lojbo karni number 11

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

This is	the quarterly news and product announcements newsletter	of The Logical
Language Group,	Inc., known in these pages as la lojbangirz.  We are a non-
profit organization formed for the purpose of completing and spreading the
logical	human language "Lojban".  This issue (LK11) is being mailed at
publication to over 600	subscribers, about 20% growth since last issue.	 Press
run this issue,	650.

			Lojban Conversation Demonstrated
		      Lojban Gains International Publicity
			     Lead Stories on Page 3
		    IRS	Approves Non-Profit Status - Page 2

Welcome	to New Lojbanists				 - page	1
Your Mailing Label, Voluntary Balances and Our Non-Profit Status       - page 2
Lojban Conversation Demonstrated, Lojban Gains International Publicity	   -
page 3
Thanks to Some Friends					 - page	4
Research and Development - Grammar Changes Approved, Lojban Parser Status, cmavo
List
 Update	in Progress, Place Structure Revisions,	Summary	of Open	Grammar	Issues
- page 5
Growth and Publicity - Record Growth, Worldcon Success,	NYC and	Boston
Presentations,
 Athelstan's 'Lojban Mini-Lesson', Lojban Video, Advertising and Radio,	A Logo
 Computer Networks, Where You Are			 - page	7
Education - DC Lojban Class Completed; Textbook, Blacksburg Class Stalled; New
Classes
   Planned; Language Summary; Overview;	Lojban Mini-Lesson Video      -	page 10
International News - International Finance; Brochure Translated	into French and
Italian							- page 12
Products and Prices - LogFlash Conversion and Update Plans; Hypercard Teaching
 Materials, lujvo-making Program, cmavo	List; Doudna Papers; Tape and Mini-
Lesson Plans						- page 13
Business - Finances; Non-Profit	Status;	Fund-Raising Plans- page 14
News from the Institute	- Loglan 1 Reviews, Autumn Bulletin Summary   -	page 15
Future Plans - Lojban Chrestomathy/Reader		- page 16
Contents of Ju'i Lobypli #11				- page 16
A News Note in Lojban -	by T. Peter Park		- page 17

Note:  References to 'Loglan' in this text, unless specifically	noted, do not
relate to the 'trademark' claimed by The Loglan	Institute, Inc., or to products
described by that 'trademark'.

			   Welcome to New Lojbanists

   We want to welcome a	large number of	new Lojbanists;	our rate of growth
continues to accelerate.  Over 100 new Lojbanists have been added since	the
publication of LK10, half due to our trip to the World Science Fiction
Convention in Boston, and the rest from	a large	variety	of activities, including
individual word-of-mouth.  Keep	telling	others about this GREAT, NEW, LANGUAGE!;
we'll happily supply copies of the Lojban brochure on request.
   You may be receiving	more from us than you expected from an initial
information request.  A	language is not	a small	thing, and Lojban has an
especially large range of aspects, each	interesting to different people.  We
want to	attract	a variety of people, and this requires a variety of information.
Also, we'd rather take the chance of mailing this newsletter to	all respondents,
than to	individually bring people up-to-date on	what has happened since	they
last heard from	us.
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   New people are assigned to level 0 unless we	hear otherwise from you; this
means that we send you the Overview of Lojban and the latest le	lojbo karni
newsletter, along with a brochure if you haven't received one.	We also	send an
order form and registration form so you	can let	us know	what else you might be
interested in.	See descriptions of mailing codes below	and reports on ongoing
activities, and	write to us about any activities you are interested in.	 We want
to hear	from you.
   You will remain on our mailing list indefinitely, even if we	don't hear from
you.  We think that you	read our newsletters, and do not relegate us to	the
trash upon arrival like	junk mail.  While we hope to hear from you often, we've
found that people can take months or years to respond.	We'll drop you from our
mailing	list if	you tell us you	aren't interested.

			       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.  Balances reflect contributions received thru 8
December 1989.	Mailing	codes (and approximate annual balance needs) are defined
as follows:

Level B	- Product Announcements	OnlyLevel 0 - le lojbo karni only - $5-10
balance	requested
Level 1	- le lojbo karni and Ju'i Lobypli - $15-20 balance requested
Level 2	- Level	1 materials and	baselined/final	products - $20-25 balance
     requested
Level 3	- Level	2 materials and	draft textbook lesson materials	as developed -
$50 balance or more
R indicates that you are receiving materials on	a review basis pending some
publicity we hope you will give	us.  If	your publication can reimburse us for
our costs, great, but it is not	mandatory.

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

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 are listed
as mailing code	"0":  YOU MUST WRITE TO	US IF YOU WANT TO RECEIVE Ju'i Lobypli.

		  Voluntary Balances and Our Non-Profit	Status

   Our orientation is non-profit.  Almost every	dollar we receive goes directly
into producing the products that we send out, with a very small	overhead and no
paid salaries.	We subsist entirely on your contributions against our costs of
mailing	to you.	 However, a large number of our	respondents are	college	students
and others with	low incomes, who want our materials but	couldn't afford	them at
our costs.  Therefore, we operate on a voluntary balance system.  We ask you to
contribute what	you can	towards	your balance, and maybe	to make	a donation to
help cover those who can't afford theirs.  Only	40% of you are making
significant contributions now, and we need to raise this percentage - a	small
minority of you	are supporting the rest.  Please contribute, if	only a little,
against	our costs.  At least try to bring your balance up to 0,	or even	to a
surplus	as listed in the mailing codes above.
   Our rapid growth is straining our resources,	and publishing the textbook will
be very	expensive.  Please help!  Perhaps consider donating to cover the costs
of mailing to one, five, ten, or more new people; it costs us about $5.00 for
each new person	we add to the list.
   The IRS has approved	our organization for Section 501(c)(3) status, back-
dated to our incorporation last	year.  This approval means that	donations (not
contributions to your voluntary	balance) by U.S	taxpayers are tax-deductible.
We need	these donations	in addition to and independent of your contributions to
voluntary balances.
   Because IRS rulings of this sort are	provisional (in	our case for 4 years),
we must	document each year that	a significant portion of our income is provided
through	such donations.	 Because of this, we are asking	that people working who

				       3
spend money on our behalf for telephone, postage, transportation, and
copying/printing send us logs or receipts showing your expenditures.  We will
record these amounts as	donations.
   We note for all potential donors that our bylaws require that no more than
30% of our expenses be for administration and legal fees, and that you are
welcome	to make	gifts conditional upon our meeting this	requirement.
   To all donors:  we will mail	notifications of your deductible amounts shortly
after the end of the calendar year.  If	your balance is	negative, we must apply
your donations to your balance before crediting	you with a deductible
contribution.

				 Questionnaire

   It's	time for our annual questionnaire.  If we haven't heard	from you, here
is a chance to quickly let us know what	you think.  We are also	seeking	to
identify some special interest groups that we believe exist among you.	IT IS
ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT THAT YOU RESPOND IF YOU HAVE NEVER	RESPONDED TO OUR INITIAL
MAILING.  We also would	like comments from more	of the 200+ people added in the
last year.  Let	us know	how we are or aren't living up to your expectations.

			Lojban Conversation Demonstrated

   While Nora and Bob LeChevalier have enjoyed short exchanges of Lojban
conversation over the past year, the last three	months have finally proven that
Lojban is speakable and	teachable, as the members of the DC-area Lojban	class
joined the ranks of those able to speak	the language.
   The first breakthrough took place en-route from Washington to the World
Science	Fiction	Convention (Worldcon) in Boston.  Athelstan, Bob, and Nora
joined in Lojban conversation for stretches of a couple	of hours, though Bob did
most of	the talking.  The confidence resulting from this exercise was germinal,
though.	 Upon returning	in mid-September, all of the remaining DC Lojban classes
started	with an	hour long period of Lojban conversation	of successively	greater
complexity.
   The crowning	touch occurred at a party celebrating the end of the class on 5
November 1989 (a historical date indeed).  Bob,	Nora, Athelstan, Sylvia	Rutiser,
and Albion Zeglin, met for dinner and an evening of conversation at Bob	& Nora's
house.	The homemade pizza was mediocre	(Bob made it because no	one wanted to
try to order pizza from	an outside vendor in Lojban), but the conversation was
stimulating and	entirely in Lojban for over 4 1/2 hours.
   Unlike previous efforts, class members did much of the talking (Bob was
struggling with	pizza dough).  There was discussion of the menu	and possible
pizza toppings.	 Athelstan led a discussion on poker terminology, while	Nora,
Sylvia,	Albion tried to	decide the Lojbanic rules for various other games from
Tic-Tac-Toe (kruca ce djine) to	Crazy Eights (fenki melibiboi).	 Finally, as the
dinner settled in full stomachs, the discussion	turned to music, philosophy, and
the future of the Lojban project.
   None	of us is close to fluent in the	language, but Bob used a word list only
a couple of times during the evening, and even the class students found
themselves looking at their lists less and less	as the evening wore on.
   Part	of the evening was taped, and, if the conversation wasn't always
grammatical and	smooth,	history	was made.  (The	tapes will be retained and
eventually donated with	other Lojban materials to the Library of Congress, which
is monitoring the language development.)

		      Lojban Gains International Publicity

   Just	before we left for Worldcon, Bob was contacted by Don Oldenburg	of the
Washington Post.  Don had been referred	by Mike	Gunderloy, and wanted to write a
feature	article	about the Lojban efforts.  Information was sent, and it	turned
out that the timing was	perfect.  After	interviewing Bob, Athelstan, and several
other Lojbanists around	the country, Don wrote his article the week after the
Lojban party that finally demonstrated that the	language is useful in
communication.
   A large article, over a half-page long, appeared in the Washington Post
'Style'	section	on 10 November 1989 (page D5 for those who want	to look	it up in

				       4
a library).  The article was also sent out the following week on the LA
Times/Washington Post News Service, and	it appeared in the Los Angeles Times on
17 November 1989 ('View' section, page E9) and the San Francisco Chronicle on 26
November 1989 (Sunday 'Punch' section, page 6).	 The article is	nicely positive,
tells about our	Lojban party, and the project goals.
   The News Service provides materials for most	metropolitan newspapers; you may
thus have seen the article by now in your local	paper, probably	in a features
section.  (Papers may wait weeks or months to print the	article; it contains no
time-dependent news.)  If it hasn't appeared, or you aren't sure, call your
paper's	features department, mention the author	and the	key word 'Lojban', the
LA Times/Washington Post News Service, that it was distributed approximately 15
November, and ask if they might	run the	article.  If you want to serve as local
point-of-contact for interested	readers, you might volunteer to	have them add a
couple of paragraphs identifying you and other local Lojbanists, and your
interests in the language.  A big boost	for the	language will undoubtedly re-
sult.  Go ahead! Call today!  (Please let us know if the article appears in your
local paper, the date, page number, and	send us	a copy.	 We have no other way of
knowing	which papers run the article.)
   If we get permission	from the Post, we will be including a copy of the
article	in this	or the next issue of le	lojbo karni.  Put it on	your office wall
or a bulletin board with your name and phone number, and you will likely hear
from a few people interested in	learning about the language.  Tell them	what you
know and pass their names along	to us if they are interested.  (Encourage them
to write us with any questions you can't answer.)
   The Post article gives us national recognition, but had additional benefit.
A reporter for the Copley News Service read the	article	and then interviewed
Bob; a news-wire story was released on 27 November to Copley's customers, some
1800 radio stations in the US, Canada, and Europe.  As a result, I've given live
and recorded phone interviews to radio stations	in the US and Canada.  See
publicity below	for a detailed list.

			     Thanks to Some Friends

   We have a policy against advertising.  Those	of you who contribute to our
publication costs aren't paying	to read	such stuff, but	rather to read about
Lojban.
   I'm making an exception in this issue, on a one-time	basis.	Over the past
year, the Lojban project has received publicity, support, and direct labor from
many people, without whom our progress and growth would	have been impossible.
   We can't possibly thank everyone who	has contributed	to the Lojban effort
this past year;	there are simply too many of you.  Key individuals deserve some
special	recognition, which I am	extending by listing services they offer to the
public which are in some way tangential	to Lojbanic activities.	 Your use of
their services will perhaps encourage their continued efforts on our behalf.
   None	of the following are solicited or paid advertisements.	I made the
decision based on contribution and possible audience interest in their services.

Jeff Taylor, who is writing the	Lojban parser and
the new	cmavo dictionary, is a programmer doing
business as 'The Toolsmith', per the
advertisement at right which describes his new
product.  He is	also seeking contract programming
work.  He has extensive	experience in compilers,
parsers, and system and	user utilities,	and works
in C, assembler, FORTRAN, Pascal and Modula-2.
He has previously worked with several other
languages.

Abraxas	Software, 7033 SW Macadam Ave.,	Portland
OR 97219; 503-244-5253,	provided us PCYACC, their
PC-based equivalent of YACC, the Bell Labs Parser
Generator.  While we bought their 'personal'
version	of the program,	they have provided
exceptional customer support, including	several
specially tailored adaptations to our Lojban

				       5
needs.	They also hired	Jeff Taylor's services
for several weeks, and have incorporated his
efforts	in error detection and processing that he
also is	putting	in the Lojban parser.  Abraxas
also has MacIntosh and OS/2 parser generators.

Brad Lowry, PO Box 42505, Philadelphia PA 19101-
2505; 215-923-9533, produced the Lojban	video for
Worldcon with the help of Elliott Deal.	 They
also taped la sindereluyd. (JL9) at LogFest.
Brad provides professional video and sound
production services, and production electronics
tech support.

Nancy Lebovitz,	410 Wollaston C6, Newark DE 19711; 302-368-8398	does
professional calligraphy and related artwork, sells a large variety of humorous
and serious calligraphic buttons, including special orders.  Her free catalog is
entertaining on	its own.  She did the e'osai ko	sarji la lojban	button for us,
has recruited for us at	science	fiction	conventions, and put us	in touch with:

Mike Gunderloy,	6 Arizona Ave.,	Renssalaer NY 12144-4502; 518-479-3707;	also BBS
modem 518-479-3879; Mike publishes Factsheet 5,	a bi-monthly journal reviewing
the 'small press'.  He reviews up to 1000 publications,	software, music	tapes,
and other stuff	each issue, good info for only a couple	of bucks.  Mike	has
recruited over 50 new Lojbanists through his favorable reviews of our materials.

Mark Manning, 1400 East	Mercer #19, Seattle WA 98112, publishes	TAND, an amateur
science	fiction	magazine.  He reviewed Lojban in a recent issue, and will be
carrying further discussion of language	issues.	 The publication is free, but
you must write to him each issue, with possible	publication of your response.

Rick Harrison, PO Box 507014, Orlando FL 32854,	publishes The Alembic
($2/issue), another amateur publication, this one with broad intellectual
subject	matter.	 He published part of the Lojban brochure in his first issue.

				     Notes

  There	is still a computer bulletin board conference reserved for Loglan and
Lojban on the AMRAD BBS	here in	the DC area.  I	am checking it ever week or two;
it has,	unfortunately, seen little use.	 We at one time	had some pretty	lively
discussions going on the CLBB BBS, and I hope to get these going again.	 The BBS
phone number is	703-734-1387, and it is	PC PURSUIT-able.

  USENET, UUCP,	and INTERNET mail should now be	sent to	me via Darren Stalder at
dstalder@gmuvax2 .gmu.edu.  Darren has the brochure and	the gismu list available
for on-line transmission via the net.  Contact him to get either.


			    Research and Development

  Grammar Changes Approved - Last issue	described a grammar change proposal that
was being circulated to	those who were known to	have finished Lesson 3.	 This
proposal incorporated several minor fine-tunings of the	language.  I'm pleased
to report that there was no objection to the proposals and they	are therefore
effectively adopted.
  Unfortunately, the promised description of the changes at a "student's" level
is being put off - a useful description	may not	be possible at a low level.
What is	needed is a lot	of examples showing the	effects	of the change; coming up
with meaningful	examples for specific grammar points, however, has proven to be
the most difficult problem in teaching the language.
  What will probably happen is that we will incorporate	the changes in textbook
lesson revisions, and then use those revisions to write	a change description for
those who have already completed the unrevised lessons.	 This will not occur
until sometime next year.

				       6
  Meanwhile, don't let the changes slow	you down in learning the language.  Few
of the changes will affect your	first writings in the language.	 If you	do send
us writings that are affected by the grammar changes, we can use them as the
examples we need to explain the	changes	to you (and eventually to others).
  Lojban Parser	Status - Jeff Taylor has incorporated the grammar change
proposal in his	parser,	as well	as some	changes	in the grammar of tenses that
were identified	when we	tried to teach that subject (these do not affect any of
the written lessons).
  We have found	a number of small problems in the cmavo-compounding software.
These are being	worked out slowly as we	carefully test the parser prior	to
releasing it.  The parser will be well-tested before we	let people have	it.
  We also will need to update the parser to reflect changes in the cmavo and
grammar	that surface in	preparing the cmavo list update	and resolving the
remaining grammar issues (see following	items for these	topics).  At a point
where the word recognizer (lexer) is reasonably	stable,	we will	probably attempt
to see how well	it works with Jeff Prothero's PLOP (Public Domain Lo**an Parser)
which has some processing advantages (and disadvantages) compared to Jeff
Taylor's parser.
  While	I had hoped to be able to distribute one or both parsers by the	end of
the year, I now	think that February/March is a more realistic estimate.	 This
may be affected	further	by Jeff	Taylor's job-hunting efforts.
  cmavo	List Update in Progress	- As a break from parser debugging, Jeff Taylor
has performed a	much-needed task.  He assembled	the cmavo information into an
alphabetic cmavo list to replace the draft cmavo list that we are distributing
now, which dates back to October 1988.
  The draft list was never intended to be used this long, and has numerous
omissions, 'to be supplied's, and even a couple	errors and inconsistencies.  I
made up	a 2-page summary of some of the	latter,	and send this out to anyone who
orders the list	now, but that summary is incomplete; I haven't bothered	to send
it to people who earlier received the cmavo list.
  Jeff has formatted the cmavo list alphabetically, and	it looks like a	real
dictionary; it may even	be considered the first	installment of the Lojban
dictionary when	it is completed.  He is	using his HP printer (see his ad above)
to give	us exceptional print quality.
  I'm going to have to go word by word through the list	to verify it, and this
will take time.	 I also	need to	incorporate the	latest grammar changes,	which
are not	fully reflected, and the results from studying the open	grammar	issues
discussed below.
  Also needed are summary lists	by lexeme and discussions of the role of each
lexeme,	possibly with some examples, things Jeff hasn't	tried to write.	 These
are partially written in the draft cmavo list, and should take relatively little
time to	update and complete.
  This will be my highest priority upon	completing LK11, JL10, and JL11, and I
hope to	have copy to Jeff early	next year.  I want to publish the list by LK12,
marking	a major	step forward in	the language definition.
  After	the list is updated, the changes will be verified in the parser	and
incorporated into the random sentence generator.  The latter will then be re-
leased as an update, and the former will be published.
  Place	Structure Revisions - After the	cmavo list and parser are done,	the next
priority will be to complete the review	of gismu place structures started
several	months ago.  We	haven't	had as many comments on	place structures from
different Lojbanists as	we'd like.  This is one	area where you needn't be too
expert in the language to contribute.
  We have completed updating the Roget's Thesaurus index of the	gismu that was
used in	preparing the final baseline.  This index is being used	to compare place
structures of similar gismu to ensure consistency.  We are using a similar
analysis done by Paul Doudna as	well.
  The result will be more complete statements of the place structures for each
gismu; the text	field for the definitions is being expanded from a maximum 40
characters to over 100.	 The result should make	it easier for you to understand
what goes in each sumti	of a place structure.
  The updated place structures will be incorporated in a new version of
LogFlash, probably in spring.  That version will also include instrumentation
for scientific monitoring of volunteers	who participate	in learning experiments,
such as	the one	described in JL9.

				       7
  Summary of Open Grammar Issues - Now that the	first Lojban class has been
completed, we can summarize the	language status	as being demonstrably teachable
and speakable.	However, in teaching the class,	questions came up about	the
thoroughness of	our designs in four areas.  We have chosen to resolve these four
areas before writing textbook lessons beyond lesson 6, since they affect several
of the lessons not yet written.
  The four areas are negation, attitudinals, tense, and	MEX.  I'll spend one or
two paragraphs on each.
  Negation - Even JCB notes in the new L1 that the question of negation	hadn't
been thoroughly	studied.  When we tried	to teach negation in class, questions
immediately arose that we could	not answer.  Nora and pc (John Parks-Clifford,
who is a professor of logic) started exchanging	letters	on the subject,	finding
more and more open issues as they discussed the	subject.  Suffice it to	say that
the design of negation in Lojban and all other versions	of Loglan failed the
tests of both logic and	pragmatic usage	in a number of ways.
  Just as we were at the point of total	confusion, I discovered	a recent book
that has proven	a godsend, an exhaustive treatment of the subject of negation.
It was tough reading, and we let pc go through it in depth.  He	has finished
that review, and has written a summary of requirements for logical and pragmatic
negation in a logical language.	 We will review	the requirements that he has
identified, make any required design changes (new cmavo	or definitions for old
ones are expected to suffice to	solve any problems).  We hope to have the
results	completed in time to print the requirements and	design in JL11,	to be
published at the end of	December.
  Attitudinals - It was	pointed	out by two people on our recent	travels	that our
set of attitudinals seemed disorganized	and unsystematic.  The design is
actually more systematic than it appears; a lot	of analysis was	built into the
list based on a	paradigm devised last year by pc; but pc later retracted that
paradigm, and the system embedded in the attitudinals is thus no longer
apparent.
  Athelstan and	I started to analyze the problem in September, but the effort
got superseded in priority.  The initial result	was a very long	list of	several
hundred	possible emotions and attitudes	that could be considered for
attitudinals (there is no exhaustive treatment on this subject in any book - and
we've looked).	Included in this list were the attitudinals of L adan, the only
other artificial language we've	identified that	has a defined set.
  (One of the criticisms of Esperanto that we've read is that it has no	such set
defined, thus making it	impossible to 'read between the	lines' of a statement to
determine what a speaker intends in expressing it; intentional signals are
generally based	on usage forms and cultural associations, so a workable
artificial language that is to be independent of the conventions of the
speaker's native culture must address the issue	explicitly.)
  Nora examined	the list and identified	a couple of simplifying	paradigms, but
we need	to make	at least one more simplification to fit	the set	of attitudes
within available cmavo.	 As it appears now, though, this won't be too difficult,
and may	be solved in the next month.  No change	to the formal grammar is
expected; there	will be	cmavo changes, but they	are expected to	primarily affect
cmavo that have	not been covered in existing lessons.
  Tense	- The design of	tense in the published grammar proved to be unteachable
(even I	couldn't figure	out why	I did some things - and	we want	the grammar to
be pretty understandable to just about anyone),	so Nora	and I went back	to first
principles and tried to	reestablish the	grammar	as I had intended it.  This took
only one evening, and then an all-night	session	of parsing, and	voila, we had a
new grammar of tense that was much more	understandable.	 It took only one eve-
ning to	cover the subject in class, but	we didn't have enough examples.	 As time
has gone on, we've identified a	few such examples in translations, and the
design has had no trouble expressing all things	we've devised.	What remains is
to write the grammar up	so that	pc, our	expert on the subject of tense logic,
can verify that	the tense grammar design reflects the requirements that	he has
specified over the past	few years.  We don't expect any	significant problems,
but I will not consider	the design done	until it has been properly reviewed.
  MEX -	Those who read JL9 saw the essentials of the MEX design	as we were
planning to teach it.  Alas, again because I hadn't prepared examples, the
teaching did not go well.  MEX seemed very clumsy to use, requiring too	many
'parenthesis' and the like.  Furthermore, Athelstan, our most mathematically

				       8
inclined student, was not there	that evening to	react to the expressions we were
devising on the	fly.  The others weren't particularly interested in MEX	as a
theoretical subject, and we don't have the usage experience to make the	subject
'relevant' to speakers.	 When I	get a chance to	go over	it with	Athelstan and
Nora, we may have a clearer idea whether there is a problem, or	whether	it was
just a poorly prepared-for class.
  My instincts tell me that MEX	will probably work as is, but will not be as
usable as we'd like.  We may, upon closer examination, find some minor
improvements, but the design is	unlikely to change significantly.  I suspect
that there will	be few approaches to MEX that offer complete flexibility of
notation systems in a predicate	grammar, as we are requiring.  Time will tell.


			      Growth and Publicity

   Record Growth - The 3 months	since LK10 have	given us record	growth;	over 100
new people have	been added to our subscriber lists from	a variety of sources.
Also, this number included an especially high percentage of people interested in
learning the language NOW, i.e.	people in Level	2 and Level 3.	We can thank
Athelstan's new	'mini-lesson' approach for these higher	levels of interest;
people are starting to realize just how	easy Lojban is to learn.
   As a	result of our growth, we now have more than 75 people with the draft
textbook lessons; some 150 people have obtained	flashcards or one of the
computer teaching programs, and	presumably are learning	the vocabulary.
   People are hearing of Lojban	from an	increasingly wide variety of origins.
We're being mentioned on computer networks, have had newspaper articles	written
about us, and have had ads in two different magazines, besides the convention
appearances and	simple word-of-mouth.  Most recently, I	have been giving
telephone interviews to	radio stations.	 Over the last two years we have
distributed perhaps 3000 brochures, and	these continue to be passed along until
they find an interested	reader.	 We recently heard from	someone	in Atlanta (with
three other interested friends)	who had	been given a brochure that we had
originally handed out over a year ago.
   Worldcon Success - Worldcon,	the World Science Fiction Convention, was a big
success	for Lojban.  We	were well organized, had support from Todd Dashoff, our
programming section leader (thanx, Todd), as well as several people at the con
who already knew us and	spread the word	to others to come to our table.	 We
ended up handing out nearly 600	brochures.  An interesting juxtaposition found
our table adjacent to the Esperanto table.  This led to	some interesting banter
(and a few Esperantists	becoming interested in Lojban).
   Due to demand, we added 3 extra mini-lesson presentations, thus contributing
7 hours	of programming to the convention.
   These mini-lessons allowed us to gain much of the international benefits that
we sought from Worldcon	(it turned out that less than 10% of the attendees were
from outside the U.S., and most	of those were from Canada, so we were happy with
what we	got.)  International recruits did include a Finlander who does
translations, an American teaching English in Japan who	hopes to use Lojban to
bridge between science fiction fans in Japan and the U.S., and a few people from
Britain, recruited with	the help of longtime Loglanist/Lojbanist Colin Fine and
his brother Philip.
   We also invested a lot of time staffing our table, a	real benefit in
garnering new people who had questions,	and wanted to talk about their ideas.
It was exhausting, typically 9 AM to midnight, most of the time	at our table,
and ALWAYS on the go.
   We learned a	lot about how to give presentations so as to get and keep people
interested in what we had to say.  Those who are planning to give talks	about
Lojban at other	conventions should be in touch with us for details.  We'll be
applying what we've learned at Evecon 90, shortly after	the new	year.
   NYC and Boston Presentations	- In connection	with our Worldcon trip to
Boston,	we held	a meeting outside the convention (at the MIT campus) and a
second one in New York City on the way back to Washington.
   Actually, we	had two	meetings in Boston.  We	got to spend a couple of hours
talking	to Lojbanist Dr. Guy Steele, who is noted for his contributions	to
artificial intelligence	and computer language design.  Guy made	us feel	really
good when he told us that he saw nothing to criticize in our design approach -

				       9
we were	'doing fine' on	our own.  He gave us insights on what is needed	to get
industry or government financial support for research into AI applications for
Lojban;	we're quite far	along on achieving the milestones he thinks are
important.
   The MIT meeting was attended	by about a dozen people.  Noteworthy were Chris
Moriondo, who had served as our	Boston point-of-contact	for organizing the
meeting.  Jay Dobis and	Coranth	D'Gryphon, both	recruited at Worldcon, agreed to
assist Chris in	organizing a class in the Boston area.	Chuck Barton, a
professional language teacher and longtime Lojbanist, will also	be helping with
the class once it gets organized.  Coranth is giving talks, including a	version
of Athelstan's mini-lesson, early in December, after which a class will	start.
   Deb Wunder organized	a meeting in midtown Manhattan,	attended again by about
a dozen	people,	all of which were interested in	a class.  Eric Tiedemann,
recruited at Worldcon, is assisting Deb	in organizing an NYC area class, which
should be starting shortly.  T.	Peter Park will	also be	assisting in teaching
that class.  Eric is also giving mini-lesson presentations to add to the number
of class participants.
   The night after this	meeting, we attended the NYUSFS	science	fiction
gathering, which is a common interest of several of our	Lojbanist friends in New
York.  We got to talk to several potential new Lojbanists through this meeting
as well.
   Still, the meetings continued, and the following night saw another meeting
and mini-lesson	at Art Wieners'	house in the New Jersey	suburbs.  We also got to
see Art	show off his rapidly growing Lojban software suite, including a
flashcard program that uses a voice synthesizer	to speak the words, and	a word
resolver that can put unambiguously words together from	phonemes and stress,
using the morphology rules in the Synopsis.  This can eventually be combined
with the Lojban	parser,	and with front-end speech recognizer hardware that can
pick out phonemes and stress, we will be able to go from spoken	Lojban to
grammatically parsed text, a major accomplishment towards AI applications of the
language.
   Athelstan's 'Lojban Mini-Lesson' - In preparing for Logfest 89, Athelstan got
the idea of preparing a	short mini-lesson that could quickly get people	up to a
level where they could comfortably participate in language discussions.	 Un-
fortunately, his bout of poison	ivy prevented him from putting much effort into
this, although he was able to try a few	ideas.	At Unicon in August, though, he
actually had a prepared	talk, which went especially well:  all 8 people	attend-
ing signed up as Level 3 language students.
   As a	result,	we went	to Worldcon prepared to	repeat the mini-lesson,	using
Athelstan's experience from this first attempt.	 Athelstan had planned to do
only one mini-lesson; there was	so much	interest that he eventually gave four,
and with a little better ability to advertise these on-the-spot	programming
changes, we could have easily given a few more.
   Athelstan is	doing an outline of the	mini-lesson to aid others in learning
these basics of	the language, and to help those	who want to give similar talks.
We are hoping to record	or make	a video	out of the mini-lesson,	which can then
be distributed to those	of you who want	a livelier source than our textbook
lessons	provide.
   Athelstan is	hoping to give a couple	of mini-lessons	at Evecon in January,
and is also working on a second, more advanced mini-lesson that	will move beyond
the initial lesson's material.	This also may eventually be taped.
   Lojban Video	- Brad Lowry and Elliott Deal took several hours of video
footage	during LogFest last June.  The result was edited into a	short (3 minute)
professional video on the language, which we used at Worldcon.	Due to the lo-
gistic problems	resulting from staying at a hotel a mile from the convention
center,	we didn't get to use the video as much as we wanted, but those who
watched	it found it eye-catching.
   If we can avoid logistic problems, we hope to use the video at other
conventions, including Evecon.	We also	will be	showing	the video at next year's
LogFest	in June, along with the	comical	footage	of our little-rehearsed
production of la sindereluyd., discussed in LK10 and JL9.
   Advertising and Radio - The following is a list of those radio interviews I
have given or scheduled.  Since, at this writing, I am getting calls daily to do
additional interviews, this may	be just	the beginning:

				       10
11/28/89    WDWS Champaign-Urbana IL
   interviewer Stevey Jay (live)
11/28/89    KYW	Philadelphia PA
   interviewer Karen Phillips (taped for broadcast on 12/3/89)
11/28/89    WSPD Toledo	OH
   interviewer Dave Macy (live)
11/29/89    WHIO Dayton	OH
   morning show	(live)
11/29/89    KOA	Denver CO
   interviewer Steve Kelly (live)
12/1/89	    WHDH Boston	MA
   morning show	(live)
12/1/89	    CBC	Winnepeg, Manitoba
   interviewer Jack Farr (taped	for use	on Saturday 12/30/89 - nationally
   broadcast at	about 3:15 PM Central time)
12/6/89	    WLW	Cincinnati OH
   interviewer Mike McCall (taped for later broadcast -	date uncertain)
12/14/89 (Thursday) CKNW Vancouver BC
   host	- Terry	Moore (talk show live at 6:50 PM Pacific time)
12/19/89 (Tuesday)  KVEN Ventura CA
   host	- Ross Olney (15 minute	talk show - live at 2:05 PM Pacific time)

  I am also contacting with Voice of America and National Public Radio about
possible features on Lojban, and will be pursuing other	radio efforts as
opportunities present themselves.
  We are pursuing other	avenues	for advertising.  A Lojbanist donated an
advertisement in the October issue monthly national Mensa magazine.  This
brought	in at least a dozen (some respondents don't say	where they heard of us).
We are also contacting the Mensa artificial languages special interest group.
Two small press	magazines have run articles on Lojban; one of these, TAND, by
Mark Manning (see pg 4)	promises a continuing dialogue between us and Mark's
various	correspondents.
  We expect to shortly be assigned a subject heading in	the Library of Congress,
as a result of our working relationship	with their linguistics acquisitions
section.  They will be binding our publications	into a book, which will	then be
put on the shelf.
  Recent contacts may lead to a	working	relationship with the San Francisco
Exploratorium, noted for its scientific	and education emphasis.	 We also are
communicating with interested scientists and teachers at several academic
institutions, including	some in	England.
  People are also talking about	us on computer networks.  While	we don't yet
have any direct	connection, apparently enough of you are talking about Lojban on
computer networks that we are gaining a	lot of name recognition	there, and 1 or
2 new people a week.
  We are also continuing our support of	various	conventions, and I've shifted
the job	of attending most of these to people including Athelstan, Eric
Tiedemann, John	Hodges,	and Coranth D'Gryphon, who among them will probably
represent us at	over a dozen conventions during	the next year.
  We've	found that copies of the brochure on college and university bulletin
boards have led	to many	responses.  We will supply you with brochures for this
purpose, or you	make copies yourself (cheaper because it saves postage); we will
credit your balance or donation	upon receiving a receipt.
  See international news below,	for more on how	we are spreading Lojban
overseas.
  In short, our	name is	growing, and our numbers will as well.	We should have a
significant audience by	the time the textbook is published, You	can help by
spreading the word yourself, or	by suggesting possible avenues for publicity.
  A Logo - Some	may recall Jamie Bechtel's suggestion that we establish	a logo
for la lojbangirz.  We got very	little feedback	on this	idea, and we put off any
decision until we have a real need for such a symbol.  Finally another sugges-
tion has arisen, this time from	Kit Archer.  Kit proposes a M”bius strip,
horizontal, and	inscribed with Claude van Horn's slogan	"e'osai	ko sarji la
lojban."  Reactions?
  Computer Networks - We have not yet gained direct access to any computer
network	such as	Compuserve, and	finances will not allow	it for a while;	we may

				       11
be able	to get free access to USENET/UUCP/Internet through a local university
now that we have our non-profit	status,	but I don't have time to check on this
yet.
  However, others among	you have access	to a wide variety of networks and
bulletin boards, more than we could ever afford	to be on from here.  You may
wish to	consider putting announcements about Lojban on your boards and networks;
we can supply text.  We	also need people to provide mailboxes, gathering
messages and relaying them to us by 'mundane' mail.
  Eric Tiedemann and Eric Raymond are planning another service using the UNIX
networks.  Eric	Raymond	is setting up a	'reflector' program that will accept
messages on his	computer and then redistribute them to the entire list of
Lojbanists on the net.	I am providing Eric with the entire set	of net addresses
that people have given me on registration forms.  I'm also asking in the ques-
tionnaire if you want to participate, but those	that I have addresses for now
may have already received a message from Eric by the time you get this
newsletter.
   Where You Are - Each	year, I	summarize where	Lojbanists are located.	 A point
of contact is also given where we have identified one.	Note where people are
outside	your immediate area.  When you travel you can visit another Lojbanist;
if you have friends in other cities, tell them that we have other Lojbanists
there.
   In the following, the number	before the slash is the	total number of	people;
the number after the slash is the number of people at level 1 or higher, and
thus more likely to be actively	studying the language either now or in the near
future.

				   US 578/260

Alabama	2/1
Alaska 3/1
Arizona	7/3
Arkansas 1/0
California 106/48
   Los Angeles Central Area 21/11
   LA -	North/East Suburbs 11/8
   San Diego 18/5
   Orange County 4/4
   San Francisco 9/3
   SF Peninsula	9/3
   SF East Bay 14/6
   San Jose/Santa Cruz 6/1
       Doug Landauer	 408-336-5005 (h)
		  415-336-6277 (w)
   Sacramento 4/3
       Jeff Taylor  916-753-5040
     net LA 36/22
       Rory Hinnen  818-796-8096 (h)
		  818-354-7180 (w)
     net SF 38/13
       Dave Cortesi 415-321-1986 (h)
		  415-926-6641 (w)
Colorado 10/5
   Denver 8/4
       Steve Wheeler	 303-422-5611 (h)
		  303-422-8088 (w)
       Claude Van Horn	 307-634-8181 (h)
		  303-353-3866 (w)
Delaware 5/3
       Nancy Lebovitz	 302-368-8398
District of Columbia 8/2
   net Washington DC area 93/46
       Bob LeChevalier	 703-385-0273
   net Baltimore/Washington area 109/55
Florida	15/4
   Gainesville 6/2

				       12
Georgia	4/1
Hawaii 1/0
Idaho 1/1
Illinois 14/4
   Chicago 10/4
Indiana	4/2
       Guy Townsend 812-273-6908 (h)
Iowa 2/1
Kansas 6/1
   Kansas City 5/1
Kentucky 1/0
Louisiana 5/3
Maine 2/1
Maryland 55/31
   Washington DC suburbs 38/21
   Baltimore & suburbs 16/9
       Gary Burgess 301-551-3121 (h)
Massachusetts 65/35
   Boston - North 21/11
   Boston - Central 37/19
   Boston - West/South 6/4
     net Boston	64/34
       Jay Dobis  617-354-5433
       Chris Moriondo	 508-481-9986 (h)
		  508-870-6927 (w)
     net Boston, NH, & RI 73/37
Michigan 10/2
Minnesota 8/3
Missouri 7/5
   St. Louis 6/5
     John Parks-Clifford 314-727-1250
Nebraska 1/1
       Jamie Bechtel	 402-556-8312
Nevada 4/0
New Hampshire 3/0
New Jersey 13/8
   NYC suburbs 12/7
       Art Wieners  201-271-1483 (h)
		  201-949-2748 (w)
New Mexico 1/1
New York 40/18
   New York City - Manhattan 17/8
       Eric Tiedemann	 212-316-6889 (h)
   NYC - Bronx & Suburbs 4/2
   NYC - Brooklyn/Queens/L.I. 8/6
   Albany 5/2
     NYC net 41/23
North Carolina 11/4
   Raleigh/Durham 7/3
       Jack Waugh 919-834-0764 (h)
Ohio 12/2
   Cleveland 6/1
Oklahoma 2/1
Oregon 6/5
   Portland 7/5
       Bill Gustafson	 503-645-4810 (h)
		  503-645-4141 (w)
Pennsylvania 19/8
   Philadelphia	12/5
       Eric Raymond 215-296-5718
   net Phila/Wilmington	18/9
Puerto Rico 1/1
Rhode Island 5/2
   RI &	SE Massachusetts 11/6
South Carolina 2/1

				       13
Tennessee 4/1
Texas 19/9
   Austin 5/3
       Jay Hart	  512-482-7419
   Houston 5/3
       Derrith Wieman	 713-859-7685
   Dallas/Ft. Worth 4/2
       Michael Helsem	 214-943-6835 (h)
		  214-922-6498 (w)
Utah 3/2
Vermont	1/0
Virginia 60/29
   Washington DC suburbs 47/23
       Bob LeChevalier	 703-385-0273
   Blacksburg 5/4
       John Hodges  703-552-0986 (h)
Washington 15/6
   Seattle 13/6
       Preston Maxwell	 206-328-2081
West Virginia 2/2
Wisconsin 3/1
Wyoming	1/1

			      International 56/23

Australia 2/0, Austria 1/0, Canada 19/9
(Ottawa	3/1, Toronto 5/3), Denmark 2/1,
Finland	2/1, France 1/1, Great Britain 12/5 (Cambridge 4/2), Italy 1/1,	Japan
1/1,
Mexico 1/0, Netherlands	3/0, New Zealand 1/1, Poland 1/0, Sweden 1/0,
Switzerland 2/2,
Thailand 1/0, USSR 1/1,	West Germany 4/0

Net Total:     634 Lojbanists
	  283 Level 1 or higher


				   Education

  DC Lojban Class Completed - We started with 12 students.  Three students (plus
Nora and I, who	were studying with the class by	the end) survived all the way
until November;	we had expected	to complete the	class in June, and 4 students
dropped	at that	time.  Two others attended intermittently, and cannot be said to
have learned to	speak the language, even though	they were still	technically in
the class at the end.
  The main weakness of the class was in	vocabulary building.  Unfortunately,
only one student ever finished the vocabulary with LogFlash or flashcards; Carl
Burke had mostly finished before the class started.  I was generally unable to
get the	students to spend much time outside of class on	either vocabulary work
or on practice exercises, and it showed	in the last several months when	we made
very slow progress.
  We cannot stress enough the need for anyone trying to	learn ANY language to
set aside some time, preferably	daily or close to it, to practice the language
skills you are trying to learn.	 It needn't be a lot of	time, but without such
practice, a weekly class will spend much of its	time relearning	old material
that students never learned the	first time.  Lojban can	probably be learned to
conversational fluency in either a semester or full year course, if the	students
devote time to the course as they would	a normal college class.	 We didn't get
this, and were further handicapped by my slow development of class materials.
  The experiment did work, though.  Nora and I transferred our knowledge to new
Lojbanists.  Athelstan now ranks nearly	equal with us in language competence,
and the	other two students who completed the course, Sylvia Rutiser and	Albion
Zeglin,	are not	too far	behind.	 Both Athelstan	and Sylvia translated English
texts to demonstrate their competence.	Their writings will be found in	JL10,
which should be	distributed at the same	time as	this issue.

				       14
  Textbook and Blacksburg Class	Stalled	- My failure to	complete the textbook as
scheduled has more drastically affected	students outside the DC	area.  Without
lessons	beyond #6, any further study has to be individual, with	me and Nora con-
ducting	tutoring by mail in response to	students attempts to write in the
language and their questions.
  While	the DC area class finished the course, the Blacksburg class has	stalled.
With the fall semester,	John Hodges, who was leading the class,	resumed	his
schooling (inspired by his Lojban work to study	artificial intelligence).  Since
John is	also working full time,	he hasn't been able to exercise	the needed
organizational leadership, and the class therefore hasn't been meeting very
often.	They have continued slowly, and	were last reported in the middle of
Lesson 5.  The lack of lessons beyond 6	has apparently reduced motivation to
proceed	at a higher rate.  We hope to get things moving	again when more	of the
textbook is completed.
  The only self-teaching student, Jamie	Bechtel, completed Lesson 6 back in
June, and has demonstrated writing competence in an short story, the first
Lojban science fiction,	which is also in JL10.	We are trying to get another
Lojbanist up to	Jamie's	level of competence in writing so that they can	maintain
a correspondence and grow in the absence of new	lessons.  Jamie	is handicapped
by living in Omaha, where there	are no other Lojbanists	within a reasonable
distance.  He also doesn't have	or use a computer, and thus cannot use the
various	computer-oriented aids to learn	the language.  Thus his	remarkable
accomplishments	so far should inspire those similarly lacking computers.
  Hopefully, early next	year, I'll be able to return to	writing	the textbook, no
longer bogged down with	teaching the class and with very time-consuming	legal
work.  We have a good plan for rewriting and completing	it, so when I do get
started, things	should go much more quickly.  I	won't be working on it though,
until the backlog of distractions gets caught up.  I've	learned	that textbook
writing	is a very intense activity for me, and I have to be able to concentrate
on it for several days at a time to make reasonable progress.
  I intend the text wave of classes will have textbook materials by the	time
they need them.	 I expect that new classes starting will get to	Lesson 7 by
sometime in spring.  By	then, I	should be producing lessons at the rate	of 1
every 2	weeks like I was last spring, which would give us a completed textbook
by sometime in summer.
  New Classes Planned -	At present, I know of 3	classes	actively being
organized.  These are in Boston, New York City,	and here in DC.	 The first two
classes	have been trying to set	up organizational meetings, which hopefully will
take place in the next couple of weeks.	 The DC	class will be conducted	in a
Maryland suburb	(possibly at the U. of Maryland	in College Park	or at Athel-
stan's house in	Beltsville).  The organizational meeting will take place the
week after Evecon 90 (which is the weekend of 6-7 January, 1990); if you are in
the DC or Baltimore area, you will hear	from us	directly around	the first of the
year.  Athelstan will be teaching the class, starting with his mini-lessons that
have now been proven before several audiences.	Bob and	Nora will help as
required, but will be concentrating on developing the advanced lessons.
  pc is	planning to organize the half-dozen St.	Louis Lojbanists into a	class,
but has	not yet	started	contacting them.  All but one of the Lojbanists	there is
level 1	or above, so a small group of together-students	(kastadni) should be
achieved shortly.
  Attempts to organize in Los Angeles have thus	far been unsuccessful.	Rory
Hinnen has called everyone that	he has a phone number for, but can't find people
willing	to make	a commitment to	learn the language yet.	 Perhaps, new Lojbanists
recruited through the LA Times article will help get things together.  Meanwhile
Rory has studied the vocabulary	and most of the	lesson materials himself, and
will be	well-qualified to lead the class when it can be	organized.
  There	are hints that organizing activities are ready to start	in the San
Francisco area,	but things haven't jelled; possibly the	quake has had an impact
in this, but geographical dispersion seems to also be a	factor in that some
Lojbanists in the Bay Area are about 100 miles from those at the other end.  We
may eventually have two	or more	study groups as	a solution to this problem.
Recent contacts	with the Exploratorium in San Francisco	may help in getting us a
place to meet.	But given our experience in Boston and New York, the SF-area
Lojbanists may not get together	until Nora and I visit and conduct a few

				       15
meetings and lectures.	We had planned to visit	this winter, but now expect to
go in spring.  Our plans will appear in	the next issue of LK in	February.
  Other	groups of Lojbanists are possible, as can easily be seen by looking at
the lists of where you are located.  Signs of interest in class	organization
have occurred in over a	dozen other cities, but	he have	no results to report.
The main problem seems to be a lack of people willing to call and write	the
others to get that critical first meeting together.
  Lack of time may be a	factor.	 However, the Lojban class here	succeeded, if
slowly,	with about 3-4 hours a week on the part	of those who participated
(including commute time	to the meetings	- the students who completed the class
lived 20 miles or more from my house.)
  Nora's Language Summary - As a follow-on to those who	have completed the
class, and as an aid to	those studying on their	own, Nora has been working on an
outline	synopsis of the	grammar.  Loaded with lots of examples,	this summary
will step from the basic Lojban	sentence pattern to more elaborate convolutions
of that	pattern.  She is writing it to be compatible with Athelstan's mini-
lessons, and the result	may be included	as a reference appendix	in the textbook.
  She hopefully	will complete this within a month or two, and we will probably
release	it as a	product	by the next LK issue.
  T. Peter Park's Overview - Nora isn't	the only one working to	make Lojban
accessible to more people.  T. Peter Park has been so prolific in writing about
Lojban and in Lojban, such that	I haven't been able to keep up with him	in re-
viewing	and responding.
  Among	his writings is	a new introductory overview of the language, much less
'dry' than our current one, and	loaded with interesting	examples.  He avoids or
explains technical terminology a little	better than I did in the current
overview, which	was intended as	much as	anything to serve as a reference
document more than as an introductory one.  We may retain both products, with
the old	overview combined with a written form of Athelstan's mini-lesson and
with Nora's summary, as	an introduction	for students of	the language - as
opposed	to T. Peter's overview,	which will become the one sent to new people to
tell them what the language is like.
  Again, I hope	this to	be completed for publication by	the LK12 issue in
February.
  Lojban Mini-Lesson Video Possible - As we've mentioned or implied several
times, we're quite proud of Athelstan's	Lojban mini-lesson, and	intend to use it
as a basis for our other activities in teaching	the language.  It has proven
very effective in convincing people just how easy Lojban is to learn.
  One thing we intend is to write the mini-lesson in text, so that those who
participate in the mini-lesson have something to remind	them later of what was
covered.  This written mini-lesson will	then become the	first lesson of	the
textbook.
  Since	Athelstan has gotten the mini-lesson down to a firm outline that he
regularly covers in almost exactly an hour, we are also	planning to record the
mini-lesson as a video that you	will be	able to	order.	Since we are talking
about small production amounts,	an hour	video will probably cost us about
$20.00.	 Unless	our finances improve tremendously, we may be unable to afford to
give these away	per our	normal balance ordering	system.	 So the	practicality of
this venture at	this time depends on how many of you will commit to buying the
video if we produce it.	 The questionnaire enclosed in this issue thus asks
about your interest in such a video.


			       International News

  Among	significant international news was the recorded	interview with the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that will be broadcast nationally on Saturday,
30 December 1989 at about 3:15 PM.  The	CBC station theoretically could	reach
over 200 million people; more realistically, the show's	producers estimate that
there will be at least a million people	listening to that broadcast, perhaps 5%
of the Canadian	populace.  We hope that	this will significant expand our numbers
in Canada, perhaps making classes possible in major cities, including French-
speaking Quebec.
  Bob will also	be interviewed live on a Vancouver BC station CKNW talk	show at
about 6:50 Pacific time	on Thursday, 14	December 1989.

				       16
  I've also had	contact	with the French	news agency 'ASP', and expect to give an
interview in the near future, that will	presumably result in a story being
printed	in France and other French-speaking countries.
  International	Finances - As announced	last time, we experimented with	a new
service	for mailing overseas, international airlift postage.  The experiment was
successful and we expect to continue to	use it.
  Most significantly, our overseas postage costs will drop dramatically	when we
mail more than one package outside the U.S., which we normally do.  We will get
near air mail speed of delivery, but at	a cost closer to surface mail rates.
  Thus,	effective with this issue, we are dropping our prices for newsletter and
orders sent overseas.  We are setting our prices based on an average rate of 30-
35 cents (US) per ounce, or about 2c/page higher than US postage.  Thus	our
prices except for US, Canada, and Mexico, will be set at 12c/page.  We will no
longer charge the 50c/$1.00 surcharge for overseas mailing.
  We are also arranging	to be able to cash checks in most national currencies at
a cost of $3.50	US per check.  Our non-profit status gives us this benefit with
a company that does international exchange.  From what I've been told, this is
far cheaper than it is for you to get a	check in US dollars overseas.
  When our credit is approved we will then accept your contributions for your
balances in your native	currency, which	should be much cheaper for you.	 We will
deduct the $3.50 service charge	we pay for each	transaction from your
contribution, so sending larger	amounts	less often is preferred.  Also,	PLEASE
make sure your checks are good.	 The bad check charges under this service are
very large.
  Brochure Translated into French and Italian -	Andr‚ Bergeron has completed
translating the	brochure into French (note the name correction from last issue;
Ren‚ Bilodeau is another Quebec	Lojbanist, and I accidently looked at the wrong
name on	the list).  Since Andr‚	is from	Quebec,	I am sending the translation to
France for review to make sure that we don't end up with idioms	or language
problems due to	local dialects.	 Local French-reading Americans	seem to	think
the translation	is quite good, and Andr‚ has added in explanations of some of
our peculiar terms and Americanisms to make the	result more understandable.  He
also identified	some problems in the translation that we are working on.  The
result is some changes to the brochure that will have to also be translated
before we publish the result.  So it may be a few months yet.
  Meanwhile, new Lojbanist Silvia Romanelli has	translated the brochure	into
Italian.  We will be having the	text back-translated in	the next week or two by
a local	Italian	native speaker.	 Silvia	has identified a group of Italians that
may be interested in studying together.	 Our ability to	translate critical
materials into Italian will enhance the	chances	for this group to succeed.
  We are not limited to	these two languages.  One person is working on a German
brochure, and we are looking for a volunteer to	translate the brochure into
Spanish.  We have also identified a foundation that we will be talking to in
order to get grants for	translating our	more advanced teaching materials into
other languages.  The four European languages mentioned	will probably be our
first priority,	but we would also like to try to get brochures and some
introductory teaching materials	into other languages, especially Chinese,
Arabic,	Hindi, Russian,	and Japanese.
  If you know anyone who would be interested in	helping	with this effort, please
let us know.  We can't pay for translation services, which range in cost from 5c
to 15c per word	- we will support any translator with materials	in trade, but
since we don't require payment for materials anyway, this isn't	of particular
value.	Probably the best we can offer is the knowledge	that you are helping
contribute in a	unique way, and	making it possible for other speakers of your
language to learn about	Lojban.


			      Products and Prices

  LogFlash Conversion and Update Plans - Lojbanist Eric	Raymond	has been
converting LogFlash to machine-portable	C language.  Several others previously
worked on the conversion; we believe that Eric has been	the most successful.
Problems include major differences in string handling, screen input/output and
keyboard access	between	C and Turbo-Pascal.  However, we are confident that we
will shortly have a portable C version.

				       17
  From the portable C version, we will back-fit	to a Pascal version that matches
the C version to make later modifications and enhancements easier.  We may at
some later date	decide to go entirely to C, but	this isn't practical right now,
since Nora doesn't know	C well enough to write or support programs written in
it.
  We are asking	for volunteers to take Eric's program and get it working on
other machines - he apparently can provide the appropriate libraries, etc.  I
think we have volunteers to convert for	the MacIntosh and the Amiga, but I'll
happily	accept redundant volunteers since the conversion problem has persisted
far too	long to	depend on individuals.
  Meanwhile Nora and I will be modifying the Pascal version to accept the new
gismu lists, which have	a much larger definition field for each	word.  We also
will be	putting	in instrumentation that	will allow statistical analysis	of
individual learning rates.  Those who received JL9 will	recall that we wish to
measure	and study actual learning rates	in comparison with our gismu word
recognition scores.
  When the cmavo list is done, we will be making up the	cmavo and grammar data
set for	LogFlash 3.  When the place structure review is	finished, we will be
building data for LogFlash 4, which will teach place structures.
  When will all	this be	done?  Hopefully in spring, though probably not	before
LK12.  Since we	haven't	heard of anyone	even using LogFlash 2 yet outside of
this household,	we haven't been	rushing.
  Hypercard Teaching Materials - Esperantist Mike Urban	has published a
Hypercard program for the MacIntosh that teaches Esperanto.  He	has recently
joined the Lojban community as well.  Two people have independently expressed
interest in working on a similar Hypercard program for Lojban, and they	will
hopefully have heard from Mike by now.	I'll be	trying to get the three	of them
to work	together to get	a useful product, but I	can't promise any schedule.
Since we don't have a MacIntosh	here, we won't be able to support the
development effort directly.
  lujvo-making Program - Nora has completed a short program that builds	lujvo
from your entered English keywords, and	which optionally tests you on randomly
generated lujvo	using the lujvo-making algorithm.  The program is much simpler
than LogFlash and doesn't use the same testing philosophy.  Eric Raymond may
also port this program,	since much of the code overlaps	LogFlash, especially in
the areas where	C and Pascal are incompatible.	We will	supply this program to
anyone who wants it now	for $10, but you may want to wait a few	weeks because we
will probably have room	to put some of the other new material on the same
diskette, such as the cmavo list.  See the order form.
  cmavo	List - The cmavo list will be made available in	text and on-line when it
is completed.  As just mentioned, depending on diskette	space, the on-line list
may be combined	with some other	on-line	products to maximize the use of	the
disk.
  Doudna Papers	- Last issue included a	review of Loglan 1 by Bob and Athelstan.
Since then, we have received one other review, by Paul Doudna, which we	are
sending	to those who requested to read Loglan 1	review materials.
  Paul also has	sent other papers and analyses of a fairly technical nature,
which I	want to	share with interested Lojbanists.  These were generated	on the
MacIntosh, so I	don't have on-line versions.  Paper copies will	be available at
15c/page unless	I (unlikely) get close to 25 orders, reducing our print	costs.
See the	order form for a list.
  Tape and Mini-Lesson Plans - We still	haven't	made any Lojban	tapes for
distribution.  After several attempts to tape our class	sessions, and even
Athelstan's mini-lesson, we've decided that any	tape that we are actually going
to sell	has to be scripted.  (If we don't get anything together	soon, though, we
may offer one of the better mini-lesson	tapes -	just don't expect the best
quality.)
  The first planned tape will either be	a pronunciation	tape with sample
dialogs, that will be matched with early textbook lessons, or it will be
designed for use with a	written	form of	Athelstan's mini-lesson.  As mentioned
above, we may also do a	video version of the mini-lesson.


				    Business

				       18
  Finances - Our finances have been stable for the last	three months, but only
because	of careful cost	controls.  We haven't gotten much money	in, and	so have
had to cut our expenses	to the bone.  I	also had to space out trips to the
printer, which slowed down my responses	to new people when we ran out of
brochures.
  We're	hoping that our	non-profit status motivates some of you	to donate to la
lojbangirz.  We	certainly need the money.
  Non-Profit Status - As mentioned on page 2, our non-profit status is back-
dated to our date of incorporation, which was in November, 1988.  Under	current
law, this status is provisional	and subject to review for 4 years from that
date.  We have to be prepared to show that 'a substantial amount of our	support'
comes from public donations, or	we may be classified as	one of a variety of
different kinds	of organizations, each with its	own peculiar tax rules and
filing requirements.  The one we have is the simplest, so hopefully we can get
sufficient donations to	keep it.
  Our letter of	determination of non-profit status is required to be available
to all requesting to see it.  We will provide a	copy for anyone	that asks.  It's
several	pages, mostly tax-related instructions that describe what rules	we have
to follow.
  Our next goal	in the non-profit arena	is to get the US Postal	Service	to also
declare	us non-profit, which should be easy now	that we	have the IRS ruling.
Non-profit status will cut our bulk rate postage approximately in half,	possibly
allowing our bulk-rate newsletters to drop in price by 10-30%.
  Fund-Raising Plans - The main	objectives of getting non-profit status	were to
allow your donations to	be tax-deductible, to minimize the tax paperwork we have
to do each year, and to	allow us to seek grants.
  With the backlog of work described above, we won't be	able to	undertake any
major grant seeking for	a few months.  We do have a couple of organizations that
we will	contact, but proposal writing takes more time than I can afford	right
now.  Probably I will start by seeking grants to support translations of our
materials into other languages,	and to pay for international education
activities.  As	we get close to	publishing the textbook, we may	also seek grants
to pay for that	publication, but I suspect that	our timing will	not be too good
for that.  It typically	takes several months to	get a grant, and when we get
close to publishing, we	won't want to wait.
  Grants for scientific	research, such as from the NSF,	will probably have to
wait until we can demonstrate significant numbers of reasonably	fluent speakers,
and until we can cite recognition by some significant linguists, though	we may
be able	to get grants for education-related research before then.  We will
probably also need to have published one or more papers	in the academic	press to
gain scientific	credibility.  Such papers are several months away, and would
take several more months to appear and be recognized.
  Another avenue for funding would be grants for AI-related computer work.  We
may have the best chance in this area, based on	Guy Steele's comments.	We will
probably be seeking assistance from both private industry and the US government,
but again, not for a few months.
  Final	decisions on fund-raising activities will be made by the Board of
Directors, not just by me.  Right now, the Board believes that grant-seeking
should be lower	priority to completing our teaching materials, baselining the
language, and building our speaker base.  All of these require more of you to be
involved in learning and using the language, so	your decisions will be most
significant in whether we can seek funding from	other sources in the near
future.


			    News from the Institute

  Loglan 1 Reviews -   Only two	people have bothered to	ask for	Bob and
Athelstan's longer review of Loglan 1; we delayed sending it out in hopes of
getting	more requests (to keep the copying cost	down.
  In addition to our published review, we received a review from Paul Doudna
which we are making available to interested people.  Paul was critical of Loglan
1, although for	separate reasons than we identified.  Paul concentrated	signi-
ficant analysis	on the Institute's gismu list, identifying inconsistencies and
unclarities in definitions and place structures	of that	list.  Paul previously

				       19
analyzed our list the same way,	and we incorporated many of his	comments;  our
list is	thus much more solid than the Institute's.  Another area of criticism
was in Jim Brown's discussion of various types of modifying and	relative
clauses.  Paul identifies several areas	where Loglan 1 contains	errors of logic
and terminology	leading	to inevitable confusion	in this	critical area of the
language.
  pc has also looked at	Loglan 1.  His general comment was that	a lot of things
that he	thought	had been agreed	upon and adopted during	the years of The
Loglanist (1976-1983) were not incorporated into Loglan	1.  Dr.	Brown several
times makes reference to articles in The Loglanist, but	pc found that his text
on each	subject	often contradicts the discussion in TL.
  pc concentrated his review efforts on	the new	chapter	on the Sapir-Whorf
Hypothesis.  He	concludes, as did we, that it is useful	to know	Dr. Brown's
interpretation and how he thinks it can	be tested, but that the	test he	has
devised	is seriously flawed.  We have printed pc's comments in JL10, along with
Bob and	Athelstan's more detailed review of this material.
  Autumn Bulletin Summary - The	Institute published an Autumn Bulletin
(apparently written entirely by	Jim Brown) which, on its surface, implies that a
lot is going on	under its auspices.  A second reading shows that most of the
discussions are	proposals and wishful thinking about what Jim Brown would like
to see happen.
  For example, Jim reports more	income in two months than in the prior two
years.	But since the Institute	hasn't advertised nor sold any new products on
the open market	for several years, this	is to be expected.  The	Institute is
placing	several	national advertisements, but response to our Discover ad
suggests that he will find such	advertising only minimally cost	effective
without	a meaningful organization to retain new	people.
  Jim spends about 6 pages on the organization of the Institute, providing
little new information and revealing his misunderstanding of what people need
and expect from	a viable Institute.  He	describes several offices, but they are
mostly held by either him or Bob McIvor.  The governance of the	Institute is
described as a benevolent dictatorship by him.	He claims meaningful governance
by a Board of Trustees and a Board of Directors, but one Director has told us
that the latter	hasn't even met	in several years.
  The 'Loglan Academy' is unchanged in critical	factors	and therefore meaning-
less.  Dr. Brown has not realized that,	if he has a veto power over any
proposal, no one will submit an	idea to	the Academy until they know he approves
of it.	He also	defines	unworkably bureaucratic	rules for change proposals, and
a ludicrous rule that no part of a rejected proposal may be included in	another
proposal for two years.	 Thus the baby goes out	with the bath water.
  In discussing	the role of the	'Chief Grammarian', Dr.	Brown reveals the
instability of the Institute's version of Loglan.  He reports that the grammar
has on average been changed EVERY TWO WEEKS over the last two years, a pitiable
state for a supposedly complete	language.
  The Members Council, the body	that would supposedly involve the members,
doesn't	exist.	Jim reports no new activity in bringing	this council into exis-
tence; he doesn't seem sure of what its	mission	is supposed to be.  Having de-
fined a	wide range of functions	for the	rest of	the organization, and no
official input into those function required of the Member's Council, there is
very little reason for it to exist.
  Unfortunately, Jim has stolen	the one	activity the Members were intended to
control:  the publication of Lognet.  Jim has appointed	a new editor for Lognet,
a power	specifically withheld from him by his Board.  The new editor's name
isn't given in the Bulletin, but we've found out that Kathy Macedon of Columbia
SC was given the position.  Bob	has written to Kathy and offered encouragement
and permission to reprint from our publications, but as	the job	is described, it
looks as though	Jim is still retaining final editorial control.
  Jim also announces the intent	to restart The Loglanist as a multi-department
magazine, repeating a failed plan from several years ago.  We note that	all of
the proposed editors have either dropped out of	Loglan activities due to the In-
stitute's practices, or	are among the leaders of la lojbangirz.	 We suspect
therefore that his idea	is but a pipe dream.  A	misleading one at that,	since he
implies	that these people might	work on	The Loglanist, which is	most unlikely.
Jim suggests that the quality of writing will be higher	than in	the old	TL,
which would require better writers to contribute than the last time around.

				       20
Unlikely!  TL was supposed to be out this month, no one	reports	hearing	that
editors	have been named	yet.  Don't expect much.
  The remainder	of the issue reports changes in	MacTeach software prices, and
lists activities people	might participate in.  MacTeach	2&3 is significantly
higher than LogFlash 1&2 in price.  MacTeach 2b	is now the same	price as
presumably identical Mac LojFlash except for the word list.  (Only two
Lojbanists have	reported ordering MacTeach; we are hoping for a	review
eventually.)
  Jim's	wish list for Institute	volunteers looks surprisingly like ours	- to be
expected since he gets le lojbo	karni and Ju'i Lobypli.	 Except	that ours isn't
a wish list anymore - we're doing all the things he wants to see done, from
classes	to interviews to talks at conventions.	Jim offers one thing we	don't.
He is giving a drastic discount	on software and	Loglan 1 books for those
teaching a class.  The Institute's discount policy suggests that it is making a
tremendous profit off of everyone else's purchases in order to afford such
discounts.  la Lojbangirz., of course, sells materials at cost,	and so cannot
give discounts except for bulk reductions in postage.  But then, we also use
donations to give teaching materials for free to students who cannot afford
them.


		   Future Plans	- Lojban Chrestomathy/Reader

  A chrestomathy is a collection of materials in a language that is designed to
show its relationships with other languages.  Usually, a chrestomathy contains a
variety	of texts, both short and long, originally written in several other lan-
guages,	that are translated into the target language.  Such a collection is
vital to demonstrating that an artificial language is usable; Esperanto	has had
several	chrestomathies published.  (According to one source, though, the
original chrestomathy by Zamenhof was noteworthy in its	violations of his 16
rules for the language.	 We haven't verified this.)
  One of our criticisms	expressed in last issue's review of Loglan 1 was the
extremely limited set of translation material used to show that	Jim Brown's
version	of Loglan works.  When JL10 and	JL11 are completed, we will have already
published much more Lojban text, of wider variety, than	Jim and	The Loglan
Institute have published in 35 years.  Yet this	collection will	be but a
fraction of the	initial	Esperanto chrestomathy in length.  More	needs to be
done.  As such,	our intent is to collect of such a variety of Lojban
translations and original writings over	the next several months	and to publish
them as	our first chrestomathy.
  We will use the Esperanto chrestomathies for ideas of	what types of things to
translate.  Also, a little-known artificial language named 'Frater', invented by
a Vietnamese, was published with an excellent chrestomathy.  Our volunteers will
translate additional materials of their	own choice, as well.
   Athelstan has indicated that	he intends to translate	several	works from
ancient	Latin and Greek.  Nora and Bob are working on the Scheherazade story and
one of the Sinbad stories from Sir Richard Burton's Arabian Nights translation,
which is as close as we	can come to translating	directly from the Arabic.  Bob
has also been working on the first chapter of Robert Heinlein's	The Moon is a
Harsh Mistress,	in which Loglan	is mentioned, and may translate	some writings by
Polish computer	scientists on their computer language named 'Loglan' (as a
sample of technical Lojban).  Michael Helsem has tried writing original	poetry
in a variety of	cultural forms,	and has	translated a Latin poem.  T. Peter Park
has translated writings	in a variety of	styles.	 For future translations works,
Preston	Maxwell	has short stories from a variety of cultures and languages.  I
will ask T. Peter to locate and	translate writings from	his native Estonian.
Eventually, we plan to have writings from each of our source languages.
   We want as many people as possible involved in this effort, which will build
up our vocabulary lists	while proving that our language	design and grammar rules
work.  While Lojban material is	being written slowly now, our pace and skill is
increasing.  With only a few more of you working on the	project, we can	have a
good-sized sample of readings by the time the textbook is done.	 Some of your
translations may find themselves into the textbook; the	rest can go into the
chrestomathy, which will also serve as the first Lojban	'reader' (if not as ele-
mentary	in difficulty as that word implies).

				       21


			  Contents of Ju'i Lobypli #11

   JL11	will obviously be late.	 JL10 is being mailed at about the time	JL11
should be coming out.  However,	we already have	much of	the material intended to
go into	that issue.  I expect to publish JL11, therefore, in about a month,
which should give people a little time to digest this newsletter and JL10.
   So let us say that JL11 will	be out around the beginning to the middle of
January.  In our continuing and	thus far unsuccessful attempt to move our
publishing calendar one	month earlier, I will be trying	to put out LK12	in
February, and JL12 towards the end of February.	 Issue #13 of each should then
come out in May.  Wish us luck!

   JL11	will have plenty of Lojban text	to digest.  Athelstan has written up a
'new' formulation of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis	as it may apply	to Lojban.  The
description of the Sapir-Whorf-Athelstan Hypothesis is being written in
'technical Lojban' and seems fairly complex to read, so	get your cmavo lists and
grammars ready.
   T. Peter Park has written and translated several things in Lojban, and even
more in	articles about the language, almost drowning me	in his high volume of
productivity.  His Lojban is reasonably	good for someone who hasn't yet	taken a
class or studied the textbook lessons, but he has some consistent errors.
Luckily	he provides good English translations as shown above, so that we can
figure out what	was intended.  (Make sure that any Lojban you write and	send to
us or anyone else includes such	a translation until you	are sure of your Lojban
skills - and your readers'.)
   Michael Helsem has also been	fairly prolific, but in	a more poetic mode.  He
has written some original Lojban poetry	and poetic prose, and translated one
poem from Latin.  He is	trying some very complex things	in these writings, and
most will take at least	one revision to	be publishable,	but we hope to
accomplish this	by JL11.  I am a bit more reluctant to make grammatical
corrections to poetry, since I claim no	particular poetic sense	that would
ensure that I am retaining the author's	intent in making changes.
   The highlight article, by Athelstan,	will be	a discussion at	some length
comparing Lojban and Esperanto.	 There are many	misconceptions regarding these
two languages, and we get lots of questions.  These include questions about why
Lojban is needed, since	'Esperanto is good enough' (this question usually comes
from Esperantists).  Such a question presumes that Lojban and Esperanto	are
trying for the same goals, which is not	the case:  Lojban is not in competition
with Esperanto.	 Of the	question of 'good enough':  can	any language be	said to
be 'good enough'?  We certainly	have learned a lot more	about the nature of
language than Zamenhof knew in the 1880's, so Lojban should be better designed
than Esperanto.
   The biggest misunderstanding	comes when we say that Lojban's	grammar	is
completely and unambiguously expressed with about 500 rules, which is several
orders of magnitude less than any natural language.  Esperantists usually then
say 'but Esperanto has only 16 rules'.	Athelstan responds to this claim (rather
critically I might add), and shows that	a similar description of Lojban	is ex-
pressible in 11	'rules'.
   We'll try to	have a response/rebuttal from an Esperantist who disagrees with
Athelstan (I'm sure there will be one).	 This might have to wait until JL12,
though.
   As discussed	in the R&D section above, we intend to discuss some of the last
remaining grammatical issues in	JL12, as well as any decisions on those	issues
which will have	been made.
   And of course, even more Lojban text, hopefully from	people who haven't yet
written	to us.	I've talked to at least	a dozen	Lojbanists who claim to	have
read through at	least Lesson 4,	which is enough	to write simple	Lojban
paragraphs.  Some of these claim to have already written things	in Lojban.  But
most of	them haven't sent us their writings.  They'll remain nameless, at least
for now. (Hint!	Hint!)	Seriously, I'm hoping that all of you who are trying to
learn the language will	'write early and often', and that you will send	us stuff
you have written.  I may be too	swamped	to respond quickly at present, but I

				       22
hope to	have several more people competent to review Lojban writings within the
next few months, now that the first class is done.  So let's hear from you.


			     A News Note in Lojban
		   by T. Peter Park (with corrections by Bob)

			       le jbotadni tadgri
				THE LOJBAN CLASS

mi de'i	la vodjed. pe li xa pe la somast. pe puzaku cu zvati le	jbotadni tadgri
noi la .ATlstan. cu'urtanc. vi la niuIORK. cu ctuca
I, on date Wednesday (4th-Day) of number 6 of September	(9th-Month), which was
some time ago, attend (was at) the Lojban-studying study-group which Athelstan
Wormtongue, at the one called New York,	teaches.

.i la .ATlstan.	cu'urtanc. .e la lojbab. lecevalier. .e	la noras. lecevalier. pu
vitke klama la niuIORK.
The one	named Athelstan	Wormtongue and the one named Loj-Bob LeChevalier and the
one named Nora LeChevalier had visitingly-gone to the one called New York.


.i mi vi le briju po la	deb. .UYNdr. cu	penmi la .ATlstan. .e la lojbab. .e la
noras. .e la deb.
I, at the office of the	one named Deb Wunder, then meet	the one	named Athelstan,
the one	named Loj-Bob, the one named Nora, and the one named Deb.

.i mi'a	cu klama lo spano gusta	gi'e cavi citka	le vanci sanmi
We (me and others unspecified) then go to a Spanish restaurant and there-at eat
the evening meal.

.i la deb. .e mi ca citka loi spano seljukpa poi sunga kansa seljukpa
relcalkyranda'u
The one	named Deb and I	at that	time eat of the	mass of	Spanish-cooked (things)
which are with-garlic cooked type-of two-shelled-soft-animals (i.e., Spanish-
style clams with garlic).

.i mi'a	ba lenu	citka cu klama le dansyku'a po la morakos.
We, after the event of eating, go to the dance-room of the one named Morocco.

.i mi'a	vi zvati le jbotadni tadgri poi	pu se ctuca la .ATlstan.
We there attend	the Lojban-studying study-group	which was taught by the	one
named Athelstan.

.i bi .onai so prenu cu	zvati le tadgri
8 or 9 people attend the study-group.  (Bob:  The MEX for "8 or	9" in such usage
is not allowed for in the current grammar, but will be added.)

.i le tadgri cu	mutce cinri gi'e mutce pluka terji'i vau ro lovi prenu
The study-group	is very-interesting and	very-pleasingly	thought	of by all these
people.	(Bob:  The only	sentence I had to change significantly to correct it.)

.i la deb. .e la lojbab. e la noras. .e	la .ATlstan. cu	mutce pluka mi
The one	called Deb, the	one called Loj-Bob, the	one called Nora, and the one
called Athelstan (all) much please me.	[bridi left tenseless to indicate
continuity not limited to past of being	pleased!] (Bob:	 A tenseless selbri
doesn't	necessarily imply this,	but doesn't rule it out	either.	 The directional
tense "zai" instead of "cu" would explicitly indicate that the pleasing
continued on at	least into the present,	but this is an advanced	usage that T.
Peter hasn't seen yet.


			    co'o, until	next issue.