	will have people running shuttle to Dulles
airport, which is nearby; though it isn't on a Metro line, there is a connecting
bus service.  Try to give us advance notice if you will	need a ride from Dulles.
     You are welcome to	bring families,	especially if they are interested in
Lojban.	 Because of our	convenience to Washington, they	can also sightsee in the
city.  Individuals and families	are welcome to arrive earlier than the weekend
or to stay afterwards, in order	to allow more sightseeing.  If you are bringing
a family, please let us	know so	we can plan the	space.

				    Products

     We	don't have a lot of new	products to announce this time.	 Most of our
effort is going	into lessons for the textbook, which are discussed in the
education section below.  We have not had as many orders for flashcards	as
expected from responses	in the JL7 questionnaires, even	though,	at $12 (and $10
for additional sets), they are cheaper than we originally thought they would be.

				       5
     We	also have not received many orders for the LogFlash upgrade.  LogFlash
PC now teaches both gismu vocabulary and rafsi in an integrated	set of programs.
Vocabulary is now taught in an order matching the textbook.  The upgrade price
is $10 for people who have LogFlash, or	$30 for	the whole package.
     The random	sentence generator was updated to match	the new	grammar, and
divided	into levels according to the textbook.	It now generates sentences using
grammar	through	Lesson 3, Lesson 6, Lesson 10, Lesson 13, the whole grammar, and
'difficult' (which raises the probability of relatively	uncommon cmavo and
grammatical structures).  We're	asking $10 for this program; a copy of the ma-
chine grammar and a partial index of cmavo are also on the disk.  Updates are $5
if you already have the	program.
     You get the upgrade price only if you have	actually paid for a previous
version	of software.  Since contributions to balances can be independent of
purchases, we will give	you the	benefit	of the doubt if	you have been making an
effort to keep your balance positive.
     Note to Virginia residents	- we have to charge 4.5% sales tax on anything
we send	you except for subscriptions, and learning materials tied to a tuition
charge for an organized	class.	(We pay	this sales tax whether you pay for the
materials for not.)


			    Research and Development

     Lojban Parser Status - We are pretty much concentrating our efforts on Jeff
Taylor's parser.  No one has volunteered to work on Jeff Prothero's PLOP, and
Jeff P.	has another major project conflicting with his being able to spend much
time.  Jeff T. sent me a new version last week,	and many of the	major bugs are
taken care of, although	there are still	a few to work out.  We could use some
volunteers who want to work with Jeff T. who are skilled in parser theory,
especially involving YACC.  The	following is short fairly technical discussion
of some	of the problems	for these people.
     We	are using Abraxas Software's PCYACC to generate	our parser tables.  As
with most versions of YACC, this does some amount of optimization, especially
since it is building a PC-based	set of tables.	Some of	this optimization seems
to be interfering with our elidable terminator algorithm.  That	algorithm relies
on what	is called the 'error lexeme' of	the YACC algorithm in order to figure
out what terminators have been omitted.	 It sometimes chooses incorrectly.
     There are also problems with the elidable terminators for another reason.
The Lojban grammar is not really LALR1,	the grammar form handled by the	YACC
algorithm, in its use of elidable terminators, which are trailing markers that
close off grammatical structures.  In effect, an elision may generate a	short
term ambiguity suggesting two paths in the parse tree.	People and computers can
both eventually	tell which of the two actually works.  But the YACC algorithm
has only a limited recovery of this sort; we can prove that the	grammar	is
unambiguous, but may not be able to generate an	accurate parser.  There	are
cases where an elision causes the YACC algorithm to choose a wrong path	in the
parse tree that	isn't resolved for several words or 'tokens'.  It takes	what is
called 'backtracking' to totally solve this problem, and we need someone who can
work with Jeff T. to add backtracking to the parser.  Alternatively, if	we can
build an 'LR2' parser (not possible with the YACC algorithm, although there are
LR2 programs on	the market), we	may solve most or all of the problem.  People
with ideas can call me,	or can call Jeff Taylor	directly at 916-753-5040 (Davis
CA).  Jeff Prothero has	a proof	that the elidable terminator algorithm is
unambiguous if the parser chooses the path with	the minimum number of elisions.
We need	to find	a way to implement this, or to define the constraints on
elision.  Unlike previous versions of the language, we will not	accept a machine
language which differs from the	human language.	 The problem is	significant but
solvable; we just need to apply	the talents of the whole community to doing so.
     END OF TECHNICAL DISCUSSION.
     The current parser	is short of the	goal; it parses	most common expressions
correctly, but it can be fooled.  If so, it says that a	statement is
ungrammatical that should be allowed.  This can	almost always be resolved by
inserting one or more of the normally elidable terminators, even though	a human
doesn't	need these to unambiguously understand the sentence.

				       6
     Lojban Grammar Status - There have	been no	changes	to the machine grammar
in the last two	months.	 We are, however, making small adjustments to the cmavo
list as	we try to figure out the semantics of some of the grammar constructs.
We can't explain these in this newsletter, but the textbook covers the detailed
grammar	thoroughly in these areas.  These are very minor changes, actually
clarifications,	as we express things using constructs that Dr. Brown, and others
who have worked	on the language	before,	either never examined sufficiently or
did not	explain.  In each of these cases, we are reviewing the result with John
Parks-Clifford (pc), who was second only to Dr.	Brown in knowledge of the
earlier	language versions.  As a result, about once or twice a week I am talking
to pc to make sure that	the textbook is	clear, accurate, and consistent	both
with earlier language concepts and with	the precepts of	logic that Lojban is
designed to support.
     There have	been identified	a couple of minor things that will eventually
require	changes	to the grammar.	 These are little 'nits', such as a complete
specification of the things to which you are permitted to attach a 'subscript'
without	an ambiguity resulting;	they will not affect the textbook and by
definition will	not cause ambiguities.
     Baseline Changes? - The gismu were	of course baselined last August	after
extensive discussion at	LogFest	88.  The baseline has been more	stable than we
anticipated; there have	been no	actual proposals for new gismu or deletions.
There will be one proposal for a keyword change	to clarify the meaning of
"mukti"	discussed at LogFest.  There is	one possible new gismu proposal	which
would cover the	concept	of "text" as a medium of communication,	corresponding to
"picture", "speech", etc.  "ciska", meaning "write", does not directly relate to
the concept, since you can write without generating text, and there can	be text
without	someone	'writing' it (e.g. generated by	a computer on a	screen).  There
may be a lujvo using "lerfu" possible, but this	may be decided at LogFest to be
sufficiently 'primitive' a concept to warrant adding a gismu.  Any changes to
the baseline must be discussed by the community	and carefully decided at
LogFest, in order to preserve the image	of language stability.
     Place Structure Inputs Sought - The place structures were not baselined
along with the gismu list, and will not	be baselined until people using	the
language have verified our analysis.  In writing the textbook, we have through
usage come up with about two dozen place structure proposals that will be
discussed at LogFest 89.  Some of these	have been proposed by students;	one need
not be expert in the language to point out an inconsistency or an illogical
omission or inclusion in the places of a gismu.
     We	are specifically seeking inputs	from the community in this area, which
we must	receive	by or at LogFest (preferably in	writing	so we don't forget them)
to be considered by the	attendees (place structures can	be changed at other
times by a Board decision, but this is the forum where we can get the widest
consensus on what people want).	 If you	can't get your comments	to us by
LogFest, send them anyway and they'll be considered at a later time.
     Preston Maxwell of	Seattle	is already doing an analysis (aided by computer)
based on comparing words with similar place structures (this is	called 'valency
analysis' - Paul Doudna	did something similar using the	gismu of an earlier
version	of the language	which directly led to many of our decisions on gismu).
Preston	is newly active	in the project;	any of you who have gotten a couple of
our publications know as much about Lojban as he does -	YOU ALL	HAVE A
POTENTIALLY VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION TO MAKE IN THIS AREA;	let us hear from you.
(Preston does know several languages, including	some non-Indo-European ones, and
has started on the lessons this	month -	so his inputs will be taken especially
seriously.)


				   Education

     DC	Lojban Class Status - The first	class is on Lesson 8 (of 18) as	of this
writing, learning about	lujvo-making.  This isn't as far as I thought we'd be,
but we are making progress at a	good rate.  As those who have received lessons
know, after teaching lesson 4, I then had to rewrite a large portion of	it and
reteach	some of	the basic concepts of Lojban tense.  My	tardiness in producing
lessons	has slowed things down,	although we now	are adapting to	this situation
and working ahead of where I've	written.

				       7
     Lesson 5 proved to	be difficult to	write, especially since	I was putting
together JL8 at	the same time.	It was even harder to teach this first time - we
ended up spending 3 weeks on that one lesson, and I will have to find a	way to
subdivide it, probably into two	parts.	The final problem with Lesson 5	is that
Nora and I were	trying to write	meaningful reading selections using the	grammar
being taught, and of successively increasing difficulty.  At Lesson 5, I reached
my level of incompetency, or at	least non-fluency, as I	wrote a	two-and-a-half
page story.
     In	the middle of Lesson 5,	we had a scheduled interruption	for the	Easter
holiday; this was lengthened when we had to cancel a class session due to a
severe illness in Nora's family.  Textbook writing has never totally recovered -
I still	haven't	completely finished Lesson 6.
     In	spite of all of	this, the class	is doing fine.	The people in the class
are learning at	the pace we are	teaching, and seem to appreciate the few extra
weeks on these basic concepts.	Many of	them have had trouble sustaining their
vocabulary practice, and they will probably all	agree that their (lack of)
knowledge of the gismu vocabulary is their main	stumbling block	to using the
language effectively.  This is why we keep stressing that all of you who want to
learn the language should get a	head start by learning as many of the gismu as
possible ahead of time.
     We've learned a bit about the problems of scheduling an informal class with
people who have	many other activities going on.	 Three class members have missed
several	sessions due to	work conflicts (even though the	class is on Sunday
night).	 Several students, especially a	couple who are taking other college
classes	and working full time are having trouble devoting the time needed to
master the vocabulary.	If you plan on learning	the language, you need to be
able to	regularly budget 6 or more hours a week	study time (2 hours per	hour of
class) to achieve optimal progress.
     You CAN still learn Lojban	if you can't manage that much time; your
progress will be slower	and you	will need to set your goals for	the end	of the
class a	bit lower.  Lojban is a	full language, albeit a	simple one.  We	spend
several	years of our childhood mastering our native tongue; it takes more than a
couple hours a week to learn another language which is fully as	powerful as that
native tongue.	However, even those who	haven't	had the	time to	study are
getting	some good results from the class.
     Slow progress may be partially due	to the lagging textbook	writing.  People
cannot read the	text in	advance	at home, and we	thus have to spend more	time in
class on the examples than I would prefer.  On the other hand, the extra time
spent on examples has led to some lively and valuable discussions that would
have never occurred if we had spent the	budgeted time on each topic.
     We	have learned, as a result, that	if you have spent the necessary	time on
vocabulary, you	can express yourself in	writing	quite well by the end of Lesson
6.  Ju'i Lobypli #9 will have several of the class essays as examples of what
they were able to do at	that point.
     Lessons 7 and 8 are going much quicker, simply because we aren't following
a textbook.  We	keep moving along to the next point, and people	don't seem to be
having too much	trouble.  We'll	know in	a couple of weeks.  As those of	you who
received Ju'i Lobypli #8 know, the emphasis in the first 10 weeks is on	written
expression and mastering the basics of the grammar, while acquiring enough
vocabulary to meaningfully express some	ideas.	In the rest of the course, we
will be	working	on speaking our	thoughts spontaneously,	and understanding what
someone	else is	saying.	 We should be somewhat past that point by LogFest,
perhaps	as far as Lesson 13.
     One concept that I	am building into the class seems to be working.	 I have
claimed	that learning Lojban will teach	you more about the nature of language in
general, helping you in	speaking and writing English (and also presumably in
learning other languages).  Students in	the class are reporting	these effects.
I'm working through a college-level linguistics	text myself now, and I'm
surprised at how much of the material we are covering in the Lojban course.  A
linguistics course/textbook based on Lojban could be easily designed and written
once the textbook is done, and there may be a practical	'market' for such a text
in the linguistic community, one that doesn't require a	pre-existing community
of speakers.
     Status of Other Classes - Blacksburg and Elsewhere	- I'm pleased to report
that a second Lojban class has finally started,	although not in	Boston where we

				       8
expected it.  John Hodges has gotten together a	few people in Blacksburg VA
(home of Virginia Tech), and they should be starting the week this is being
printed.  With luck, they should be through Lesson 3 or	4 by LogFest, and we are
hoping that a few of them will be present.
     With the lack of enthusiasm shown by other	Bostonians, we've lost Brooke
Albert until fall.  We may have	a better chance	for a class then, since	we will
probably be able to recruit many Bostonian's when we visit Worldcon Labor Day
weekend.  There	is still a possibility of starting a class sooner, but no one
has spoken up as desiring to attend.
     The following are key people who have indicated interest in organizing
classes	in their areas.	 We would prefer if you	call them.  They will be given
addresses (and phone numbers where we know them) in a few weeks, and will try to
contact	all of the people in their area.  It is	tough enough to	organize the
class; help them out by	speaking up before they	call you.  Your	enthusiasm will
inspire	things to get moving, even if you aren't an organizer yourself.	 We also
prefer to have two people in each city co-teach	rather than putting all	of the
burden on one person, so volunteers in this area should	let their contact know.

Seattle	- Preston Maxwell 206-328-2081 (H/W)
Blacksburg - John Hodges 703-552-0986 (H)
San Francisco -	Dave Cortesi (Palo Alto) 415-321-1986 (H)
Los Angeles - Rory Hinnen (Pasadena) 818-584-6678 (H)
northern New Jersey - Art Wieners (South Bound Brook/Holmdel) 201-271-1483 (H)
201-949-5957 (W)
Boston - Chuck Barton (Foxboro)	508-543-3090 (H) 508-853-2300x332 (W)

There are a couple of dozen cities that	have more than one Lojbanist, and that
may be all that	is needed for a	'class'.  So, if someone tells me they are ready
to learn, I will try to	get them in touch with anyone around them who may also
be interested in learning.
     Self-Teaching Lojbanists -	Many of	you live in areas that do not have other
Lojbanists.  Our Discover ad seems to have drawn a lot of rural	and small town
people to Lojban.  These people	tend to	be intellectually curious, and learning
Lojban may be more interesting than other intellectual challenges that are
available.  Since our text is designed for both	classroom use and for self-
teaching, these	people can learn at the	same pace (or perhaps faster) than those
who are	working	with others.
     We	have a couple of people	who have now started learning the language on
their own from the textbook lessons that are complete.	We will	report next
issue on how they are doing.  We will also support people who want to study on
their own but exchange practice	writings with others by	mail.  Let me know if
you want this service.	I'll try to match you with someone based on field of
interest, level	of experience with the language, and geographic	area.
     Lesson 1 Comments and Responses - We haven't gotten many comments from
people on Lesson 1, which was sent to all recipients of	JL8.  Of course, as I
found out tonight (May 6) while	taking a break from writing this, some people on
the West Coast haven't even received JL8 yet.
     Some good comments	were received from Rory	Hinnen,	who will be organizing
the LA area course.  Rory is fluent in Russian,	and reports a concern that we
are not	putting	as much	emphasis as he would like on oral/audio	Lojban in Lesson
1, and that he also would like to see more examples.
     The choice	to concentrate on reading and writing in the first half	of the
course is intentional, and is meant to keep pressure off of people to speak a
language they don't yet	feel comfortable with.	It is easier to	express	yourself
in writing when	you can	take your time,	look up	unfamiliar words, and check what
you are	saying.	 We also have the need to support those	of you who are studying
on your	own and	thus not able to practice oral Lojban as easily, and even those
people,	especially computer people, who	want to	learn the grammar but are not
sure they want to acquire a speaking knowledge.
     We	also don't have	the tapes done yet, and	so can't demonstrate what
emphasis we do place in	this area, specifically	on pronouncing words accurately
and getting used to the	sound of the language.	Rory reports that often	times
the words seem 'ugly' or 'untasty' by themselves, but roll together in phrases
in a more pleasing manner.  This seems to be our experience as well.  When we
are more fluent	in speech, we will know	for sure.

				       9
     Lesson 1 simply doesn't have enough grammar to usefully give a lot	of
examples.  Lesson 2 has	a lot more.  By	Lesson 3, we are giving	short text
passages, and by Lesson	5, a fairly long story (at least for a new student).  We
are always working to put more examples	in, and	students and/or	reviewers are
welcome	to contribute ideas.
     Advertising and Publication Efforts - We are getting favorable reviews from
Mike Gunderloy of Fact Sheet Five every	quarter, and Mike has now joined the
ranks of active	self-teaching students.	 FF grows in readership	by about 1000
people per quarter, so we are constantly being exposed to a new	audience.  Mike
effectively has	recruited about	40 of you now, or almost 10% of	our readership,
and is thus our	top recruiter.	he has also given me a recommendation to Whole
Earth Review, and this may expand the number of	people who hear	of us through
the small press	review process.	 I'm happy to return the favor;	Mike's
publication reviews about 1000 publications every quarter, as well as music, and
soon software.	(How he	finds time to make it through JL, I don't know!)  Send
$2 and/or something you	are publishing and want	reviewed to Mike at Fact Sheet
Five, 6	Arizona	Ave. Rensselaer	NY 12144-4502.	Mention	LLG, please.
     Our ad in the May Discover	(page 87) is having disappointing results so
far.  We are typically getting 1 or 2 responses	a day, which is	quite a	lot
compared to our	earlier	growth rate.  However, we expected a much higher rate of
return based on	Discover's circulation of 3.4 million.	Apparently, Discover
readers	are much less likely to	notice a small item like our ad	as compared to
Fact Sheet Five	readers.  At the cost of an ad in Discover, we are unlikely to
repeat the experiment.
     Analog, Mathematical Intelligencer, and the Press - Instead, we are going
to pursue other	publicity opportunities.  The Discover ad was to be our	debut in
'major'	publicity efforts.  It was going to test our ability to	handle many
orders coming in per day and still being responsive.  The slower response is
allowing us more time to adapt to serving more Lojbanists, while giving	me the
needed confidence in our capabilities.	I can now proceed with these other
opportunities.
     The Fall, 1988 issue of Mathematical Intelligencer, a fairly informal
periodical for mathematicians (at least	from what I've read), had an opinion
essay by Dr. Robert Strichartz of Cornell U. proposing an 'Intermath', an
international language for mathematical	text that could	be the basis for machine
translation and	international communication of such texts.  The	properties Dr.
Strichartz attributed to such a	language remarkably resemble a description of
Lojban.	 With permission of the	editor and author, we are reprinting this essay
in JL9.	 I have	also written a response	describing Lojban and its applicability
to the problem of mathematical communication, and am submitting	it to
Mathematical Intelligencer for next fall's issue.
     John Hodges wrote to Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact magazine in
December 1987 asking about the status of Loglan.  He received several mail
answers	describing the various efforts and versions of the language.  He
contacted us, and eventually has become	one of our major supporters, in	that he
has volunteered	to teach the second Lojban class.  Analog has published	two
letters	to the editor that were	written	to the magazine	which addressed	only Dr.
Brown's	efforts, and which in any case did not describe	the language features
that I suspect most Analog readers will	be interested in.  The most recent
appeared in the	May 1989 issue.	 The editor's column in	the June 1989 issue
dealt with Sapir-Whorf concepts	as applied to SF writing.  I have written to
Analog offering	to write an article of greater length describing Lojban, and am
hopeful	for a positive response, especially since we are participating in
Worldcon this year (see	below).

     I am also designing a 'press package' that	can be given to	magazines and
newspapers to introduce	them to	the concepts and goals behind Lojban.  I've been
told that our story will be of interest	to newspapers, magazines, radio, and
even television	news, provided that we tell it properly.  I suspect that this
approach is more effective than	advertising in telling people about Lojban.
After all, our purpose is education and	not marketing.
     Lojban Video Plans	- The much delayed Lojban video	has been put on	the
front burner again with	a second professional volunteer	joining	the effort.
Brad Lowry, with professional credentials in video and recording production will
be joining John	Vengrovskie, who runs a	sound studio, in producing the video.

				       10
Several	others,	probably including local class members,	will participate, and
Brad and John may choose to do some filming at LogFest.	 We hope to have the
video complete for Worldcon, but the schedule is tight since Brad and John have
to earn	livings	in the field.
     John has also offered to help us in lesson	tape production	and
reproduction.  Since his studio	is local to DC,	this will probably speed our
development of lesson tapes, and maybe even lower our costs.
     Athelstan's Travels - Athelstan, one of the most active volunteers	during
the past year as well as one of	our best 'ambassadors',	is travelling to Anaheim
CA for a convention (Westercon)	4th of July weekend (30	June-4 July).  He will
be serving as a	'missionary for	Lojban'	along the way, travelling by car.
Athelstan will leave right after LogFest and go	west via the Midwest, Northern
Plains,	and Pacific Northwest.	He will	then travel south along	the Pacific
Coast.	After Westercon, he will return	via a southerly	route.	He will	visit
several	places along the way where there are Lojbanists, and will be available
to answer your questions, demonstrate the language, and	give impromptu talks to
prospective Lojbanists.	 His itinerary is tight, and he	thus is	not promising he
dates listed below are exact; he is leaving some open days to allow him	to make
minor deviations in his	route and schedule.  If	you are	on or near the route
given and want to meet Athelstan or have him talk to a few friends about the
language, write	to us immediately.  If you have	schedule constraints or	need a
firm date because you want to organize something, please indicate this and make
sure we	have a phone number to reach you at.
     Athelstan will have information about Lojbanists along his	route, since we
can't be sure that everyone will have a	chance to respond in time (or that you
will be	able to	make definite plans this far in	advance	to match with his), so
if you get a call from him, don't be surprised.	 If you	know people who	might be
interested in Lojban, this is a	good chance to get them	interested.

     20	June			      -	Indianapolis IN	    4 July    -	Los
     Angeles CA
     21	   - Omaha NE		      5	     - Phoenix AZ
     23	   - Minot ND		      7	     - Oklahoma	City OK
     25	   - Missoula MT	      8	     - Dallas TX
     26	   - Seattle WA		      10     - New Orleans LA
     28	   - San Francisco CA	      12     - Atlanta GA
     29	   - Los Angeles CA	      13     - Raleigh/Durham NC

     Worldcon -	Our invitation to participate at the 47th World	Science	Fiction
Convention (Worldcon), also known as NOREASCON III, has	been confirmed.
NOREASCON III will be in Boston	31 August-4 September (Labor Day weekend).
Write to NOREASCON III Box 46, MIT Branch, Cambridge MA	02139 for information
about attending.  We expect to give several presentations about, and
demonstrations of, Lojban.  We will emphasize developing the world Lojban
community, as well as trying to	firm up	the large but diffuse Boston Lojban
community.  Nora, Athelstan, and I will	definitely be attending; there will be
several	other Lojbanists there as well.	 (If you are going and haven't told us,
please let us know.  We	want to	meet as	many Lojbanists	as possible, and we
might also be able to use your help while we are there.)  Before we come, I will
contact	Boston area Lojbanists with our	detailed plans,	since we will budget
some time to meet others of you	in the area who	are not	attending Worldcon.

				   Other News

     News for non-USA Lojbanists - For British Lojbanists:  Gary Burgess is
returning to the US from his Bedfordshire US Air Force assignment.  You	will no
longer receive these issues via	Gary.  Luckily,	Lojbanist Dan Nathaniel	is also
stationed in the UK with our Air Force,	and will continue to keep your
newsletters coming cheaper than	most foreign subscriptions.
     Non-USA Lojbanists	who have not responded have been reduced to mailing
level 0, and must write	to get Ju'i Lobypli #9.
     No	News from The Institute	- We promised that we would keep you informed of
any news passing through the grapevine about the efforts of Dr.	Brown, but that
grapevine has been quiet for two months.  We know only that Dr.	Brown has gone
sailing	in the Caribbean again.	 With regard to	his language development

				       11
efforts, either	Dr. Brown is being very	secretive, and successfully so,	or there
is nothing going on.


			  Contents of Ju'i Lobypli #9

Sheldon	Linker,	involved in the	project	for over a dozen years,	has written an
     article questioning the algorithm for building gismu.  I will briefly
     explain that algorithm, since many	of you don't know it, and try to address
     his issues, many of which are well-raised.
Dr. Strichartz's essay reprinted with permission from The Mathematical
     Intelligencer, along with my draft	response.  I also include some
     description of the	requirements we	assumed	for mathematical expressions
     (called MEX or "mekso"), based on work by Bill Mengarini in the early
     1980's, and the design that resulted.
A short	letter from Donald Simpson on various topics of	interest
Lojban text written by class students (all using fairly	simple grammar)	and some
     short fable stories derived from non-Indo-European	languages/cultures
     translated	by Preston Maxwell and corrected by Nora, myself and the class.
     ALL LOJBAN	IN THIS	ISSUE WAS THUS WRITTEN BY PEOPLE NEW TO	THE LANGUAGE!
If we have room, I'll get to my	data and rules supporting a Lojban version of
     Scrabbletm.


			    Our	501(c)(3) Submittal

     We	have now made our 501(c)(3) submittal to the IRS to obtain provisional
tax-exempt status as a charitable scientific and educational organization,
approval of which would	make your donations (as	distinct from balance
contributions),	tax-deductible.	 (Provisional status lasts for several years,
while we demonstrate that we are legitimately abiding by the rules.)
     If	filing your income tax seemed complicated - this was worse.  Our filing
totalled over 80 pages including samples of some of our	publications; we had to
pay $300 just to file.	The poor state of our finances prevented us from getting
help from an accountant; Nora and I sweated over these forms while doing
everything else, including our own taxes.
     Per our policy of public disclosure, the following	is our purpose as
elaborated in our IRS filing.  Your questions and comments are welcome:


	STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND ACTIVITIES - FORM 1023	PART III, LINE 3
			The Logical Language Group, Inc.

Purpose	- The purposes of the organization all relate to the Lojban version of
the Loglan language, the development of	which was started by Dr. James Cooke
Brown in 1955.	Loglan/Lojban is an artificial language	usable like any	natural
language, but having special properties	that are particularly useful for
computer processing and	linguistics research.  A brochure included in the Line 2
attachments describes the design features and project goals in some depth.
Specific goals include:
     - completing the development of the Loglan	language, specifically the
	  Lojban version thereof;
     - promoting usage of Lojban and acceptance	of the language	by (US and
	  foreign) academia, industry, and the general public;
     - developing educational, scientific, and commercial applications for
	  Lojban;
     - developing educational materials	and teaching people Lojban;
     - using educational methods and materials to enhance the teaching of
	  languages, linguistics, and intercultural relations;
     - conducting scientific research using Lojban as a	tool;
     - using Lojban as a media for developing and enhancing intercultural and
	  international	understanding.

Past Activities	- The organization was founded as the direct result of a dispute
with The Loglan	Institute, Inc.	(TLI).	The founders disagreed with intellectual

				       12
property claims	by TLI and its Chairman, Dr. James Cooke Brown.	 TLI
demonstrated a policy of restricting and opposing any activities to work with
and promote the	Loglan language, unless	they were under	its strict control.  The
Lojban version was then	developed as an	alternative to legal disputes.
Otherwise, the original	goals of the Loglan project are	still being pursued.
     The predecessor organization, The Logical Language	Group (LLG), was
organized informally to	coordinate those activities while preserving the
community of interested	persons	and promoting the language to new people.
Support	was gained from	several	key people who had worked on earlier versions of
the language, and from some who	had criticized technical decisions that	had been
made.
     Development efforts started with a	meeting	in June	1987.  Much of the early
development effort was in developing a technical consensus on design goals and
details, and in	building a linguistics research	base and project archive no
longer dependent on TLI.  Specific activities included programming an
algorithmic formula for	word building, building	a revised vocabulary, selecting
and defining a sound system (phonology), and writing a formal grammar
description.  Research included	language education techniques, current
linguistics theories that are relevant to the project, and investigating various
technical criticisms of	earlier	language versions.
     Formal incorporation of the effort	was delayed in the hopes of achieving
negotiated settlement and reconciliation with TLI and a	remerging of the two
efforts.  This did not occur, and TLI actually increased its restrictions on
information about its version of the language.
     In	June 1988, attendees at	an organizational meeting voted	to incorporate,
approving a draft set of Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws.	It was clear
that LLG had obtained broad majority support from the identifiable Loglan
language community as well as new support from outside the original community
base.  Development had proceeded to the	point of identifiable products,	and
specific goals could be	set.  It was determined	that incorporation and 501(c)(3)
status was vital to obtaining larger donations needed for research and
applications development, and grants and contracts from	other organizations and
government.  Efforts then proceeded to acquire enough financial	accounting
maturity to allow the organization to be demonstrably be managed as a business
and an organization, instead of	as an individual-oriented hobby	activity.
     Although the organization was not incorporated, it	is believed that the
predecessor effort was operated	in accordance with 501(c)(3) organization
requirements throughout	1988; the organization was managed by consensus	and
informal agreement among those currently constituting the Board	of Directors and
other active volunteers, even though it	was fiscally a sole proprietorship of
Robert LeChevalier.  Accounts and assets were segregated from private assets of
Mr. LeChevalier	in order to ensure accountability.
     The Articles of Incorporation were	submitted to an	attorney for review.  On
her advice, much of the	detailed controls included in the Articles of
Incorporation were moved to the	Bylaws.	 Her recommended articles were
submitted, and the organization	formally started business on 3 November	1988.
It was immediately noticed that	the dissolution	clause had erroneously been
moved to the Bylaws and	deleted	in the submitted Articles, and an Amendment was
filed to correct this error.

Present	Activities - These take	several	forms due to the broad range of	purposes
listed.	 Most of the current efforts are being conducted or coordinated	by
Robert LeChevalier, who	is working as a	full-time unpaid volunteer.  Efforts by
others,	also on	a volunteer basis, have	been increasing	rapidly	since
incorporation.
     Development Activities - The language design has stabilized.  Formal
descriptions have been partially written, and the technical details have been
examined and tested by several members of the language community.
     Education - The newsletter	Ju'i Lobypli has been published	regularly on a
quarterly basis.  Based	on subscriber feedback,	it was recently	split into a
news-only publication and a longer, more technical one,	both of	which will
continue to be published quarterly.  The first language	classes	started	in the
Washington DC area in January 1989, and	are continuing.	 A new class is	expected
to start in the	Blacksburg VA area in May 1989,	and there is recent interest in
organizing classes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, northern New

				       13
Jersey,	and Boston.  Educational materials are being developed along with the
teaching of the	first class; they have proved viable, and have been accepted by
reviewers in the community.  They will be published upon completion later this
year, and will serve as	a basis	for rapid expansion of educational efforts.

     Applications - Computer tools (educational	software and a language	parser)
have been under	continuous development since the effort	started.  The
educational software has potential application in teaching other languages
besides	Lojban.	 Specific applications for the language, including artificial
intelligence and computer-based	translation of other languages,	are being
explored internally, although no formal	proposals have emerged.	 Other
applications being investigated	include	a Lojban-based curriculum in language
structure and linguistics suitable for high school or college, aiding in better
English	communication, learning	of foreign languages, and intercultural
understanding.
     Support - 90% of the approximately	400 subscribers	are in the US.	Only 35%
are paying for materials received, although this percentage has	been growing
steadily.  Including the predecessor effort, 42	people have donated money, equal
to 79% of sales, which are the only other revenue source.  In the 5 months since
incorporation, financial support has been received from	73 persons, 13 of these
making donations equalling 36% of net sales.
     Publicity efforts aimed at	education about	activities and raising support
have recently expanded,	with a paid advertisement in the May 1989 Discover
magazine, and a	commitment to make several presentations at the	September
'Worldcon' international science fiction convention in Boston.

Future Activities - It is our intent to	build support on an open-ended basis.
Through	such support, grants, and contracts, we	hope to	be able	to eventually
support	a small	team of	paid researchers, teachers, and	materials developers.
     Development - It is anticipated that language development per se will be
completed with the  publication	of a textbook and language description this
year.  Thereafter, a long term effort will be started to develop a language
dictionary, probably taking several years to achieve a final form.
     Education - Quarterly newsletters will continue to	be published.
Educational materials will be published	in draft form as they are developed and
then assembled into final publication form.  Following textbook	publication, a
more formal curriculum will be developed, including additional teaching
materials.  If support exists, a network of classes and	a school will be
established.  As finances and overseas support allow, materials	will be
developed or translated	for non-English	language teaching of Lojban and	the
related	curricula, and overseas	courses	may be taught.	We expect to support the
writing	and translation	of a variety of	materials into Lojban in support of
educational and	research goals.
     Applications - Significant	applications will take corporate, foundation, or
government grants and contracts, as most significant applications will take
several	man-years of effort.  With the completion of teaching materials	and
approval of 501(c)(3) status, obtaining	such support will become high priority.
     Research -	The original purpose of	Loglan,	dating from 1955 was the testing
of a linguistic	theory called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.  With	the development
of a speaking community	and viable educational materials, such a test may be
possible.  Such	results	also enable a variety of other linguistics and socio-
cultural studies.  We intend to	seek support for such research from the	academic
community and foundations.  Artificial intelligence and	educational applications
described under	applications will require some amount of formal	research.
     Support - Major press contacts are	expected to start in the near future.
Interest has been expressed by Voice of	America, which would enhance
international publicity.  A short video	describing the language	will be
developed and distributed to schools, television, and other interested parties.
These, coupled with ongoing publicity activities are expected to greatly expand
the number of supporters, and the amounts of support obtained.	Donors have
expressed interest in making larger donations when 501(c)(3) approval is
obtained.  While it is hoped that the current ratio of donations to sales will
remain at the current 36%, budgets used	in this	application are	assuming a more
pessimistic 20%	ratio.

				       14


			       Map To LogFest 89

Exit 17	from I66 to Nutley St./Route 243 is under construction,	and details of
the interchange	are changing week by week.  Thus, the map below	may be incorrect
at the time of Lojban.	Coming from the	direction of Washington, take this exit.
When you get on	Nutley St., head SOUTH across the overpass.  On	the south side
of the freeway,	there is a light for those turning to go East (towards
Washington).  There is another light a block later for Swanee Lane and the
Vienna Metro station.  Hermosa Drive, where you	turn left is a short block
later.	If you reach the light at Lee Highway, where there is a	shopping center
(called	Pan-Am)	with a Safeway,	you have gone one block	too far.  If you go more
than about 1/2 mile from the freeway exit without seeing Hermosa or the	shopping
center,	you are	probably going the wrong direction.  Of	course,	feel free to
call us	at (703) 385-0273 if you get lost or need directions from anywhere not
obvious	from the map.  Coming from the west is more complicated.  There	is an
exit for the Vienna Metro station just before Nutley St.  You can go through the
station	parking	lot, probably requiring	a U-turn in order to get to Nutley
(which you can easily see from the station); alternatively, take the previous
exit (Route 123) and call us for details.