The Complete Lojban Language
determined by the literal meaning of its components, and not by any connotations or figurative meanings. Thus
- Example 2.30
| sutra | tavla |
| fast | talker |
would not necessarily imply any trickery or deception, unlike the English idiom, and a
- Example 2.31
| jikca | toldi |
| social | butterfly |
must always be an insect with large brightly-colored wings, of the family Lepidoptera.
The place structure of a tanru is always that of the final component of the tanru. Thus, the following has the place structure of klama:
- Example 2.32
| mi | [cu] | sutra klama | la meris. |
| I | - | quickly-go | to Mary. |
With the conversion se klama as the final component of the tanru, the place structure of the entire selbri is that of se klama: the x1 place is the destination, and the x2 place is the one who goes:
- Example 2.33
| mi | [cu] | sutra | se klama | la meris. |
| I | - | quickly | am-gone-to | by Mary. |
The following example shows that there is more to conversion than merely switching places, though:
- Example 2.34
| la tam. | [cu] | melbi tavla | la meris. |
| Tom | - | beautifully-talks | to Mary. |
| Tom | - | is a beautiful-talker | to Mary. |
has the place structure of tavla, but note the two distinct interpretations.
Now, using conversion, we can modify the place structure order:
- Example 2.35
| la meris. | [cu] | melbi se tavla | la tam. |
| Mary | - | is beautifully-talked-to | by Tom. |
| Mary | - | is a beautiful-audience | for Tom. |
and we see that the modification has been changed so as to focus on Mary's role in the bridi relationship, leading to a different set of possible interpretations.
Note that there is no place structure change if the modifying term is converted, and so less drastic variation in possible meanings:
- Example 2.36
| la tam. | [cu] | tavla melbi | la meris. |
| Tom | - | is talkerly-beautiful | to Mary. |
- Example 2.37
| la tam. | [cu] | se tavla melbi | la meris. |
| Tom | - | is audiencely-beautiful | to Mary. |
and we see that the manner in which Tom is seen as beautiful by Mary changes, but Tom is still the one perceived as beautiful, and Mary, the observer of beauty.
