History: BPFK Section: sensory gismu

Source of version: 14 (current)

Taken from two mailing list messages: [http://mail.lojban.org/lists/lojban-list/msg33823.html|pamoi] [http://mail.lojban.org/lists/lojban-list/msg33824.html|remoi]. Sense words can either express experiencing the sensation or expressing an action being taken to acquire a sensation. In English, these are: ||__Active__|__Passive__ look | see listen | hear touch | feel sniff | smell taste | taste || In Lojban, there are few dedicated gismu: || |__Active__|__Passive__ sight| catlu | viska sound| | tirna touch| pencu | scent| | sumne taste| | __generic__| zgana | ganse || There are two options of lujvo. Naming based on the sensory organ gives: || |__Active__|__Passive__ sight| kalzga | kalga'e sound| kerzga | kerga'e touch| pilzga | pilga'e scent| zbizga | zbiga'e taste| tacyzga|tacyga'e || Naming based on the thing being sensed gives: || |__Active__|__Passive__ sight| vinzga | vinga'e sound| snazga | snaga'e touch| te'uzga|te'urga'e scent| panzga | panga'e taste| vu'izga|vu'irga'e || !la gleki's first (aggressive) proposal is to replace the current set of sensory predicates with another one. The scheme is still not complete. Let's put all sensory aspects into one table. These are the predicate that we might get (I will give them temporary names in curly brackets). {HEAR} - x1 hears object(e.g. musician)/event (e.g. concert) x2, listens to it and defines x2 as x3 (noisy, loud, sweet, lovely, romantic etc.) {SEE} - x1 sees object/event x2, looks at x2 and defines it as x3 (green, that it looks ugly etc.) {SMELL} - x1 smells object/event x2, observes x2 and defines it as x3 (e.g. flowery,pungent, musk) {TASTE} - x1 tastes object/event x2, observes x2 and defines it as x3 (e.g. tasty, sweet,sour) {TOUCH} - x1 touches x2, observes (tries) x2 and defines it as having texture x3 (e.g. rought) As you can see we actually need valsi with three places. "observe" is a variation of each predicate that can be best expressed using additional {jundi} or {zgana}. This scheme is consistent. The only problem is that it doesn't correspond to the current mess of sensory gismu. The only gismu that corresponds to this scheme is {te panci}. Probably {te jvinu} as well (thanks xorxes for pointing out!) and {te skari}. tirna3=viska3=skari4 is something that we can also place in every sensory gismu. However, they can be easily expressed using {va'o}. gua\spi's {vyi=X1 sees object X2 against background X3} looks like lojbanic tirna3. {sumne} is a superfluous gismu. {vrusi} overlaps the senses of taste and smell (against the policy of lojban one word=one meaning). In gua\spi there are a bit better definitions, e.g. {xel=X1 smells like prototype (xi) X2*}. !la gleki's second (compromise) proposal In order to reach maximum compatibility with the current gimste I can also suggest mergin x2 and x3 in my previous proposal getting Alternate proposal {tirna*} - x1 hears object(e.g. musician/sound)/event x2 (e.g. mi tirna lo nu balzgibende cu cladu) {viska*} - x1 sees object/event x2 (mi viska lo du'u lo tricu cu crino) {sumne*} - x1 smells object/event x2 (mi sumne lo nu lo xrula cu cpina) {smaka*} - x1 tastes object/event x2 (mi me'oi TASTE lo nu lo plise cu titla) {palpi*} - x1 touches x2 (mi me'oi TOUCH-FEEL lo nu lo sefta cu rufsu) I also suggest that x2 in all 5 sensory gismu can be both an object and an event, thus allowing sumti-raising so that we can say ''mi tirna lo balzgibende mi tirna lo cladu mi tirna lo nu balzgibende cu cladu '' We have no gismu for TASTE ( {vrusi} has no place for experiencer) and TOUCH-FEEL ({pencu} is not what we need. when i touch {ko'a} with a screwdriver i touch-feel the screwdriver but touch {ko'a} ). We would also need to allow in {sumne2} not only the object being smelled but the type of smell and abstraction for the combination of the object and it's smell. !la gleki's third proposal ||::__full form__::|::__ raising co-referential expressions __:: ::viska lo tarmi be lo najnimre::|::viska lo najnimre:: ::viska lo gusni be fi lo najnimre::|::viska lo najnimre:: ::viska lo se skari be lo najnimre::|::viska lo najnimre:: ::tirna lo sance be lo palta poi ca'o porpi::|::tirna lo palta:: ::smaka lo tasta be lo najnimre::|::smaka lo najnimre:: ::sumne lo panci be lo najnimre::|::sumne lo najnimre:: ::te se panci fi lo najnimre::|::te se panci lo najnimre:: ::palpi lo xutla sefta be lo najnimre::|::palpi lo najnimre:: || The second column might be incorrectly thought of as of sumti-raising while in reality it is referential transparency (in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opaque_context|linguistics] or in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referential_transparency_(computer_science)|programming] (thanks ((tsani)) for making this terminology clear). In this table the second column contains raising. However, the meaning of {najnimre} is different in each column. In {mi viska lo tarmi} the word {lo najnimre} is a property of {tarmi} but in {mi viska lo najnimre} the word {lo najnimre} is a property of vision. You may call "an orange" any object in the form of an orange or colored like an orange. Perhaps you just meant "orange color" just like we do in English! ! Resume. This is something that definitely needs revision. We have five senses and we must clearly express what we feel.