Re: Lojban and computers

Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net)
Mon, 6 Oct 1997 23:30:35 -0700 (PDT)


> Has anyone used Lojban for computer applications yet? Would it really be
> easier for a computer to understand it?

The second question is a definite yes, because of its unambiguous
phoneme-to-word parsing, unambiguous predicate-logic-based grammar
(both verified by YACC), and rich mathematical expression ability.

Members of the group have developed software to parse the language,
but I don't know of anyone using it for a practical computer application
(though there are potential applications for which it would be useful
even if never spoken by humans--intermediate representation of multi-
lingual texts, for example). With probably fewer than 200 speakers,
the grammar only this year finalized, and the first textbook not yet
on paper, it is probably too early to place any bets.

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC