The CLL's comments on comma break audio-visual isomorphism. Chapter 3, section 3:
Otherwise, a comma is usually only used to clarify the presence of syllabic ``l, ``m, ``n, or ``r (discussed later). Commas are never required: no two Lojban words differ solely because of the presence or placement of a comma.
If this is true, then {.a,i} and {.ai} are the same word ("no two Lojban words differ solely because of the presence or placement of a comma") but {.a,i} can be pronounced like {.a'i} ("It is always legal to use the apostrophe (IPA h) sound in pronouncing a comma").
Both of this things cannot be true unless we restrict where , can go.
-Robin
- My suggestion is to do away with either one or both of "no two Lojban words differ solely because of the presence or placement of a comma" and "It is always legal to use the apostrophe (IPA h) sound in pronouncing a comma", preferably the former, because in my mind "ah EE" {.a,i} is not the same as "I" {.ai}, but "ah EE" {.a,i} and "ahEE" {.a'i} are. - .aionys.
My view is the opposite: that pronouncing , as ' is bogus and shouldn't be allowed. --cowan
I prefer 's to ,s anyway, and it seems un-Lojbanically superfluous to have both characters with such similar usages. People can use them if they want, but I hope , doesn't become the standard. --Plastic Raven
CLL 3.9:
The word {ai} has one syllable with a diphthong in its core. Therefore it is illegal to insert comma in it. — tengo