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Some thoughts about compositional compounds, mixed with some random
thoughts about other things.
I would say there are (at least) three types of compounds: (I thought
four, but Xorban isn't Lojban as I'm beginning to realize more and more)
1. Parallel compounds (Lojban "je")
2. Transitive compounds
x. [removed]
3. Loose, metaphorical compounds, tanru.
1. Parallel compounds
All places of the two predicates are shared, e.g. "ta xunre je zdani" -
"that is red and a house of someone". These compounds are rather rare in
Lojban because it has such long place structures, which means it's rare
to find a time where all places would properly aline and work together
to make sense. This is where shorter place structures and more regular
place structures come in handy. However, since it seems that in Xorban,
a predicate always has as many places as are being filled, this doesn't
seem to be a problem.
Parallel compounds in Xorban are easily handled with "je".
la zdnaka'a je xnra dnja
My home is a red building.
2. Transitive compounds
These are common in Lojbanic languages. One example are the -gau lujvo,
e.g. "kakygau" decomposes into "gasnu lo nu klaku", that is, the first
part of the lujvo gets inserted in a place of the right part of the
lujvo. Right now, these can be handled using the usual Xorban syntax,
but it's a bit clumsy sometimes.
la mmtaka'a le fe klka'a gsnake
My mother brought about that I cried.
Note that instead of the usual gasnu definition x1 brings about x2 (fa),
we could also use a slightly different one: x1 makes that x2 does/is x3
(fa). Trying to use this makes me note that it's not possible, since
Xorban requires every formula to have a desinence, and there is
currently no variable that refers to a ce'u-like thing, if there were,
however, then:
la mmtaka'a le fe klke'u gsnaka'ake
Here, klke'u is a sort of abstract infinitive, and is filled
automatically by whatever is in the x2 of the (altered) gasnu.
This solution is yet longer than the first, though, so maybe this kind
of place structure isn't the best for Xorban.
Anyway, these are fine as normal sentences, but I think they could be
shortened a little bit by introducing a new binary operator that creates
transitive compounds. If possible, I would propose "jo", otherwise, pick
one that would work.
The semantics of "jo" would be that one of the left formula's places
gets filled with the right formula, depending on which ones have the
same type (event of concrete), and it would also be hard-coded into
place structures which places get filled in such compounds.
Here's an example:
la mlta jo gsna'a plpa
The cat, I make that she jumps
I made the cat jump.
The other sentence becomes:
la mmtaka'a jo gsna klka'a
My mother, she made me cry.
Now, I know that gsna there according to some would not at all refer to
anything but the thing bound by A. But I think that this can be coded
into the semantics of "jo", which I'll explain below.
I also have a potential problem with the idea that bcda only has one
place. Namely, it causes some weird situations like this one:
A: "la rcta ctke'eka"
B: "na ctka'a"
A: "Do you eat meat."
B: "I don't eat."
Now here, B would be lying if they were eating something else. This
meanas that Xorban doesn't let you elide things as easily, which is why
I'm not sure it's good to say that there be no zo'e in ctka at all.
Anyway, the way "jo" could handle this semantic problem is by saying
that jo FORMULA is a new formula whose place structure (definition) is
determined by what is modifies. That is, in "jo gsna klka'a", the
following happens:
jo gsna becomes a modifier of klk, which thereby gets a new definition
determined from the compouding rules, such that "x1 cries" becomes "x1
cries caused by A".
Now we just add a desinence to this compound predicate, jo gsna klka'a,
which then means "I cry caused by A".
Here is another example to round it off:
la bdna jo tca kkta
Bananas are very delicious.
(I think tc- should be the root for "x1 is very x2 (fa) (unless you're
planning on introducing lambda calculus à la ka-ce'u into Xorban)).
3. Loose, metaphorical compounds
These are just to fill the gaps that remain. Sometimes, a human being
won't want to care about perfect logic and just throw together some
words freely. I had some other solutions for this, but again they seem
to be meant for a language other than Xorban. This suggestion seems to work:
cpno'e zfra'a
I am birdly free.
I am free as a bird.
Some other vague meaning.
Maybe it can be made even more referent-less, by using the
aforementioned -e'u variable:
cpne'u zfra'a
I hope some of this is useful and that I didn't forget anything.
co q selpahi qa'a