> > I would think one of the wonderful benefits of lojban is that you can > > do this--create a word that is very precise in what you mean. Granted, > > that would mean an enormous vocabulary, thus my question--can someone > > decompose a word they've never seen before and most likely understand > > what it should mean? > > I would say that there are many who could get the approximate meaning. > Getting a place structure identical to that which the originator might > have intended is a bit harder, especially without several places filled in.
Could you explain what you mean about getting the place structure identical--what do you mean? Looking at: rekyboldi'u for example, are there multiple ways that can be decomposed? Or do the rules preclude that? Hmmm... considering I just went to: http://www.lojban.org/jboski/index.php.en (had to do a workaround to make it work--doesn't seem to work as-is) put in rekyboldi'u and it gives: frame-ish-sphere-ish-building(s) It seems that if a program could determine what it means than that answers my question, that decomposition is deterministic? If so, besides being way cool, that should resolve any concern about having too large a vocabulary--so long as you know the roots and the rules, you have a good chance of at least getting the concept that is trying to be conveyed.
