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Used for what was originally proposed for '''nau''', but annulled in the changes leading up to version 2.33 (I think the file can be found in [http://www.lojban.org/files/software/parser/ parser.zip])


A minority of Lojbanists think using the [http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/relipper/tolkien/rootpage.html olkien] script [http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/4948/tengwar/index.htm engwar] ('''lerfrtengua''') for Lojban is at the least cute, and at the most [http://www.raphael.poss.name/tengwar/lojteng2 nstructive]. The kind of person interested in Lojban intersects with the kind of person interested in Tolkienian linguistics. Nonetheless, the majority of Lojbanists, it is fair to say, regard the enterprise as folly. This includes [[jbocre: Ivan Derzhanski|Ivan Derzhanski]], who is a Tolkienist of long standing.
The proposal is to use '''xe'e''' (and maybe [[ne'e]] at some point) for the word proposed below.
 
*If it's a modal, why is it GOI and not BAI??
I doubt anyone is planning on switching the list over to Tengwar en masse once the Tengwar section of Unicode is established.... [[jbocre: Here is the proposal: [http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n1641/n1641.htm]] However, as [[User:Nick Nicholas|nitcion]] pointed out, it would be nice to use it on the covers of things like the lessons. I could see Tengwar being used in the way calligraphic English is used (or maybe hyper-intricate gothic fonts). Sort of the thing that classy Lojbanists would use on their wedding invitations. --[[jbocre: Jay Kominek|Jay]]
**It connects a modal to a sumti, like GOI. For example, we currently say (see [[Frank likes Betty more than Mary|Frank likes Betty more than Mary]]):
 
{{mu|la frank. cu nelci la betis. ne semau la meiris.}}
An example of a lojbanic text written in Tengwar is {file name="Berenstain_Fight_Tengwar.zip" showdesc=1} (The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight).
**But this is not just meant to be an abbreviation of '''la frank. cu nelci la betis noi zmadu la meiris.''', it's meant to be an abbreviation of '''le ni la frank cu nelci la betis cu zmadu le ni la frank cu nelci la meiris.''' This is a second meaning for '''ne''', and would it be better to give it its own word:
 
{{mu|la frank. cu nelci la betis xe'e semau la meiris.}}
Actually, I already have converted the cmavo, gismu and lujvo lists to use Tengwar. -- [[jbocre: xwaver|xwaver]] / ficyr.
=CHANGE 28: (Probably ANNULLED)=
 
==CURRENT LANGUAGE:==
'''See also [[jbocre: Why Tengwar?]]''' and '''[[jbocre: Tengwar Resources|Tengwar Resources]]'''
The draft textbook had a cmavo '''mo'u''' used to attach a relative phrase to a sumti 'modally'. i.e. neither restrictively or non-restrictively. As part of an early cmavo change, '''mo'u''' was combine into the non-restrictive '''ne''' because at the time there was not seen to be any logical distinction between the two. This was an error. The relative-phrase introducer '''ne''' is used before a tagged sumti in two different ways: to add incidental information (the non-restrictive equivalent of '''pe'''), and to attach a new sumti to the bridi, modally associating it with some already existing sumti. Paradigm cases are:
 
{{mu|mi nelci la .apasionatas ne fi'e la betoven.|I like the Appassionata, created by Beethoven.}}
that's the truth
and
 
{{mu|la djan. cu nelci la betis. ne semau la meris.|John likes Betty more than (he likes) Mary.}}
----
respectively. In the former sentence, '''ne fi'e la betoven.''' means no more than '''noi la betoven. finti'''; in the latter sentence, however, '''ne semau la meris.''' does not mean '''noi la meris. se zmadu''', since the information is essential to the bridi, not merely incidental. That is, ''John may like Betty more than Mary'', but not really 'like' Betty or Mary at all. In fact, the second example generally means:
 
{{mu|le ni la djan. cu nelci la betis. cu zmadu le ni la djan. cu nelci la meris.|The amount-of John's liking Betty is-more-than the amount-of John's liking Mary.}}
There are two published mappings
The confusion between the two types of '''ne''' is unacceptably ambiguous. The second type is especially valuable with '''semau''' and '''seme'a''', and has seen considerable use, but this use is contrary to the nominal definition of '''ne'''.
 
==PROPOSED CHANGE:==
* [http://www.catb.org/~esr/tengwar/lojban-tengwar.html ric Raymond's proposed mapping]
Assign the cmavo '''nau''' to the latter use. Since '''sumti NAU tag sumti''' is really a kind of non-logical connection between sumti, it no longer makes sense to treat it as a relative phrase; this grammar change makes '''NAU tag''' a kind of non-logical connective, usable between sumti, tanru units, operators, and operands only.
* [http://www.raphael.poss.name/tengwar/ lrond's revised mapping]
==COUNTER-ARGUMENT:==
 
This mechanism only works correctly if a second place is implicitly given the modal or tense tag. For tenses, the second place is the space/time origin; for the comparatives, it is what is being compared; for the causals, it is the effect (and vice versa). But for a tag such as '''bau''', using the x2 place of '''bangu''' simply isn't useful. For most uses of this construction, the right thing to do is to use the actual underlying gismu, which has all the necessary places: recast pure comparisons using '''zmadu''', '''mleca''', or '''dunli'''. If you want to simultaneously make positive and comparative claims, use '''.esemaubo'''. To apply tags separately to the two parts of a non-logical connective (''I in Lojban, with you in English, discuss''), use Change 30's non-logical termset connection. It has been argued that the standard use of '''semau''' in relative phrases is logically misleading. If we are saying that ''John likes Betty more than (he likes) Mary'', the essential claim is not ''likes''/'''nelci''' but '''zmadu''' as stated above, and the main bridi should therefore be '''zmadu'''. This essential logical structure is hidden by the status quo, and to some extent by the proposed change. The counter-argument to this, that natural language usage of comparison warrants an abbreviated form, is logically unsound. Change 28 will probably not be accepted, and is not incorporated into the published E-BNF, but is being retained here until all interested parties have seen the arguments on all sides.
** Mode 1: separate vowel carriers for each vowel
==PROPOSAL:==
** Mode 2: full vowels (Beleriand mode)
Clarify that '''ne semau''' is non-restrictive, not simply comparative. This means that the example Lojban sentence above requires that John like both Betty and Mary, in order for the non-restrictive '''ne semau''' phrase to be true. By comparison, the English can be used if John likes Betty, but doesn't like Mary. This clarification requires no grammar change, but substantial reworking of draft textbook lesson 6.
 
=Other meanings of '''xe'e'''=
** Mode 3: full vowel + ''tehta'' for diphthongs
*'''xe'e''' was also a protoform of [[jai]]. Apparently, [[User:Nick Nicholas|Nick Nicholas]] proposed this<ref>http://balance.wiw.org/~jkominek/lojban/9203/msg00039.html</ref>, although he has only dim recollections of this.
* [http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/LOJBAN.RXML ulun's mapping samples mainly following elrond's proposal (Mode 1)]
=References=
 
<references/>
** {V'V}: short vowel carrier modified for this purpose (Sindarin), modified  i.e. shortened about the size of apostrophe (Gandalf)
** {V,V}: use of  comma (adapted to Tengwar) '' As in Raymond's proposal.''
 
** (rejection of the Beleriand mode)
*[[jbocre: cmeclax|cmeclax]] has [http://lexx.shinn.net/cmeclax/ lso used Tengwar]
 
(BTW, in order to achieving a good-looking script one ought to have '''at least''' two kinds of different widths tehtar!) ''The single-byte fonts tend to; the Unicode fonts won't, because this is properly an issue for Smart Fonts. Thankfully, Smart Fonts are now on the market, though it'll be a year or two [[jbocre: as of 2001]] before they come into general use.''
 
The characteristics of Elrond's Mode 1 are:
 
** separate vowel carriers for each vowel
** CVV: tengwa+tehta, (short) carrier+ tehta
 
** VV: (short) carrier+ tehta for both vowels
** special case {uu}: long carrier as abbreviature
 
** special case {.i}: colon as  abbreviature
** 'doubling' (underlining') the first tengwa for stress (Sindarin and Gandalf)
 
** various final-s (joined to different tengwar)
 
The main technical issue with Tengwar seems to be what to do with VV and V'V.
 
==== VV ====
 
[[jbocre: Elrond|Elrond]] in his [http://www.raphael.poss.name/tengwar/ ublished proposal] advocates a mode in which VV are handled with separate vowel carriers (a la Quenya), and a mode in which VV are handled with ''tehtar'' over full vowel letters (a la Sindarin; preferred).
 
[[jbocre: xwaver|xwaver]] uses Beleriand full vowel tengwa for the primary vowel, tethar for the trailing
 
'' I currently vote Quenya -- [[User:Nick Nicholas|nitcion]]''
 
He has since come to believe that double ''tehtar'' are preferrable -- though this will prove typographically unwieldy. cmeclax concurs.  However, if 'typographically unwieldy' refers to font design, xuinkrbin disagrees since any font designed for such use could employee a ligature. When typing ".ia.", a ligature could be used to display a combined 'i+a' tehta above the first full-stop.
 
'' But since the VV are not just double vowels, I doubt it's very Tolkienesque -- [[User:Nick Nicholas|nitcion]].''
 
==== V'V ====
 
Established usage (Raymond, Elrond, [[jbocre: cmeclax|cmeclax]], [[jbocre: xwaver|xwaver]]) is to use the ''halla''. nitcion would prefer to use the long vowel carrier, in order to deemphasise the distinction between VV and V'V.
 
cmeclax makes the vowel following ' a ''tehta'' to the right of the ''halla''. There is no Tolkien precedent for this, presumably because the ''halla'' is taken in the Tolkien universe to be an archaic variant of the ''hyarmen'', so it wouldn't have been used much in extant Tengwar.
 
[[jbocre: xwaver|xwaver]] eliminates the carrier altogether, using Beleriand mode for the first vowel (ie. the explicit vowel carriers), tetha for the second.
 
aulun uses a shortened vowel carrier to render the aposrtrophe, and a normal short vowel carrier for the vowel after it.
 
*[[jbocre: Originally misunderstood as:]] aulun shortens the second carrier to the size of an apostrophe.
**''Do I read you correctly? Could you point me to a sample? --- the samples on your page seem to be straight Elrond mode 1 -- mi'e [[User:Nick Nicholas|nitcion]]''
 
***''What I did was designing a better looking apostrophe by shortening the (short) carrier - using Fontographer - i.e. I use the '''apostrophe''' like in romanized Lojban for /h/. In the Gandalf font the modified carrier is almost the size of a normal apostrophe: will post a sample soon!''
****OK, but be aware that Unicode won't be including non-Tolkien glyphs, and this will mean problems down the road. (Or am I ''still'' confused, and this is indeed a Tolkienian variant attributed to Gandalf in the mythos?) Still, the fact that aulun, cmeclax and nitcion independently arrive at a different 'carrier' for the vowel after an apostrophe than the short vowel carrier is surely significant. [[jbocre: wrong, as it turns out|wrong, as it turns out]]
 
Here's a sample for .aulun's modified apostrophe in Gandalf (being aware of the problems pointed out above, it's just for personal use within graphic format):
 
[http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/apsampl.gif]
 
==== r ====
 
*Raymond prescribes ''ore'' (untrilled r) rather than ''romen'' (trilled r)
*Elrond makes this an optional choice
 
*nitcion would prefer ''romen'', but ''ore'' looks less disruptive
*aulun uses ''romen''
 
==== Full vowels ====
 
*Raymond picks ''hyarmen'' for full e
*Elrond picks ''yanta'', which looks about the same but is less disruptive
 
==== Double vowels ====
 
*Elrond treats uu and ii as double vowels (''tehta'' over long vowel carrier)
*nitcion thinks this bogus.
 
*Elrond starts to think about using yet different ''tehta'' for diphtongs
 
==== Stress ====
 
*Raymond and [[jbocre: xwaver|xwaver]] double (underbar) the consonant/carrier of any capitalised letter
*Elrond wants only the first such consonant/carrier to be doubled. This is far saner, but existing [http://user.tninet.se/~xof995c/tengscribe.htm oftware] won't deal with it well, so this requires a separate script to be written.
 
==== Comma ====
 
*Raymond and aulun incorporate the comma into Tengwar
*Elrond and [[jbocre: xwaver|xwaver]] advocate a circumflex underneath, as a reused rare Tengwar
 
*nitcion can't find such a thing in the standard repertoire, and awaits further instruction. There are various other ''tehta'' floating around.
 
==== Final S ====
 
*xwaver uses the final s curls after consonants, considering that while they would be handy in CVS. and CVVS. circumstances, they are slightly more confusing.
 
==== Prenasalisation ====
 
Noone seems to think introducing the prenasalisation ''tehta'' into Lojban Tengwar would be a good thing.
 
==== Non-Lojban letters ====
 
To cope with cited non-Lojban text, nitcion proposes mappings for the non-Lojban letters:
 
*q: nwalme
*w: hwesta
 
*h: hyarmen
 
Comments from [[User:Nick Nicholas|nitcion]]: ''If anything in Lojban tengwar is sacred by now, it's that k = quesse. It's inefficient, but we are keeping coronals (palatoalveolars &amp; palatals) distinct from velars. Even if we allowed series IV stops to be (also) written as series III, I'd still rather q keep out of the way; in nwalme, it's safe. Besides, it's not canonical Lojban; why should be anywhere near the usual tengwar in a Lojban mode?''
 
''Right, but still, nwalme has a strong nasal connotation. Why not using the additional tengwar 34 (arda ?) instead ?''
 
If we pick a totally arbitrary tengwar, arda's as good as any ('course, arda kinda ''looks'' like q). But it'd be nice if the glyph for q was associated with either velar or labial. How about (16) unque?
 
''Seems nice indeed, and easy to write :-) I vote. -- Elrond''
 
So:
 
*q: unque
*w: hwesta
 
*h: hyarmen
 
To illustrate all the foregoing, here's one construal of all this:
 
[http://www.opoudjis.net/dist/tengwar.gif]
 
xwaver [http://www.xwaver.net/lojban/tlcursive.GIF]
 
----
 
a little bit more about the Tengwar, ''bau la lojban'', [[jbocre: tenguar here|tenguar here]]

Latest revision as of 04:59, 30 June 2018

Used for what was originally proposed for nau, but annulled in the changes leading up to version 2.33 (I think the file can be found in parser.zip)

The proposal is to use xe'e (and maybe ne'e at some point) for the word proposed below.

la frank. cu nelci la betis. ne semau la meiris.
    • But this is not just meant to be an abbreviation of la frank. cu nelci la betis noi zmadu la meiris., it's meant to be an abbreviation of le ni la frank cu nelci la betis cu zmadu le ni la frank cu nelci la meiris. This is a second meaning for ne, and would it be better to give it its own word:
la frank. cu nelci la betis xe'e semau la meiris.

CHANGE 28: (Probably ANNULLED)

CURRENT LANGUAGE:

The draft textbook had a cmavo mo'u used to attach a relative phrase to a sumti 'modally'. i.e. neither restrictively or non-restrictively. As part of an early cmavo change, mo'u was combine into the non-restrictive ne because at the time there was not seen to be any logical distinction between the two. This was an error. The relative-phrase introducer ne is used before a tagged sumti in two different ways: to add incidental information (the non-restrictive equivalent of pe), and to attach a new sumti to the bridi, modally associating it with some already existing sumti. Paradigm cases are:

mi nelci la .apasionatas ne fi'e la betoven.
I like the Appassionata, created by Beethoven.

and

la djan. cu nelci la betis. ne semau la meris.
John likes Betty more than (he likes) Mary.

respectively. In the former sentence, ne fi'e la betoven. means no more than noi la betoven. finti; in the latter sentence, however, ne semau la meris. does not mean noi la meris. se zmadu, since the information is essential to the bridi, not merely incidental. That is, John may like Betty more than Mary, but not really 'like' Betty or Mary at all. In fact, the second example generally means:

le ni la djan. cu nelci la betis. cu zmadu le ni la djan. cu nelci la meris.
The amount-of John's liking Betty is-more-than the amount-of John's liking Mary.

The confusion between the two types of ne is unacceptably ambiguous. The second type is especially valuable with semau and seme'a, and has seen considerable use, but this use is contrary to the nominal definition of ne.

PROPOSED CHANGE:

Assign the cmavo nau to the latter use. Since sumti NAU tag sumti is really a kind of non-logical connection between sumti, it no longer makes sense to treat it as a relative phrase; this grammar change makes NAU tag a kind of non-logical connective, usable between sumti, tanru units, operators, and operands only.

COUNTER-ARGUMENT:

This mechanism only works correctly if a second place is implicitly given the modal or tense tag. For tenses, the second place is the space/time origin; for the comparatives, it is what is being compared; for the causals, it is the effect (and vice versa). But for a tag such as bau, using the x2 place of bangu simply isn't useful. For most uses of this construction, the right thing to do is to use the actual underlying gismu, which has all the necessary places: recast pure comparisons using zmadu, mleca, or dunli. If you want to simultaneously make positive and comparative claims, use .esemaubo. To apply tags separately to the two parts of a non-logical connective (I in Lojban, with you in English, discuss), use Change 30's non-logical termset connection. It has been argued that the standard use of semau in relative phrases is logically misleading. If we are saying that John likes Betty more than (he likes) Mary, the essential claim is not likes/nelci but zmadu as stated above, and the main bridi should therefore be zmadu. This essential logical structure is hidden by the status quo, and to some extent by the proposed change. The counter-argument to this, that natural language usage of comparison warrants an abbreviated form, is logically unsound. Change 28 will probably not be accepted, and is not incorporated into the published E-BNF, but is being retained here until all interested parties have seen the arguments on all sides.

PROPOSAL:

Clarify that ne semau is non-restrictive, not simply comparative. This means that the example Lojban sentence above requires that John like both Betty and Mary, in order for the non-restrictive ne semau phrase to be true. By comparison, the English can be used if John likes Betty, but doesn't like Mary. This clarification requires no grammar change, but substantial reworking of draft textbook lesson 6.

Other meanings of xe'e

  • xe'e was also a protoform of jai. Apparently, Nick Nicholas proposed this[1], although he has only dim recollections of this.

References