From Lognet, issue 94/1.
This issue has been fun to put together. It coalesced rather suddenly around the theme of “logical usages and why we need ‘em”; see Jeremy Dunn’s letter in Lo Lerci. I’d already been thinking about this problem, but it was Jeremy’s letter that decided me to write “Why Is Loglan So Difficult ...?” and propose some new directions. Finally, in Sau La Lodtua, you’ll find what your lodtua also plans to do about it.
We’re late again, and I’m sorry. It looks like 1994 is going to be another 3-issue year. Issues become late for the usual reasons among volunteers, namely our volunteer work isn’t always the highest item on our personal agendas, soi crano. So the editor not only does a lot of traveling but sometimes has to wait for finished copy. But we do compensate our members, you know, if we fall behind. We promised you 4 issues a year; so when there are less than 4, we count issues rather than years in figuring out when your dues run out. (That accounts, by the way, for those mysterious “extensions” you keep getting.)
It looks like we’re not going to be able to hire paid editors anytime soon. So for the foreseeable future we’ll continue to be a volunteer-supported organization. That means that while sales and dues are still necessary to buy the materials and commercial services we need, they are proportionally a much smaller part of our budget than the unpaid labor we receive each year. But there’s a catch. Each of us has only limited time to give. For example, I’ve been putting in one or two months out every three or four on Loglan for some time; and that is about all I can give and keep other projects moving...for example, a book I’m writing. Dr. McIvor puts in even more time. I expect other volunteers are also contributing all they can or wish to give. So if the Logli Community wants more services from us, we need more tiftua (“offering-workers”, volunteers) to give their time to us.
I’ve called several times for new tiftua to come forward and help update our kit of teaching tools. That’s our most urgent, current, unmet need, Logli; and meeting it is beyond the commitments of our present crew of tiftua. So I’m going to invite you again. Perhaps I can give you a clearer idea of what needs to be done. Here’s a job that any new tiftua could do for us: (1) make a new input file for either M1 or M2 that would teach us all how to decipher new complexes at sight. A typical item might be: fergaa <-> fe + r + ganta <-> “five (or fifth)-high (one)” <-> duke; is the duke of... MacTeach would, of course, run this item past us in both directions. LOD now lists 1,000’s of CPXs that could be easily taught in this way. (Dr.McIvor tells me that LOD now has some 8,500 entries on the L-side and some 25,000 on the E-side! This enormous pile of new material is now available for rapidly putting together new input lists for our teaching programs.) Here are a few more input lists we could use: (2) an M2 file to teach us little words; (3) an M1 file to teach us “logical usages”; (4) an M2 file to teach us how to borrow; and (5) an M1 file that would teach us those portions of the grammar that are not covered yet . Any takers?
A new LOD with a new word-making facility is ready to ship; just send for it. We update any amount of software for $5. Just send us the old disks.
Membership is growing; and it is apparently growing more by word-of-mouth than anything else. We are fast approaching 200. (That’s why we’ve been able to use our non-profit mailing privilege recently.) So this way of getting new customers seems to be just about as effective as advertising...and a whole lot cheaper! That means word of your mouths, Logli! So keep on talking. (When you do interest a new person, get p to send for the new information packet we've prepared. Also, there’s still a Loglan info file on FLEFO on CompuServe.) Believe it or not, some of our newcomers are former readers of the 1960 SA article who have finally tracked us down! More frequently, of course, newcomers are people who have run into the good news about Loglan that still appears to be flying about. So keep it flying! Keep talking with your friends and co-workers about the beauties of this stubborn little language we’re still trying to grow. We need every gardener we can get. The soil we’re trying to grow it in is evidently stonier than we thought.
—Hue JCB