names

[Logical Language Group <cbmvax!uunet!GREBYN.COM!lojbab>]

Now , Now!  No need to flame.  I didn't say the job would be easy, of course,
nor that there wouldn;t be some hairy issues to raise and solve.  To the
extent that Nick and Ivan and Colin and others have discussed the topic,
I've seen a lot of complicated issues raised, and even a few answers given.

Some thoughts - that may not be answers

1) I think that the name of the country as presented by the natives to
outsiders is the logical one when there are many local languages, and/or many
forms of the name in use.

2) There need not be only one correct answer.  la xelvician can perhaps be
paired with la suis. or la suisen.  la *lagos. is illegal, but the country can
be la naidjerias. or perhaps a semi-recognizablae hybrid:  la nijerias.  The
latter sounds close and preserves visual recognition and most of the
pronunciation.

3) In the last example, it may be obviosu that I consider a) a single vowel
change to be unimportant - after all, almost every language will require
SOME vowel shifts.  Visual recognition, or avoiding the illegal "la" are good
reasons for such a shift.  b) dropping the stop in an affricate has a valid
precedent in Lojban, since we did so in making the Lojbanized words for the
gismu.  If this enhgances visual recognition - all the better.

Ivan, the way we teach 'o' here, "la london" would end up more like
/lah loandoan/.  The /aw/ diphthong is heard by me and most middle and western
USAn speakers as 'a', not 'o', unless the roundedness is particularly
emphasized. I also favor /lndn/, and this is also what JCB chose as one of
his major examples.

lojbab