Re: CHAT drinking soup: (was: Malat (on behalf of

Mathias M. Lassailly wrote:
>
> Charles wrote :
> > But perhaps we have been unfair to Lojban,
> > which has many interesting features.
> No way, Charles. This is tactical slander. I want John to argue
> about that. I'm sure he's been working on the subject.
> It's going to be a very boring, working Saturday night otherwise.
Well, I meant to get the translation for "DEATH TO LOJBAN!"
but at http://xiron.pc.helsinki.fi/lojban/minilsn.html I was
struck by the following, concerning our favorite nice dancer!:

> There is a problem when we want to say "the fast one is talking";
> "le sutra tavla" means "the fast talker", not "the fast one is talking".
> To solve this problem we mark the selbri with the word "cu".
> The word "cu" has no meaning, and stands only to mark the
> beginning of the selbri within the bridi, separating it
> from a previous sumti. It comes before any other operator,
> such as "se" or "te". So:
>
>    le sutra tavla       means  the fast talker
>    --------------
>
>    le sutra cu tavla    means  The fast one is talking.
>    --------    =====
>
>    le sutra se tavla    means  The fast talked-to one.
>    -----------------
>
>    le sutra cu se tavla means  The fast one is talked to.
>    --------    ========
>
> "cu" is always assumed to be in front of the selbri.
> It may be elided (left out) if this will not alter
> the grammar of the sentence, as in "mi cu tavla do".