(A page from the Loglan web site.)
(From Lognet 95/1. Used with the permission of The Loglan Institute, Inc.)
La Loglan, napa helba veu nepo gunbia sanbatmi.
Pa ro mensa, mi ze la Geris Rektr, ja spalii la Koreas, pia komta lerbatmi la Loglan. Izou pa treci la Geris, ga lepo mi siflii le cmasitci ji lao, Wakefield Massachusetts, ikou ne gudbi fremi je Gai pa nu peersitci la Ueikfild.
LeGai fremi, ja nu namci liu Brai'yn, pa duvri lepu le bierlia forma je le la Ueikfild, vlako ga mutce clika le cartu forma je le korhe lanbaa. Inukou, la Ueikfild, ga karma djine la Koreas, coi Bai.
Zou ue, le lokti nuzveo paza fu feodja lepo ri korhi ji spalii levi spapai faza cnukapmao ne tepli je la Budhas, vi levi cmasitci. Inurau mi hapci djadou la Geris, lepo rea le karma po djine napia skucko.
La Geris, kukra ponda, e djadou mi lepo la Brai'yn, srisu krido le budho lidji. Isui, coi Gai, Bai spuro pintcumao ro budho tcure ja nu vizka vi su korhe tepli.
Voi, la Brai'yn, ga lerci ca telfo sansui le tepli cefpeu, ice faza ti, Bai kamla la Koreas, la Ueikfild, moi lepo snispeni le cninu tepli, e donsu tei, su pintcu.
Nao fao, lo korho pernu ji grujmi vi la Ueikfild Masatcusets, nua bleka su nu pintcumao je ne mela Ueikfild, pernu ji spalii la Koreas. Irea, soi crano, lena pluci furckosei ga nurcko la Loglan!
Ne Tradu Stuci
One True Story
Coi la Krk Satlis
According to (the) Kirk Sattley
In LN 94/1 the Nurvia team introduced the above usage to serve as the "by-line"--now the coi-line, soi crano --of a published work. But we neglected to give an interpretation. (Every L usage has to have an interpretation.) Here's a belated one: <title> coi <author> = Ti namnursri li, <title>, lu <author> = This is a name(d)-(written) work with title '<title>' by <author>.
La Loglan, napa helba veu nepo gunbia sanbatmi.
Loglan has helped (to do) an-event one-event of intercountry (countries-between) communicating.
Sanbatmi had to be redefined to have the reciprocal sense of communicate that is required here, i.e., X, plural set, communicate with one another about Y. (This and all the other word-changes noted in this column will probably go into the next LOD...which is due out this summer.) This done, the rest flows easily. Note that a logle brana logli--a logli born in a Loglan district--as opposed to a glece brana logli, would probably use ba instead of veu here. But we glece brana types skip over the empty places of a preda unconcernedly, hardly aware that they exist, and so it is natural for some of us to continue to use place-tags in L, just as Kirk has here.
Pa ro mensa, mi ze la Geris Rektr, ja spalii la Koreas, pia komta lerbatmi la Loglan. Izou pa treci la Geris, ga lepo mi siflii le cmasitci ji lao, Wakefield Massachusetts, ikou ne gudbi fremi je Gai pa nu peersitci la Ueikfild.
Before (some) many months (many months ago), I and-jointly (the) Gary Rector, who-incidentally is-an-inhabitant-of (space-lives-in) (the) Korea, were-continuously computer corresponding-with-one-another (letter-exchanging by computer) about-Loglan. And-by-the-way, (it) was interesting-to (the) Gary (that) I reside (place-live)-in the town which-is (spelled as a foreign name as the) Wakefield Massachusetts, because one good friend of G's was home-towned-by (parent-citied-by) (the) Wakefield.
Using a simple pa-phrase followed by an indefinite description to convey the sense of E ago is a trial usage. After all, the truth-conditions of Pa ro mensa would be fulfilled if any period of "many months" came after the predicated event. (If X preda pa Y, then Y futci lepo X preda.) This would be trivially true of any event except those that happened to be within "many months" of the end of the universe! Still, Pa ro mensa has the advantage of simplicity...it is much simpler than any other form that has been proposed. For example, here's one that is really too long to be a useful usage: Pazi le ro mensa ji nazi fadcea = Just before the (interval of) many-months that-is just-now ending. Yet that mouthful is what ago claims! Challenge: find a neat, economical solution to this usage problem. How to say ago in L without speaking (1) trivial truths or (2) large mouthfuls. The rest is really quite straightforward. Kirk had to make lerbatmi for the reciprocal sense of correspond (X, pl.set, correspond with one another about Y) letting the lersri we already have suffice for one-way letter-writing.
LeGai fremi, ja nu namci liu Brai'yn, pa duvri lepu le bierlia forma je le la Ueikfild, vlako ga mutce clika le cartu forma je le korhe lanbaa. Inukou, la Ueikfild, ga karma djine la Koreas, coi Bai.
The-G friend, who-is named-by the-word 'Brian', discovered the-property-that the edge-line shape of the (the) Wakefield lake (Wakefield's lake) is very similar-to the map shape of the Korean peninsula (land-arm). And-from-this-cause, Wakefield is karma joined to-(the) Korea, according-to B.
The only thing to notice here is that G's friend Brian is not named by himself (Brian) but by his name ('Brian'). So it's liu Brai'yn and not la Brai'yn in the L. Also, notice the stressmark in Brai'yn. It's necessary to syllabify the nameword properly. Without some mark--a close-comma would do just as well--the "pair from the right" rule would cause the reader to "hear" [BRAH-yuhn] instead of the [BRIGH-uhn] Kirk intends.
Zou ue, le lokti nuzveo paza fu feodja lepo ri korhi ji spalii levi spapai faza cnukapmao ne tepli je la Budhas, vi levi cmasitci. Inurau mi hapci djadou la Geris, lepo rea le karma po djine napia skucko.
Incidentally, well ("I am surprised to say"), the local newspaper (news-vessel) had-recently made-known (been a source of factual-knowledge) that some-few Koreans who inhabit (space-live-in) this region (space-part) will-soon inaugurate (newly-open-make) a temple to (the) Buddha in this town. For-this-reason, I happily told-to (the) Gary that, clearly, the karmic connection has-been-being (is now-continuously-in-the past) effective (a successful-cause).
The one tricky thing about this paragraph is K's use of fu feodja to convey the sense of E ... makes...known to... . This turns the L preda feodja (X knows facts Y from source Z) on its head! This is a neat trick and a very loglandical thing to do, but it does cause our E-shaped minds to boggle just a bit, soi crano.
La Geris, kukra ponda, e djadou mi lepo la Brai'yn, srisu krido le budho lidji. Isui, coi Gai, Bai spuro pintcumao ro budho tcure ja nu vizka vi su korhe tepli.
(The) Gary quickly responds, and tells (knowledge-gives-to) me that (the) Brian is-a-serious believer-in the Buddhist (cultural sense) religion. And-also, according-to G, B is-an-expert painter (paint-picture-maker)-of many Buddhist (cultural sense) pictures, which can-be-seen in one-or-more Korean (territorial sense) temples.
In considering the uses of the new word budhi (is a Buddhist), Kirk, Bob, ze I decided to give these "religion words" (we have several brewing for LOD) at least three of the four senses of the ethnic declension, namely the person, culture, and territory senses, or those obtained with the -i, -o, and -e endings. Sometimes, we discovered, even the fourth, linguistic sense of the stem--the one formed with -a--will also apply. For example, apparently the linguistic sense of Buddhist is Pali, a Sanscrit derivative. In short, the -a form will be meaningful whenever there is a language associated with that religion. Thus budhi, budho, budhe, and budha are, respectively, is a Buddhist, a practitioner or believer in Buddhism, is a piece of Buddhist culture, is a place where Buddhists live, and is a bit of Pali. Similarly, we have stems for Christian (kristn-), Confucian (kung-), and Muslim (musllm-). (Musllmi, for example, is pronounced [MOOS-sll-mee]; that's a vocalic /l/ and not counted in placing stress.) That ought to take care of a few billion of us, soi crano.
Voi, la Brai'yn, ga lerci ca telfo sansui le tepli cefpeu, ice faza ti, Bai kamla la Koreas, la Ueikfild, moi lepo snispeni le cninu tepli, e donsu tei, su pintcu.
Skipping details, Brian (by) letter and/or telephone communicated-with (sign-sent-to) the temple leader(s) (chief-persons), and, sometime after this, B came-from (the) Korea (to-the) Wakefield, for-the-purpose-of seeing-up-close (closely-experiencing) the new temple and giving-to it some paintings.
Two things are worth noting here. One is the use of sansui (sign-send) as the word for one-way communication (X communicates with Y about Z) which contrasts nicely with sanbatmi (sign-trade) for two-way communication (X, pl. set, communicate with one another about Y), as used in the first paragraph of the story. The second thing to notice is that, given our present resolver--not a very good one, uu--there must still be a pause between tei and su. Otherwise the poor old thing, soi crano, will "hear" /teisu/ as the non-word *teisu, and when that is given to the preparser, the latter will wrongly lex it as a PREDA. When we have finally built a realistic, that is, humanoid, speech resolver, it will be as attentive to matters of syllabicity and stress as to the pauses that LIP "hears" so well today. Then these little "protective" rules can be abandoned.
Nao fao, lo korho pernu ji grujmi vi la Ueikfild Masatcusets, nua bleka su nu pintcumao je ne mela Ueikfild, pernu ji spalii la Koreas. Irea, soi crano, lena pluci furckosei ga nurcko la Loglan!
Now, in-conclusion, the Korean-culture persons who congregate in (the) Wakefield Massachusetts now-regularly look-at some paintings-by one Wakefield-type-of person who lives in Korea. Clearly [smile] this pleasing situation (condition-set) is a consequence of Loglan!
No loglandical problems whatever with this splendidly Dickensian conclusion, soi crano.
--JCB/RAM/KS
Copyright © 1995 by The Loglan Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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