Extended Lojban Grammar (a draft)

Independent reference grammar of Lojban.

Lojban (pronounced as [ˈloʒban]) is a new cool language.

It is a constructed language based on so called predicate logic which makes it kind of a bridge between different languages and cultures.

Lojban, the Odyssey to our Universe.

What is unique about this language? All natural grown languages have inner drawbacks like complications in grammar rules, biases and restrictions that discourage other ways of thinking.

Lojban is designed to free us from these restrictions and see the world brighter.

Here are its advantages:

• Lojban speech allows you to say things shorter without unnecessary distracting details. For example, you don't have to always think of what tense (past, present or future) to use in a verb when it's already clear from context. When you need details you add them. But unlike other languages Lojban doesn't force you to do so.
• Lojban has unprecedented tools for expressing human emotions.
• Lojban is made consistent and easy to extend. There are no exclusions in grammar. There are nice ways of extending existing vocabulary.

Ask a question on Lojban on the guest board

Lojban is an endless journey

Being carefully worked-out in design by its creators this language accurately and precisely reveals the delicate aspects of logic and our mentality.

• Lojban is clean, simple, and with all these advantages powerful language. Why not start speaking it?
• Lojban is for artists that would adore expressing tiny details of human emotions
• Lojban is for lovers of wisdom (philosophers, in the original sense)
• Lojban is for scientists that like all concepts to be put in a concise system.
• Lojban is the best tool for implementing machine automatic translation. Still it's a speakable language.
• Lojban breaks the barrier of misunderstanding of people with different background.
• Lastly, Lojban is also fun !

Lojban is easy to learn - the number of root words is only 1341. Not that much to learn to start speaking!

Alphabet and phonology

Lojban is designed so that any properly spoken Lojban utterance can be uniquely transcribed in writing, and any properly written Lojban can be spoken so as to be uniquely reproduced by another person. As a consequence, the standard Lojban orthography must assign to each distinct sound, or phoneme, a unique letter or symbol. Each letter or symbol has only one sound or, more accurately, a limited range of sounds that are permitted pronunciations for that phoneme. Some symbols indicate stress (speech emphasis) and pause, which are also essential to Lojban word recognition. In addition, everything that is represented in other languages by punctuation (when written) or by tone of voice (when spoken) is represented in Lojban by words. These two properties together are known technically as “audio-visual isomorphism”.

Lojban uses a variant of the Latin (Roman) alphabet, consisting of the following letters and symbols:

, . ` a b c d e f g i j k l m n o p r s t u v x y z omitting the letters “h”, “q”, and “w”.

The alphabetic order given above is that of the ASCII coded character set, widely used in computers. By making Lojban alphabetical order the same as ASCII, computerized sorting and searching of Lojban text is facilitated.

Capital letters are used only to represent non-standard stress, which can appear only in the representation of Lojbanized names. Thus the English name “Josephine”, as normally pronounced, is Lojbanized as DJOsefin., pronounced ['dʒosɛfinʔ]. Technically, it is sufficient to capitalize the vowel letter, in this case O, but it is easier on the reader to capitalize the whole syllable.

Another method of dealing with stress is to put the letter ` immediately before the stressed phoneme.

Without the capitalization, the ordinary rules of Lojban stress would cause the se syllable to be stressed. Lojbanized names are meant to represent the pronunciation of names from other languages with as little distortion as may be; as such, they are exempt from many of the regular rules of Lojban phonology, as will appear in the rest of this chapter.

Basic Phonetics

Lojban pronunciations are defined using the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA, a standard method of transcribing pronunciations. By convention, IPA transcriptions are always within square brackets: for example, the word “cat” is pronounced (in General American pronunciation) [kæt]. Section 2.6 contains a brief explanation of the IPA characters used in this chapter, with their nearest analogues in English, and will be especially useful to those not familiar with the technical terms used in describing speech sounds.

The standard pronunciations and permitted variants of the Lojban letters are listed in the table below. The descriptions have deliberately been made a bit ambiguous to cover variations in pronunciation by speakers of different native languages and dialects. In all cases except r the first IPA symbol shown represents the preferred pronunciation; for r, all of the variations (and any other rhotic sound) are equally acceptable. <tab class=wikitable> Letter IPA X-SAMPA Description ' [h] [h] an unvoiced glottal spirant , - - the syllable separator . [ʔ] [?] a glottal stop or a pause a [a], [ɑ] [a], [A] an open vowel b [b] [b] a voiced bilabial stop c [ʃ], [ʂ] [S], [s`] an unvoiced coronal sibilant d [d] [d] a voiced dental/alveolar stop e [ɛ], [e] [E], [e] a front mid vowel f [f], [ɸ] [f], [p\] an unvoiced labial fricative g [ɡ] [g] a voiced velar stop i [i] [i] a front close vowel j [ʒ], [ʐ] [Z], [z`] a voiced coronal sibilant k [k] [k] an unvoiced velar stop l [l], [l̩] [l], [l=] a voiced lateral approximant (may be syllabic) m [m], [m̩] [m], [m=] a voiced bilabial nasal (may be syllabic) n [n], [n̩], [ŋ], [ŋ̍] [n], [n=], [N], [N=] a voiced dental or velar nasal (may be syllabic) o [o], [ɔ] [o], [O] a back mid vowel p [p] [p] an unvoiced bilabial stop r [r], [ɹ], [ɾ], [ʀ], [r̩], [ɹ̩], [ɾ̩], [ʀ̩] [r], [r\], [4], [R\], [r=], [r\=], [4=], [R\=] a rhotic sound s [s] [s] an unvoiced alveolar sibilant t [t] [t] an unvoiced dental/alveolar stop u [u] [u] a back close vowel v [v], [β] [v], [B] a voiced labial fricative x [x] [x] an unvoiced velar fricative y [ə] [@] a central mid vowel z [z] [z] a voiced alveolar sibilant </tab> The Lojban sounds must be clearly pronounced so that they are not mistaken for each other. Voicing and placement of the tongue are the key factors in correct pronunciation, but other subtle differences will develop between consonants in a Lojban-speaking community. At this point these are the only mandatory rules on the range of sounds.

Note in particular that Lojban vowels can be pronounced with either rounded or unrounded lips; typically o and u are rounded and the others are not, as in English, but this is not a requirement; some people round y as well. Lojban consonants can be aspirated or unaspirated. Palatalizing of consonants, as found in Russian and other languages, is not generally acceptable in pronunciation, though a following i may cause it.

The sounds represented by the letters c, g, j, s, and x require special attention for speakers of English, either because they are ambiguous in the orthography of English (c, g, s), or because they are strikingly different in Lojban (c, j, x). The English “c” represents three different sounds, [k] in “cat” and

[s] in “cent”, as well as the [ʃ] of “ocean”. Similarly, English “g” can represent [ɡ] as in “go”, [dʒ] as in “gentle”, and [ʒ] as in the second "g" in “garage” (in some pronunciations). English “s” can be either [s] as in “cats”, [z] as in “cards”, [ʃ] as in “tension”, or [ʒ] as in “measure”. The sound of Lojban x doesn't appear in most English dialects at all.

There are two common English sounds that are found in Lojban but are not Lojban consonants: the “ch” of “church” and the “j” of “judge”. In Lojban, these are considered two consonant sounds spoken together without an intervening vowel sound, and so are represented in Lojban by the two separate consonants: tc (IPA [tʃ]) and dj (IPA [dʒ]). In general, whether a complex sound is considered one sound or two depends on the language: Russian views “ts” as a single sound, whereas English, French, and Lojban consider it to be a consonant cluster.

The Special Lojban Characters

The apostrophe, period, and comma need special attention. They are all used as indicators of a division between syllables, but each has a different pronunciation, and each is used for different reasons:

The apostrophe represents a phoneme similar to a short, breathy English “h”, (IPA [h]). The letter “h” is not used to represent this sound for two reasons: primarily in order to simplify explanations of the morphology, but also because the sound is very common, and the apostrophe is a visually lightweight representation of it. The apostrophe sound is a consonant in nature, but is not treated as either a consonant or a vowel for purposes of Lojban morphology (word-formation), which is explained in Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch. In addition, the apostrophe visually parallels the comma and the period, which are also used (in different ways) to separate syllables.

The apostrophe is included in Lojban only to enable a smooth transition between vowels, while joining the vowels within a single word. In fact, one way to think of the apostrophe is as representing an unvoiced vowel glide.

As a permitted variant, any unvoiced fricative other than those already used in Lojban may be used to render the apostrophe: IPA [θ] is one possibility. The convenience of the listener should be regarded as paramount in deciding to use a substitute for [h].

The period represents a mandatory pause, with no specified length; a glottal stop (IPA

[ʔ]) is considered a pause of shortest length. A pause (or glottal stop) may appear between any two words, and in certain cases – explained in detail in

Section – must occur. In particular, a word beginning with a vowel is always preceded by a pause, and a word ending in a consonant is always followed by a pause.

Technically, the period is an optional reminder to the reader of a mandatory pause that is dictated by the rules of the language; because these rules are unambiguous, a missing period can be inferred from otherwise correct text. Periods are included only as an aid to the reader.

A period also may be found apparently embedded in a word. When this occurs, such a written string is not one word but two, written together to indicate that the writer intends a unitary meaning for the compound. It is not really necessary to use a space between words if a period appears.

The comma is used to indicate a syllable break within a word, generally one that is not obvious to the reader. Such a comma is written to separate syllables, but indicates that there must be no pause between them, in contrast to the period. Between two vowels, a comma indicates that some type of glide may be necessary to avoid a pause that would split the two syllables into separate words. It is always legal to use the apostrophe (IPA

[h]) sound in pronouncing a comma. However, a comma cannot be pronounced as a pause or glottal stop between the two letters separated by the comma, because that pronunciation would split the word into two words.

Otherwise, a comma is usually only used to clarify the presence of syllabic l, m, n, or r (discussed later). Commas are never required: no two Lojban words differ solely because of the presence or placement of a comma.

Here is a somewhat artificial example of the difference in pronunciation between periods, commas and apostrophes. In the English song about Old MacDonald's Farm, the vowel string which is written as “ee-i-ee-i-o” in English could be Lojbanized with periods as:

Example 2.1:

.i.ai.i.ai.o

[ʔi ʔaj ʔi ʔaj ʔo]

Ee! Eye! Ee! Eye! Oh!

However, this would sound clipped, staccato, and unmusical compared to the English. Furthermore, although Example 2.1 is a string of meaningful Lojban words, as a sentence it makes very little sense. (Note the use of periods embedded within the written word.)

If commas were used instead of periods, we could represent the English string as a Lojbanized name, ending in a consonant:

Example 2.2:

.i,ai,i,ai,on.

[ʔi jaj ji jaj jonʔ]

The commas represent new syllable breaks, but prohibit the use of pauses or glottal stop. The pronunciation shown is just one possibility, but closely parallels the intended English pronunciation.

However, the use of commas in this way is risky to unambiguous interpretation, since the glides might be heard by some listeners as diphthongs, producing something like

Example 2.3:

.i,iai,ii,iai,ion.

which is technically a different Lojban name. Since the intent with Lojbanized names is to allow them to be pronounced more like their native counterparts, the comma is allowed to represent vowel glides or some non-Lojbanic sound. Such an exception affects only spelling accuracy and the ability of a reader to replicate the desired pronunciation exactly; it will not affect the recognition of word boundaries.

Still, it is better if Lojbanized names are always distinct. Therefore, the apostrophe is preferred in regular Lojbanized names that are not attempting to simulate a non-Lojban pronunciation perfectly. (Perfection, in any event, is not really achievable, because some sounds simply lack reasonable Lojbanic counterparts.)

If apostrophes were used instead of commas in Example 2.2, it would appear as:

Example 2.4:

.i'ai'i'ai'on.

[ʔi hai hi hai honʔ]

which preserves the rhythm and length, if not the exact sounds, of the original English.

Diphthongs and Syllabic Consonants

There exist 16 diphthongs in the Lojban language. A diphthong is a vowel sound that consists of two elements, a short vowel sound and a glide, either a labial (IPA [w]) or palatal (IPA [j]) glide, that either precedes (an on-glide) or follows (an off-glide) the main vowel. Diphthongs always constitute a single syllable.

For Lojban purposes, a vowel sound is a relatively long speech-sound that forms the nucleus of a syllable. Consonant sounds are relatively brief and normally require an accompanying vowel sound in order to be audible. Consonants may occur at the beginning or end of a syllable, around the vowel, and there may be several consonants in a cluster in either position. Each separate vowel sound constitutes a distinct syllable; consonant sounds do not affect the determination of syllables.

The six Lojban vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and y. The first five vowels appear freely in all kinds of Lojban words. The vowel y has a limited distribution: it appears only in Lojbanized names, in the Lojban names of the letters of the alphabet, as a glue vowel in compound words, and standing alone as a space-filler word (like English “uh” or “er”).

The Lojban diphthongs are shown in the table below. (Variant pronunciations have been omitted, but are much as one would expect based on the variant pronunciations of the separate vowel letters: ai may be pronounced

[ɑj], for example.)

<tab class=wikitable head=top> Letters IPA Description ai [aj] an open vowel with palatal off-glideei [ɛj] a front mid vowel with palatal off-glideoi [oj] a back mid vowel with palatal off-glideau [aw] an open vowel with labial off-glideia [ja] an open vowel with palatal on-glideie [jɛ] a front mid vowel with palatal on-glideii [ji] a front close vowel with palatal on-glideio [jo] a back mid vowel with palatal on-glideiu [ju] a back close vowel with palatal on-glideua [wa] an open vowel with labial on-glideue [wɛ] a front mid vowel with labial on-glideui [wi] a front close vowel with labial on-glideuo [wo] a back mid vowel with labial on-glideuu [wu] a back close vowel with labial on-glideiy [jə] a central mid vowel with palatal on-glideuy [wə] a central mid vowel with labial on-glide

(Approximate English equivalents of most of these diphthongs exist: See Section for examples.)

The first four diphthongs above ( ai, ei, oi, and au, the ones with off-glides) are freely used in most types of Lojban words; the ten following ones are used only as stand-alone words and in Lojbanized names and borrowings; and the last two ( iy and uy) are used only in Lojbanized names.

The syllabic consonants of Lojban, [l̩], [m̩], [n̩], and [r̩], are variants of the non-syllabic [l], [m], [n], and [r] respectively. They normally have only a limited distribution, appearing in Lojban names and borrowings, although in principle any l, m, n, or r may be pronounced syllabically. If a syllabic consonant appears next to a l, m, n, or r that is not syllabic, it may not be clear which is which:

brlgan.

[br̩lgan]

is a hypothetical Lojbanized name with more than one valid pronunciation; however it is pronounced, it remains the same word.

Syllabic consonants are treated as consonants rather than vowels from the standpoint of Lojban morphology. Thus Lojbanized names, which are generally required to end in a consonant, are allowed to end with a syllabic consonant. An example is rl., which is an approximation of the English name “Earl”, and has two syllabic consonants.

Syllables with syllabic consonants and no vowel are never stressed or counted when determining which syllables to stress (see Section 2.5).

Vowel Pairs

Lojban vowels also occur in pairs, where each vowel sound is in a separate syllable. These two vowel sounds are connected (and separated) by an apostrophe. Lojban vowel pairs should be pronounced continuously with the [h] sound between (and not by a glottal stop or pause, which would split the two vowels into separate words).

All vowel combinations are permitted in two-syllable pairs with the apostrophe separating them; this includes those which constitute diphthongs when the apostrophe is not included.

The Lojban vowel pairs are: a'a, a'e, a'i, a'o, a'u, a'y, e'a, e'e, e'i, e'o, e'u, e'y, i'a, i'e, i'i, i'o, i'u, i'y, o'a, o'e, o'i, o'o, o'u, o'y, u'a, u'e, u'i, u'o, u'u, u'y, y'a, y'e, y'i, y'o, y'u, y'y.

Vowel pairs involving y appear only in Lojbanized names. They could appear in cmavo (structure words), but only .y'y. is so used – it is the Lojban name of the apostrophe letter (See Section ).

When more than two vowels occur together in Lojban, the normal pronunciation pairs vowels from the left into syllables, as in the Lojbanized name:

meiin.

mei,in.

Example contains the diphthong ei followed by the vowel i. In order to indicate a different grouping, the comma must always be used, leading to:

me,iin.

which contains the vowel e followed by the diphthong ii. In rough English representation, Example is “May Een”, whereas Example is “Meh Yeen”.

Consonant Clusters

A consonant sound is a relatively brief speech-sound that precedes or follows a vowel sound in a syllable; its presence either preceding or following does not add to the count of syllables, nor is a consonant required in either position for any syllable. Lojban has seventeen consonants: for the purposes of this section, the apostrophe is not counted as a consonant.

An important distinction dividing Lojban consonants is that of voicing. The following table shows the unvoiced consonants and the corresponding voiced ones: <tab class=wikitable> Unvoiced Voiced p b t d k g f v c j s z x - </tab> The consonant x has no voiced counterpart in Lojban. The remaining consonants, l, m, n, and r, are typically pronounced with voice, but can be pronounced unvoiced.

Consonant sounds occur in languages as single consonants, or as doubled, or as clustered combinations. Single consonant sounds are isolated by word boundaries or by intervening vowel sounds from other consonant sounds. Doubled consonant sounds are either lengthened like [s] in English “hiss”, or repeated like [k] in English “backcourt”. Consonant clusters consist of two or more single or doubled consonant sounds in a group, each of which is different from its immediate neighbor. In Lojban, doubled consonants are excluded altogether, and clusters are limited to two or three members, except in Lojbanized names.

Consonants can occur in three positions in words: initial (at the beginning), medial (in the middle), and final (at the end). In many languages, the sound of a consonant varies depending upon its position in the word. In Lojban, as much as possible, the sound of a consonant is unrelated to its position. In particular, the common American English trait of changing a “t” between vowels into a “d” or even an alveolar tap (IPA [ɾ]) is unacceptable in Lojban.

Lojban imposes no restrictions on the appearance of single consonants in any valid consonant position; however, no consonant (including syllabic consonants) occurs final in a word except in Lojbanized names.

Pairs of consonants can also appear freely, with the following restrictions:

• It is forbidden for both consonants to be the same, as this would violate the rule against double consonants.
• It is forbidden for one consonant to be voiced and the other unvoiced. The consonants l, m, n, and r are exempt from this restriction. As a result, bf is forbidden, and so is sd, but both fl and vl, and both ls and lz, are permitted.
• It is forbidden for both consonants to be drawn from the set c, j, s, z.
• The specific pairs cx, kx, xc, xk, and mz are forbidden.

These rules apply to all kinds of words, even Lojbanized names. If a name would normally contain a forbidden consonant pair, a y can be inserted to break up the pair:

djeimyz.

[dʒɛj məzʔ]

James

The regular English pronunciation of “James”, which is [dʒɛjmz], would Lojbanize as djeimz., which contains a forbidden consonant pair.

Initial Consonant Pairs

The set of consonant pairs that may appear at the beginning of a word (excluding Lojbanized names) is far more restricted than the fairly large group of permissible consonant pairs described in Section 2.3. Even so, it is more than English allows, although hopefully not more than English-speakers (and others) can learn to pronounce.

There are just 48 such permissible initial consonant pairs, as follows: bl br cf ck cl cm cn cp cr ct dj dr dz fl fr gl gr jb jd jg jm jv kl kr ml mr pl pr sf sk sl sm sn sp sr st tc tr ts vl vr xl xr zb zd zg zm zv Lest this list seem almost random, a pairing of voiced and unvoiced equivalent vowels will show significant patterns which may help in learning: pl pr fl fr bl br vl vr

cp cf ct ck cm cn cl cr jb jv jd jg jm sp sf st sk sm sn sl sr zb zv zd zg zm

tc tr ts kl kr dj dr dz gl gr

ml mr xl xr Note that if both consonants of an initial pair are voiced, the unvoiced equivalent is also permissible, and the voiced pair can be pronounced simply by voicing the unvoiced pair. (The converse is not true: cn is a permissible initial pair, but jn is not.)

Consonant triples can occur medially in Lojban words. They are subject to the following rules:

• The first two consonants must constitute a permissible consonant pair;
• The last two consonants must constitute a permissible initial consonant pair;
• The triples ndj, ndz, ntc, and nts are forbidden.

Lojbanized names can begin or end with any permissible consonant pair, not just the 48 initial consonant pairs listed above, and can have consonant triples in any location, as long as the pairs making up those triples are permissible. In addition, names can contain consonant clusters with more than three consonants, again requiring that each pair within the cluster is valid.

Buffering Of Consonant Clusters

Many languages do not have consonant clusters at all, and even those languages that do have them often allow only a subset of the full Lojban set. As a result, the Lojban design allows the use of a buffer sound between consonant combinations which a speaker finds unpronounceable. This sound may be any non-Lojbanic vowel which is clearly separable by the listener from the Lojban vowels. Some possibilities are IPA [ɪ], [ɨ], [ʊ], or even [ʏ], but there probably is no universally acceptable buffer sound. When using a consonant buffer, the sound should be made as short as possible. Two examples showing such buffering (we will use [ɪ] in this chapter) are:

vrusi

[ˈvru si] or [vɪ ˈru si]

.AMsterdam.

[ʔam ster damʔ] or [ˈʔa mɪ sɪ tɛ rɪ da mɪʔ]

When a buffer vowel is used, it splits each buffered consonant into its own syllable. However, the buffering syllables are never stressed, and are not counted in determining stress. They are, in effect, not really syllables to a Lojban listener, and thus their impact is ignored.

Here are more examples of unbuffered and buffered pronunciations:

klama

[ˈkla ma]

[kɪ ˈla ma]

xapcke

[ˈxap ʃkɛ]

[ˈxa pɪ ʃkɛ]

[ˈxa pɪ ʃɪ kɛ]

In Example , we see that buffering vowels can be used in just some, rather than all, of the possible places: the second pronunciation buffers the pc consonant pair but not the ck. The third pronunciation buffers both.

ponyni'u

[po nə 'ni hu]

Example cannot contain any buffering vowel. It is important not to confuse the vowel y, which is pronounced [ə], with the buffer, which has a variety of possible pronunciations and is never written. Consider the contrast between

bongynanba

[boŋ gə ˈnan ba]

an unlikely Lojban compound word meaning “bone bread” (note the use of [ŋ] as a representative of n before g) and

bongnanba

[boŋ ˈgnan ba]

a possible borrowing from another language (Lojban borrowings can only take a limited form). If Example were pronounced with buffering, as

[boŋ gɪ ˈnan ba]

it would be very similar to Example . Only a clear distinction between y and any buffering vowel would keep the two words distinct.

Since buffering is done for the benefit of the speaker in order to aid pronounceability, there is no guarantee that the listener will not mistake a buffer vowel for one of the six regular Lojban vowels. The buffer vowel should be as laxly pronounced as possible, as central as possible, and as short as possible. Furthermore, it is worthwhile for speakers who use buffers to pronounce their regular vowels a bit longer than usual, to avoid confusion with buffer vowels. The speakers of many languages will have trouble correctly hearing any of the suggested buffer vowels otherwise. By this guideline, Example would be pronounced

[boːŋ gɪ ˈnaːn baː]

with lengthened vowels.

Syllabication And Stress

A Lojban word has one syllable for each of its vowels, diphthongs, and syllabic consonants (referred to simply as “vowels” for the purposes of this section.) Syllabication rules determine which of the consonants separating two vowels belong to the preceding vowel and which to the following vowel. These rules are conventional only; the phonetic facts of the matter about how utterances are syllabified in any language are always very complex.

A single consonant always belongs to the following vowel. A consonant pair is normally divided between the two vowels; however, if the pair constitute a valid initial consonant pair, they are normally both assigned to the following vowel. A consonant triple is divided between the first and second consonants. Apostrophes and commas, of course, also represent syllable breaks. Syllabic consonants usually appear alone in their syllables.

It is permissible to vary from these rules in Lojbanized names. For example, there are no definitive rules for the syllabication of names with consonant clusters longer than three consonants. The comma is used to indicate variant syllabication or to explicitly mark normal syllabication.

Here are some examples of Lojban syllabication:

pujenaicajeba

pu,je,nai,ca,je,ba

This word has no consonant pairs and is therefore syllabified before each medial consonant.

ninmu

nin,mu

This word is split at a consonant pair.

fitpri

fit,pri

This word is split at a consonant triple, between the first two consonants of the triple.

sairgoi

sair,goi

sai,r,goi

This word contains the consonant pair rg; the r may be pronounced syllabically or not.

klezba

klez,ba

kle,zba

This word contains the permissible initial pair zb, and so may be syllabicated either between z and b or before zb.

Stress is a relatively louder pronunciation of one syllable in a word or group of words. Since every syllable has a vowel sound (or diphthong or syllabic consonant) as its nucleus, and the stress is on the vowel sound itself, the terms “stressed syllable” and “stressed vowel” are largely interchangeable concepts.

Most Lojban words are stressed on the next-to-the-last, or penultimate, syllable. In counting syllables, however, syllables whose vowel is y or which contain a syllabic consonant ( l, m, n, or r) are never counted. (The Lojban term for penultimate stress is

da'amoi terbasna.) Similarly, syllables created solely by adding a buffer vowel, such as

[ɪ], are not counted.

There are actually three levels of stress – primary, secondary, and weak. Weak stress is the lowest level, so it really means no stress at all. Weak stress is required for syllables containing y, a syllabic consonant, or a buffer vowel.

Primary stress is required on the penultimate syllable of Lojban content words (called brivla). Lojbanized names may be stressed on any syllable, but if a syllable other than the penultimate is stressed, the syllable (or at least its vowel) must be capitalized in writing. Lojban structural words (called cmavo) may be stressed on any syllable or none at all. However, primary stress may not be used in a syllable just preceding a brivla, unless a pause divides them; otherwise, the two words may run together.

Secondary stress is the optional and non-distinctive emphasis used for other syllables besides those required to have either weak or primary stress. There are few rules governing secondary stress, which typically will follow a speaker's native language habits or preferences. Secondary stress can be used for contrast, or for emphasis of a point. Secondary stress can be emphasized at any level up to primary stress, although the speaker must not allow a false primary stress in brivla, since errors in word resolution could result.

The following are Lojban words with stress explicitly shown:

dikyjvo

DI,ky,jvo

(In a fully-buffered dialect, the pronunciation would be:

['di kə ʒɪ vo].) Note that the syllable ky is not counted in determining stress. The vowel y is never stressed in a normal Lojban context.

.armstrong.

.ARM,strong.

This is a Lojbanized version of the name “Armstrong”. The final g must be explicitly pronounced. With full buffering, the name would be pronounced:

[ˈʔa rɪ mɪ sɪ tɪ ro nɪ gɪʔ]

However, there is no need to insert a buffer in every possible place just because it is inserted in one place: partial buffering is also acceptable. In every case, however, the stress remains in the same place: on the first syllable.

The English pronunciation of “Armstrong”, as spelled in English, is not correct by Lojban standards; the letters “ng” in English represent a velar nasal (IPA

[ŋ]) which is a single consonant. In Lojban,

ng represents two separate consonants that must both be pronounced; you may not use

[ŋ] to pronounce Lojban

ng, although

[ŋg] is acceptable. English speakers are likely to have to pronounce the ending with a buffer, as one of the following:

[ˈʔarm stron gɪʔ]

or

[ˈʔarm stroŋ gɪʔ]

or even

[ˈʔarm stro nɪgʔ]

The normal English pronunciation of the name “Armstrong” could be Lojbanized as:

.ARMstron.

since Lojban n is allowed to be pronounced as the velar nasal

[ŋ].

Here is another example showing the use of y:

bisydja

BI,sy,dja

BI,syd,ja

This word is a compound word, or lujvo, built from the two affixes bis and dja. When they are joined, an impermissible consonant pair results: sd. In accordance with the algorithm for making lujvo, explained in Section , a y is inserted to separate the impermissible consonant pair; the y is not counted as a syllable for purposes of stress determination.

da'udja

da'UD,ja

da'U,dja

These two syllabications sound the same to a Lojban listener – the association of unbuffered consonants in syllables is of no import in recognizing the word.

e'u bridi

e'u BRI,di

E'u BRI,di

e'U.BRI,di

In Example , e'u is a cmavo and bridi is a brivla. Either of the first two pronunciations is permitted: no primary stress on either syllable of e'u, or primary stress on the first syllable. The third pronunciation, which places primary stress on the second syllable of the cmavo, requires that – since the following word is a brivla – the two words must be separated by a pause. Consider the following two cases:

le re nobli prenu

le re NObli PREnu

le re no bliprenu

le re no bliPREnu

If the cmavo no in Example were to be stressed, the phrase would sound exactly like the given pronunciation of Example , which is unacceptable in Lojban: a single pronunciation cannot represent both.

IPA For English Speakers

There are many dialects of English, thus making it difficult to define the standardized symbols of the IPA in terms useful to every reader. All the symbols used in this chapter are repeated here, in more or less alphabetical order, with examples drawn from General American. In addition, some attention is given to the Received Pronunciation of (British) English. These two dialects are referred to as GA and RP respectively. Speakers of other dialects should consult a book on phonetics or their local television sets.

[ˈ]

• An IPA indicator of primary stress; the syllable which follows [ˈ] receives primary stress.

[ʔ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban .. This sound is not usually considered part of English. It is the catch in your throat that sometimes occurs prior to the beginning of a word (and sometimes a syllable) which starts with a vowel. In some dialects, like Cockney and some kinds of American English, it is used between vowels instead of “t”: “bottle” [boʔl̩]. The English interjection “uh-oh!” almost always has it between the syllables.

[ː]

• A symbol indicating that the previous vowel is to be spoken for a longer time than usual. Lojban vowels can be pronounced long in order to make a greater contrast with buffer vowels.

[a]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban a. This sound doesn't occur in GA, but sounds somewhat like the “ar” of “park”, as spoken in RP or New England American. It is pronounced further forward in the mouth than [ɑ].

[ɑ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban a. The “a” of GA “father”. The sound [a] is preferred because GA speakers often relax an unstressed [ɑ] into a schwa [ə], as in the usual pronunciations of “about” and “sofa”. Because schwa is a distinct vowel in Lojban, English speakers must either learn to avoid this shift or to use [a] instead: the Lojban word for “sofa” is sfofa, pronounced :[sfofa] or [sfofɑ] but never [sfofə] which would be the non-word sfofy.

[æ]

• Not a Lojban sound. The “a” of English “cat”.

[b]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban b. As in English “boy”, “sober”, or “job”.

[β]

• An allowed variant of Lojban v. Not an English sound; the Spanish "b" or "v" between vowels. This sound should not be used for Lojban b.

[d]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban d. As in English “dog”, “soda”, or “mad”.

[ɛ]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban e. The “e” of English “met”.

[e]

• An allowed variant of Lojban e. This sound is not found in English, but is the Spanish "e", or the tense "e" of Italian. The vowel of English “say” is similar except for the off-glide: you can learn to make this sound by holding your tongue steady while saying the first part of the English vowel.

[ə]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban y. As in the “a” of English “sofa” or “about”. Schwa is generally unstressed in Lojban, as it is in English. It is a totally relaxed sound made with the tongue in the middle of the mouth.

[f]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban f. As in “fee”, “loafer”, or “chef”.

[ɸ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban f. Not an English sound; the Japanese “f” sound.

[g]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban g. As in English “go”, “eagle”, or “dog”.

[h]

• The preferred pronunciation of the Lojban apostrophe sound. As in English “aha” or the second "h" in “oh, hello”.

[i]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban i. Essentially like the English vowel of “pizza” or “machine”, although the English vowel is sometimes pronounced with an off-glide, which should not be present in Lojban.

[ɪ]

• A possible Lojban buffer vowel. The “i” of English “bit”.

[ɨ]

• A possible Lojban buffer vowel. The “u” of “just” in some varieties of GA, those which make the word sound more or less like “jist”. Also Russian "y" as in "byt'" (to be); like a schwa :[ə], but higher in the mouth.

[j]

• Used in Lojban diphthongs beginning or ending with i. Like the “y” in English “yard” or “say”.

[k]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban k. As in English “kill”, “token”, or “flak”.

[l]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban l. As in English “low”, “nylon”, or “excel”.

[l̩]

• The syllabic version of Lojban l, as in English “bottle” or “middle”.

[m]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban m. As in English “me”, “humor”, or “ham”.

[m̩]

• The syllabic version of Lojban m. As in English “catch 'em” or “bottom”.

[n]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban n. As in English no, “honor”, or “son”.

[n̩]

• The syllabic version of Lojban n. As in English “button”.

[ŋ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban n, especially in Lojbanized names and before g or k. As in English “sing” or “singer” (but not “finger” or “danger”).

[ŋ̍]

• An allowed variant of Lojban syllabic n, especially in Lojbanized names.

[o]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban o. As in the French "haute (cuisine)" or Spanish "como". There is no exact English equivalent of this sound. The nearest GA equivalent is the “o” of “dough” or “joke”, but it is essential that the off-glide (a :[w]-like sound) at the end of the vowel is not pronounced when speaking Lojban. The RP sound in these words is :[əw] in IPA terms, and has no :[o] in it at all; unless you can speak with a Scots, Irish, or American accent, you may have trouble with this sound.

[ɔ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban o, especially before r. This sound is a shortened form of the “aw” in GA “dawn” (for those people who don't pronounce “dawn” and “Don” alike; if you do, you may have trouble with this sound). In RP, but not GA, it is the “o” of “hot”.

[p]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban p. As in English “pay”, “super”, or “up”.

[r]

• One version of Lojban r. Not an English sound. The Spanish "rr" and the Scots “r”, a tongue-tip trill.

[ɹ]

• One version of Lojban r. As in GA “right”, “baron”, or “car”. Not found in RP.

[ɾ]

• One version of Lojban r. In GA, appears as a variant of “t” or “d” in the words “metal” and “medal” respectively. A tongue-tip flap.

[ʀ]

• One version of Lojban r. Not an English sound. The French or German "r" in "reine" or "rot" respectively. A uvular trill.

[r̩],

[ɹ̩],

[ɾ̩],

[ʀ̩]

• are syllabic versions of the above.

[ɹ̩] appears in the GA (but not RP) pronunciation of “bird”.

[s]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban s. As in English “so”, “basin”, or “yes”.

[ʃ]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban c. The “sh” of English “ship”, “ashen”, or “dish”.

[ʂ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban s. Not an English sound. The Hindi retroflex "s" with dot below, or Klingon "S".

[t]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban t. As in English “tea”, “later”, or “not”. It is important to avoid the GA habit of pronouncing the “t” between vowels as :[d] or :[ɾ].

[θ]

• Not normally a Lojban sound, but a possible variant of Lojban '. The “th” of English “thin” (but not “then”).

[v]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban v. As in English “voice”, “savor”, or “live”.

[w]

• Used in Lojban diphthongs beginning or ending with u. Like the “w” in English “wet” [wɛt] or “cow” [kɑw].

[x]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban x. Not normally an English sound, but used in some pronunciations of “loch” and “Bach”; “gh” in Scots “might” and “night”. The German "Ach-Laut". To pronounce :[x], force air through your throat without vibrating your vocal chords; there should be lots of scrape.

[ʏ]

• A possible Lojban buffer vowel. Not an English sound: the "ü" of German "hübsch".

[z]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban z. As in English “zoo”, “hazard”, or “fizz”.

[ʒ]

• The preferred pronunciation of Lojban j. The “si” of English “vision”, or the consonant at the end of GA “garage”.

[ʐ]

• An allowed variant of Lojban z. Not an English sound. The voiced version of :[ʂ].

English Analogues For Lojban Diphthongs

Here is a list of English words that contain diphthongs that are similar to the Lojban diphthongs. This list does not constitute an official pronunciation guide; it is intended as a help to English-speakers. <tab class=wikitable header=true>Lojban English ai “pie” ei “pay” oi “boy” au “cow” ia “yard” ie “yes” ii “ye” io “yodel” (in GA only) iu “unicorn” or “few” ua “suave” ue “wet” ui “we” uo “woe” (in GA only) uu “woo” iy “million” (the “io” part, that is) uy “was” (when unstressed) </tab>

Oddball Orthographies

The following notes describe ways in which Lojban has been written or could be written that differ from the standard orthography explained in the rest of this chapter. Nobody needs to read this section except people with an interest in the obscure. Technicalities are used without explanation or further apology.

There exists an alternative orthography for Lojban, which is designed to be as compatible as possible (but no more so) with the orthography used in pre-Lojban versions of Loglan. The consonants undergo no change, except that x is replaced by h. The individual vowels likewise remain unchanged. However, the vowel pairs and diphthongs are changed as follows:

• ai, ei, oi, au become ai, ei, oi, ao.
• ia through iu and ua through uu remain unchanged.
• a'i, e'i, o'i and a'o become a,i, e,i, o,i and a,o.
• i'a through i'u and u'a through u'u are changed to ia through iu and ua through uu in lujvo and cmavo other than attitudinals, but become i,a through i,u and u,a through u,u in names, fu'ivla, and attitudinal cmavo.
• All other vowel pairs simply drop the apostrophe.

The result of these rules is to eliminate the apostrophe altogether, replacing it with comma where necessary, and otherwise with nothing. In addition, names and the cmavo i are capitalized, and irregular stress is marked with an apostrophe (now no longer used for a sound) following the stressed syllable.

Three points must be emphasized about this alternative orthography:

• It is not standard, and has not been used.
• It does not represent any changes to the standard Lojban phonology; it is simply a representation of the same phonology using a different written form.
• It was designed to aid in a planned rapprochement between the Logical Language Group and The Loglan Institute, a group headed by James Cooke Brown. The rapprochement never took place.

There also exists a Cyrillic orthography for Lojban which was designed when the introductory Lojban brochure was translated into Russian. It uses the “а”, “б”, “в”, “г”, “д”, “е”, “ж”, “з”, “и”, “к”, “л”, “м”, “н”, “о”, “п”, “р”, “с”, “т”, “у”, “ф”, “х”, and “ш” in the obvious ways. The Latin letter “y” is mapped onto the hard sign “ъ”, as in Bulgarian. The apostrophe, comma, and period are unchanged. Diphthongs are written as vowel pairs, as in the Roman representation.

Finally, an orthography using the Tengwar of Féanor, a fictional orthography invented by J. R. R. Tolkien and described in the Appendixes to The Lord Of The Rings, has been devised for Lojban. The following mapping, which closely resembles that used for Westron, will be meaningful only to those who have read those appendixes. In brief, the tincotéma and parmatéma are used in the conventional ways; the calmatéma represents palatal consonants, and the quessetéma represents velar consonants.

tinco

t

calma

-

ando

d

anga

-

thule

-

harma

c

anto

-

anca

j

numen

n

noldo

-

ore

r

anna

i

parma

p

quesse

k

umbar

b

ungwe

g

formen

f

hwesta

x

ampa

v

unque

-

malta

m

nwalme

-

vala

u

vilya

-

The letters "vala" and "anna" are used for u and i only when those letters are used to represent glides. Of the additional letters, r, l, s, and z are written with "rómen", "lambe", "silme", and "áre"/"esse" respectively; the inverted forms are used as free variants.

Lojban, like Quenya, is a vowel-last language, so tehtar are read as following the tengwar on which they are placed. The conventional tehtar are used for the five regular vowels, and the dot below for y. The Lojban apostrophe is represented by "halla". There is no equivalent of the Lojban comma or period.

Basic sentence elements

The concept of the bridi

This chapter gives diagrammed examples of basic Lojban sentence structures. The most general pattern is covered first, followed by successive variations on the basic components of the Lojban sentence. There are many more capabilities not covered in this chapter, but covered in detail in later chapters, so this chapter is a “quick tour” of the material later covered more slowly throughout the book. It also introduces most of the Lojban words used to discuss Lojban grammar.

Let us consider John and Sam and three statements about them:

Example 3.1:

John is the father of Sam.

Example 3.2:

John hits Sam.

Example 3.3:

John is taller than Sam.

These examples all describe relationships between John and Sam. However, in English, we use the noun “father” to describe a static relationship in Example 3.1, the verb “hits” to describe an active relationship in Example 3.2, and the adjective “taller” to describe an attributive relationship in Example 3.3. In Lojban we make no such grammatical distinctions; these three sentences, when expressed in Lojban, are structurally identical. The same part of speech is used to represent the relationship. In formal logic this whole structure is called a “predication”; in Lojban it is called a bridi, and the central part of speech is the selbri. Logicians refer to the things thus related as “arguments”, while Lojbanists call them sumti. These Lojban terms will be used for the rest of the book.

bridi (predicate)
______________|__________________
|                               |
John     is the father of       Sam
|____|    |______________|      |___|
|              |               |
sumti         selbri          sumti (argument)
|CLL-chapter-2-diagram.png}}

In a relationship, there are a definite number of things being related. In English, for example, “give” has three places: the donor, the recipient and the gift. For example:

Example 3.4:

John gives Sam the book.

and

Example 3.5:

Sam gives John the book.

mean two different things because the relative positions of “John” and “Sam” have been switched. Further,

Example 3.6:

The book gives John Sam.

seems strange to us merely because the places are being filled by unorthodox arguments. The relationship expressed by “give” has not changed.

In Lojban, each selbri has a specified number and type of arguments, known collectively as its “place structure”. The simplest kind of selbri consists of a single root word, called a gismu, and the definition in a dictionary gives the place structure explicitly. The primary task of constructing a Lojban sentence, after choosing the relationship itself, is deciding what you will use to fill in the sumti places.

This book uses the Lojban terms bridi, sumti, and selbri, because it is best to come to understand them independently of the English associations of the corresponding words, which are only roughly similar in meaning anyhow.

The Lojban examples in this chapter (but not in the rest of the book) use a single underline (---) under each sumti, and a double underline (===) under each selbri, to help you to tell them apart.

Pronunciation

Detailed pronunciation and spelling rules are given in Chapter 4, but what follows will keep the reader from going too far astray while digesting this chapter.

Lojban has six recognized vowels: a, e, i, o, u and y. The first five are roughly pronounced as “a” as in “father”, e as in “let”, i as in “machine”, o as in “dome” and u as in “flute”. y is pronounced as the sound called “schwa”, that is, as the unstressed “a” as in “about” or “around”.

Twelve consonants in Lojban are pronounced more or less as their counterparts are in English: b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, v and z. The letter c, on the other hand is pronounced as the “sh” in “hush”, while j is its voiced counterpart, the sound of the “s” in “pleasure”. g is always pronounced as it is in “gift”, never as in “giant”. s is as in “sell”, never as in “rose”. The sound of x is not found in English in normal words. It is found as "ch" in Scottish "loch", as "j" in Spanish "junta", and as "ch" in German "Bach"; it also appears in the English interjection “yecchh!”. It gets easier to say as you practice it. The letter r can be trilled, but doesn't have to be.

The Lojban diphthongs ai, ei, oi, and au are pronounced much as in the English words “sigh”, “say”, “boy”, and “how”. Other Lojban diphthongs begin with an i pronounced like English “y” (for example, io is pronounced “yo”) or else with a u pronounced like English “w” (for example, ua is pronounced “wa”).

Lojban also has three “semi-letters”: the period, the comma and the apostrophe. The period represents a glottal stop or a pause; it is a required stoppage of the flow of air in the speech stream. The apostrophe sounds just like the English letter “h”. Unlike a regular consonant, it is not found at the beginning or end of a word, nor is it found adjacent to a consonant; it is only found between two vowels. The comma has no sound associated with it, and is used to separate syllables that might ordinarily run together. It is not used in this chapter.

Stress falls on the next to the last syllable of all words, unless that vowel is y, which is never stressed; in such words the third-to-last syllable is stressed. If a word only has one syllable, then that syllable is not stressed.

All Lojban words are pronounced as they are spelled: there are no silent letters.

Words that can act as sumti

Here is a short table of single words used as sumti. This table provides examples only, not the entire set of such words, which may be found in Section .

mi = '

do = '

ti = '

ta = '

tu = '

zo'e = '

Lojban sumti are not specific as to number (singular or plural), nor gender (masculine/feminine/neutral). Such distinctions can be optionally added by methods that are beyond the scope of this chapter.

The cmavo ti, ta, and tu refer to whatever the speaker is pointing at, and should not be used to refer to things that cannot in principle be pointed at.

Names may also be used as sumti, provided they are preceded with the word la:

la meris.

the one/ones named Mary

la djan.

the one/ones named John

Other Lojban spelling versions are possible for names from other languages, and there are restrictions on which letters may appear in Lojban names: See Section for more information.

Some words used to indicate selbri relations

Here is a short table of some words used as Lojban selbri in this chapter:

vecnu = '

tavla = '

sutra = '

blari'o = '

melbi = '

cutci = '

bajra = '

klama = '

pluka = '

gerku = '

kurji = '

kanro = '

stali = '

zarci = '

Each selbri (relation) has a specific rule that defines the role of each sumti in the bridi, based on its position. In the table above, that order was expressed by labeling the sumti positions as x1, x2, x3, x4, and x5.

Like the table in Section 3.3, this table is far from complete: in fact, no complete table can exist, because Lojban allows new words to be created (in specified ways) whenever a speaker or writer finds the existing supply of words inadequate. This notion is a basic difference between Lojban (and some other languages such as German and Chinese) and English; in English, most people are very leery of using words that “aren't in the dictionary”. Lojbanists are encouraged to invent new words; doing so is a major way of participating in the development of the language. Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch explains how to make new words, and Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch explains how to give them appropriate meanings.

Some simple Lojban bridi

Let's look at a simple Lojban bridi. The place structure of the gismu tavla is

Example 3.7:

x1 talks to x2 about x3 in language x4

where the “x”-es with following numbers represent the various arguments that could be inserted at the given positions in the English sentence. For example:

Example 3.8:

John talks to Sam about engineering in Lojban.

has “John” in the x1 place, “Sam” in the x2 place, “engineering” in the x3 place, and “Lojban” in the x4 place, and could be paraphrased:

Example 3.9:

Talking is going on, with speaker John and listener Sam and subject matter engineering and language Lojban.

The Lojban bridi corresponding to Example 3.7 will have the form

Example 3.10:

x1 cu tavla x2 x3 x4

The word cu serves as a separator between any preceding sumti and the selbri. It can often be omitted, as in the following examples.

Example 3.11:

mi tavla do zo'e zo'e

I talk to you about something in some language.

Example 3.12:

do tavla mi ta zo'e

You talk to me about that thing in a language.

Example 3.13:

mi tavla zo'e tu ti

I talk to someone about that thing yonder in this language.

(Example 3.13 is a bit unusual, as there is no easy way to point to a language; one might point to a copy of this book, and hope the meaning gets across!)

When there are one or more occurrences of the cmavo zo'e at the end of a bridi, they may be omitted, a process called “ellipsis”. Example 3.11 and Example 3.12 may be expressed thus:

Example 3.14:

mi tavla do

I talk to you (about something in some language).

Example 3.15:

do tavla mi ta

You talk to me about that thing (in some language).

Note that Example 3.13 is not subject to ellipsis by this direct method, as the zo'e in it is not at the end of the bridi.

Variant bridi structure

Consider the sentence

Example 3.16:

mi cu vecnu ti ta zo'e

seller-x1 sells goods-sold-x2 buyer-x3 price-x4

I sell this to that for some price.

I sell this-thing/these-things to that-buyer/those-buyers.

(the price is obvious or unimportant)Example 3.16 has one sumti (the x1) before the selbri. It is also possible to put more than one sumti before the selbri, without changing the order of sumti:

Example 3.17:

mi ti cu vecnu ta

seller-x1 goods-sold-x2 sells buyer-x3

I this sell to that.

(translates as stilted or poetic English)

I this thing do sell to that buyer.

Example 3.18:

mi ti ta cu vecnu

seller-x1 goods-sold-x2 buyer-x3 sells

I this to that sell

(translates as stilted or poetic English)

I this thing to that buyer do sell.

Example 3.16 through Example 3.18 mean the same thing. Usually, placing more than one sumti before the selbri is done for style or for emphasis on the sumti that are out-of-place from their normal position. (Native speakers of languages other than English may prefer such orders.)

If there are no sumti before the selbri, then it is understood that the x1 sumti value is equivalent to zo'e; i.e. unimportant or obvious, and therefore not given. Any sumti after the selbri start counting from x2.

Example 3.19:

ta cu melbi

object/idea-x1 is-beautiful

to someone by some standard

That/Those is/are beautiful.

That is beautiful.:Those are beautiful.when the x1 is omitted, becomes:

Example 3.20:

melbi

unspecified-x1 is-beautiful

to someone by some standard

Beautiful!:It's beautiful!

Omitting the x1 adds emphasis to the selbri relation, which has become first in the sentence. This kind of sentence is termed an observative, because it is often used when someone first observes or takes note of the relationship, and wishes to quickly communicate it to someone else. Commonly understood English observatives include “Smoke!” upon seeing smoke or smelling the odor, or “Car!” to a person crossing the street who might be in danger. Any Lojban selbri can be used as an observative if no sumti appear before the selbri.

The word cu does not occur in an observative; cu is a separator, and there must be a sumti before the selbri that needs to be kept separate for cu to be used. With no sumti preceding the selbri, cu is not permitted. Short words like cu which serve grammatical functions are called cmavo in Lojban.

Varying the order of sumti

For one reason or another you may want to change the order, placing one particular sumti at the front of the bridi. The cmavo se, when placed before the last word of the selbri, will switch the meanings of the first and second sumti places. So

Example 3.21:

mi tavla do ti

I talk to you about this.

has the same meaning as

Example 3.22:

do se tavla mi ti

You are talked to by me about this.

The cmavo te, when used in the same location, switches the meanings of the first and the third sumti places.

Example 3.23:

mi tavla do ti

I talk to you about this.has the same meaning as

Example 3.24:

ti te tavla do mi

This is talked about to you by me.

Note that only the first and third sumti have switched places; the second sumti has remained in the second place.

The cmavo ve and xe switch the first and fourth sumti places, and the first and fifth sumti places, respectively. These changes in the order of places are known as “conversions”, and the se, te, ve, and xe cmavo are said to convert the selbri.

More than one of these operators may be used on a given selbri at one time, and in such a case they are evaluated from left to right. However, in practice they are used one at a time, as there are better tools for complex manipulation of the sumti places. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch for details. The effect is similar to what in English is called the “passive voice”. In Lojban, the converted selbri has a new place structure that is renumbered to reflect the place reversal, thus having effects when such a conversion is used in combination with other constructs such as

le selbri [ku] (See Section 3.10).

The basic structure of longer utterances

People don't always say just one sentence. Lojban has a specific structure for talk or writing that is longer than one sentence. The entirety of a given speech event or written text is called an utterance. The sentences (usually, but not always, bridi) in an utterance are separated by the cmavo ni'o and i. These correspond to a brief pause (or nothing at all) in spoken English, and the various punctuation marks like period, question mark, and exclamation mark in written English. These separators prevent the sumti at the beginning of the next sentence from being mistaken for a trailing sumti of the previous sentence.

The cmavo ni'o separates paragraphs (covering different topics of discussion). In a long text or utterance, the topical structure of the text may be indicated by multiple ni'o s, with perhaps

ni'oni'oni'o used to indicate a chapter,

ni'oni'o to indicate a section, and a single ni'o to indicate a subtopic corresponding to a single English paragraph.

The cmavo i separates sentences. It is sometimes compounded with words that modify the exact meaning (the semantics) of the sentence in the context of the utterance. (The cmavo xu, discussed in Section 3.15, is one such word – it turns the sentence from a statement to a question about truth.) When more than one person is talking, a new speaker will usually omit the i even though she/he may be continuing on the same topic.

It is still O.K. for a new speaker to say the i before continuing; indeed, it is encouraged for maximum clarity (since it is possible that the second speaker might merely be adding words onto the end of the first speaker's sentence). A good translation for i is the “and” used in run-on sentences when people are talking informally: “I did this, and then I did that, and ..., and ...”.

tanru

When two gismu are adjacent, the first one modifies the second, and the selbri takes its place structure from the rightmost word. Such combinations of gismu are called tanru. For example,

Example 3.25:

sutra tavla

has the place structure

Example 3.26:

x1 is a fast type-of talker to x2 about x3 in language x4

x1 talks fast to x2 about x3 in language x4

When three or more gismu are in a row, the first modifies the second, and that combined meaning modifies the third, and that combined meaning modifies the fourth, and so on. For example

Example 3.27:

sutra tavla cutci

has the place structure

Example 3.28:

s1 is a fast-talker type of shoe worn by s2 of material s3

That is, it is a shoe that is worn by a fast talker rather than a shoe that is fast and is also worn by a talker.

Note especially the use of “type-of” as a mechanism for connecting the English translations of the two or more gismu; this convention helps the learner understand each tanru in its context. Creative interpretations are also possible, however:

Example 3.29:

bajra cutci

runner shoe

most probably refers to shoes suitable for runners, but might be interpreted in some imaginative instances as “shoes that run (by themselves?)”. In general, however, the meaning of a tanru is determined by the literal meaning of its components, and not by any connotations or figurative meanings. Thus

Example 3.30:

sutra tavla

fast-talker

would not necessarily imply any trickery or deception, unlike the English idiom, and a

Example 3.31:

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 3.32:

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 3.33:

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 3.34:

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 3.35:

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 3.36:

la tam. cu tavla melbi la meris.

Tom is talkerly-beautiful to Mary.

Example 3.37:

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.

Description sumti

Often we wish to talk about things other than the speaker, the listener and things we can point to. Let's say I want to talk about a talker other than mi. What I want to talk about would naturally fit into the first place of tavla. Lojban, it turns out, has an operator that pulls this first place out of a selbri and converts it to a sumti called a “description sumti”. The description sumti

le tavla ku means “the talker”, and may be used wherever any sumti may be used.

For example,

Example 3.38:

mi tavla do le tavla [ku]

means the same as

Example 3.39:

I talk to you about the talker.

where “the talker” is presumably someone other than me, though not necessarily.

Similarly

le sutra tavla ku is

“the fast talker”, and

le sutra te tavla ku is

“the fast subject of talk” or

“the subject of fast talk”.

Which of these related meanings is understood will depend on the context in which the expression is used. The most plausible interpretation within the context will generally be assumed by a listener to be the intended one.

In many cases the word ku may be omitted. In particular, it is never necessary in a description at the end of a sentence, so:

Example 3.40:

mi tavla do le tavla

I talk-to you about-the talker

means exactly the same thing as Example 3.38.

There is a problem when we want to say “The fast one is talking.” The “obvious” translation le sutra tavla turns out to mean “the fast talker”, and has no selbri at all. To solve this problem we can use the word cu, which so far has always been optional, in front of the selbri.

The word cu has no meaning, and exists only to mark the beginning of the selbri within the bridi, separating it from a previous sumti. It comes before any other part of the selbri, including other cmavo like se or te. Thus:

Example 3.41:

le sutra tavla

The fast talker

Example 3.42:

le sutra cu tavla

The fast one is talking.

Example 3.43::le sutra se tavla

The fast talked-to one

Example 3.44:

le sutra cu se tavla

The fast one is talked to.

Consider the following more complex example, with two description sumti.

Example 3.45:

mi cu tavla le vecnu ku le blari'o ku

I talk-to the seller about the blue-green-thing.

The sumti le vecnu contains the selbri vecnu, which has the “seller” in the x1 place, and uses it in this sentence to describe a particular “seller” that the speaker has in mind (one that he or she probably expects the listener will also know about). Similarly, the speaker has a particular blue-green thing in mind, which is described using le to mark blari'o, a selbri whose first sumti is something blue-green.

It is safe to omit both occurrences of ku in Example 3.45, and it is also safe to omit the cu.

Examples of brivla

The simplest form of selbri is an individual word. A word which may by itself express a selbri relation is called a brivla. The three types of brivla are gismu (root words), lujvo (compounds), and fu'ivla (borrowings from other languages). All have identical grammatical uses. So far, most of our selbri have been gismu or tanru built from gismu.

gismu:

Example 3.46:

mi cu klama ti zo'e zo'e ta

Go-er goes destination origin route means.

I go here (to this) using that means (from somewhere via some route). lujvo:

Example 3.47:

ta cu blari'o

That is-blue-green.

fu'ivla:

Example 3.48:

ti cu djarspageti

This is-spaghetti.

Some cmavo may also serve as selbri, acting as variables that stand for another selbri. The most commonly used of these is go'i, which represents the main bridi of the previous Lojban sentence, with any new sumti or other sentence features being expressed replacing the previously expressed ones. Thus, in this context:

Example 3.49:

ta cu go'i

That too/same-as-last selbri.

That (is spaghetti), too.

The sumti di'u and la'e di'u

In English, I might say “The dog is beautiful”, and you might reply “This pleases me.” How do you know what “this” refers to? Lojban uses different expressions to convey the possible meanings of the English:

Example 3.50:

le gerku ku cu melbi

The dog is beautiful.The following three sentences all might translate as “This pleases me.”

Example 3.51:

ti cu pluka mi

This (the dog) pleases me.

Example 3.52:

di'u cu pluka mi

This (the last sentence) pleases me (perhaps because it is grammatical or sounds nice).

Example 3.53:

la'e di'u cu pluka mi

This (the meaning of the last sentence; i.e. that the dog is beautiful) pleases me. Example 3.53 uses one sumti to point to or refer to another by inference. It is common to write la'edi'u as a single word; it is used more often than di'u by itself.

Possession

“Possession” refers to the concept of specifying an object by saying who it belongs to (or with). A full explanation of Lojban possession is given in Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch. A simple means of expressing possession, however, is to place a sumti representing the possessor of an object within the description sumti that refers to the object: specifically, between the le and the selbri of the description:

Example 3.54:

le mi gerku cu sutra

The of-me dog is fast.

My dog is fast.

In Lojban, possession doesn't necessarily mean ownership: one may “possess” a chair simply by sitting on it, even though it actually belongs to someone else. English uses possession casually in the same way, but also uses it to refer to actual ownership or even more intimate relationships: “my arm” doesn't mean “some arm I own” but rather “the arm that is part of my body”. Lojban has methods of specifying all these different kinds of possession precisely and easily.

Vocatives and commands

You may call someone's attention to the fact that you are addressing them by using doi followed by their name. The sentence

Example 3.55:

doi djan.

means “Oh, John, I'm talking to you”. It also has the effect of setting the value of do; do now refers to “John” until it is changed in some way in the conversation. Note that Example 3.55 is not a bridi, but it is a legitimate Lojban sentence nevertheless; it is known as a “vocative phrase”.

Other cmavo can be used instead of doi in a vocative phrase, with a different significance. For example, the cmavo coi means “hello” and co'o means “good-bye”. Either word may stand alone, they may follow one another, or either may be followed by a pause and a name. (Vocative phrases with doi do not need a pause before the name.)

Example 3.56:

coi. djan.

Hello, John.

Example 3.57:

co'o. djan.

Good-bye, John.

Commands are expressed in Lojban by a simple variation of the main bridi structure. If you say

Example 3.58:

do tavla

You are-talking.

you are simply making a statement of fact. In order to issue a command in Lojban, substitute the word ko for do. The bridi

Example 3.59:

ko tavla instructs the listener to do whatever is necessary to make Example 3.58 true; it means “Talk!” Other examples:

Example 3.60:

ko sutra

Be fast!

The ko need not be in the x1 place, but rather can occur anywhere a sumti is allowed, leading to possible Lojban commands that are very unlike English commands:

Example 3.61:

mi tavla ko

Be talked to by me.:Let me talk to you.The cmavo ko can fill any appropriate sumti place, and can be used as often as is appropriate for the selbri:

Example 3.62:

ko kurji koand

Example 3.63:

ko ko kurjiboth mean “You take care of you” and “Be taken care of by you”, or to put it colloquially, “Take care of yourself”.

Questions

There are many kinds of questions in Lojban: full explanations appear in Section and in various other chapters throughout the book. In this chapter, we will introduce three kinds: sumti questions, selbri questions, and yes/no questions.

The cmavo ma is used to create a sumti question: it indicates that the speaker wishes to know the sumti which should be placed at the location of the ma to make the bridi true. It can be translated as “Who?” or “What?” in most cases, but also serves for “When?”, “Where?”, and “Why?” when used in sumti places that express time, location, or cause. For example:

Example 3.64:

ma tavla do mi

Who? talks to-you about-me.

Who is talking to you about me?The listener can reply by simply stating a sumti:

Example 3.65:: la djan.

John (is talking to you about me).Like ko, ma can occur in any position where a sumti is allowed, not just in the first position:

Example 3.66:

do cu tavla ma

You talk to what/whom?

A ma can also appear in multiple sumti positions in one sentence, in effect asking several questions at once.

Example 3.67:

ma cu tavla ma

What/Who talks to what/whom?

The two separate ma positions ask two separate questions, and can therefore be answered with different values in each sumti place. The cmavo mo is the selbri analogue of ma. It asks the respondent to provide a selbri that would be a true relation if inserted in place of the mo:

Example 3.68:

do cu mo

You are-what/do-what?

A mo may be used anywhere a brivla or other selbri might. Keep this in mind for later examples. Unfortunately, by itself, mo is a very non-specific question. The response to the question in Example 3.68 could be:

Example 3.69:

mi cu melbi

I am beautiful.or:

Example 3.70:

mi cu tavla

I talk.

Clearly, mo requires some cooperation between the speaker and the respondent to ensure that the right question is being answered. If context doesn't make the question specific enough, the speaker must ask the question more specifically using a more complex construction such as a tanru (See Section 3.9).

It is perfectly permissible for the respondent to fill in other unspecified places in responding to a mo question. Thus, the respondent in Example 3.70 could have also specified an audience, a topic, and/or a language in the response.

Finally, we must consider questions that can be answered “Yes” or “No”, such as

Example 3.71:

Are you talking to me?

Like all yes-or-no questions in English, Example 3.71 may be reformulated as

Example 3.72:

Is it true that you are talking to me?

In Lojban we have a word that asks precisely that question in precisely the same way. The cmavo xu, when placed in front of a bridi, asks whether that bridi is true as stated. So

Example 3.73:

xu do tavla mi

Is-it-true-that you are-talking to-me?

is the Lojban translation of Example 3.71. The answer “Yes” may be given by simply restating the bridi without the xu question word. Lojban has a shorthand for doing this with the word go'i, mentioned in Section 3.11. Instead of a negative answer, the bridi may be restated in such a way as to make it true. If this can be done by substituting sumti, it may be done with go'i as well. For example:

Example 3.74:

xu do kanro

Are you healthy?

can be answered with

Example 3.75:

mi kanro

I am healthy.or

Example 3.76:

go'i

I am healthy.(Note that do to the questioner is mi to the respondent.)or

Example 3.77:

le tavla cu kanro

The talker is healthy.or

Example 3.78:

le tavla cu go'i

The talker is healthy. A general negative answer may be given by na go'i. na may be placed before any selbri (but after the cu). It is equivalent to stating “It is not true that ...” before the bridi. It does not imply that anything else is true or untrue, only that that specific bridi is not true. More details on negative statements are available in Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

Indicators

Different cultures express emotions and attitudes with a variety of intonations and gestures that are not usually included in written language. Some of these are available in some languages as interjections (i.e. Aha!, Oh no!, Ouch!, Aahh!, etc.), but they vary greatly from culture to culture.</para>

Lojban has a group of cmavo known as “attitudinal indicators” which specifically covers this type of commentary on spoken statements. They are both written and spoken, but require no specific intonation or gestures. Grammatically they are very simple: one or more attitudinals at the beginning of a bridi apply to the entire bridi; anywhere else in the bridi they apply to the word immediately to the left. For example:

Example 3.79:

.ie mi cu klama

Agreement! I go.

Yep! I'll go.

Example 3.80:

.ei mi cu klama

Obligation! I go.

I should go.

Example 3.81:

mi cu klama le melbi .ui ku

I go to-the beautiful-thing and I am happy because it is the beautiful thing I'm going to

Not all indicators indicate attitudes. Discursives, another group of cmavo with the same grammatical rules as attitudinal indicators, allow free expression of certain kinds of commentary about the main utterances. Using discursives allows a clear separation of these so-called “metalinguistic” features from the underlying statements and logical structure. By comparison, the English words “but” and “also”, which discursively indicate contrast or an added weight of example, are logically equivalent to “and”, which does not have a discursive content. The average English-speaker does not think about, and may not even realize, the paradoxical idea that “but” basically means “and”.

Example 3.82:

mi cu klama .i do cu stali

I go. [[:Category:|]] You stay.

Example 3.83:

mi cu klama .i ji'a do cu stali

I go. [[:Category:|]]In addition, you stay. added weight

Example 3.84:

mi cu klama .i ku'i do cu stali

I go. However, you stay.contrast

Another group of indicators are called “evidentials”. Evidentials show the speaker's relationship to the statement, specifically how the speaker came to make the statement. These include za'a (I directly observe the relationship), pe'i (I believe that the relationship holds), ru'a (I postulate the relationship), and others. Many American Indian languages use this kind of words.

Example 3.85:

pe'i do cu melbi

I opine! You are beautiful.

Example 3.86:

za'a do cu melbi

I directly observe! You are beautiful.

Tenses

In English, every verb is tagged for the grammatical category called tense: past, present, or future. The sentence

Example 3.87:

John went to the store

necessarily happens at some time in the past, whereas

Example 3.88:

John is going to the store

is necessarily happening right now.

The Lojban sentence

Example 3.89:

la djan. cu klama le zarci

John goes/went/will-go to-the store

serves as a translation of either Example 3.87 or Example 3.88, and of many other possible English sentences as well. It is not marked for tense, and can refer to an event in the past, the present or the future. This rule does not mean that Lojban has no way of representing the time of an event. A close translation of Example 3.87 would be:

Example 3.90:

la djan. pu klama le zarci

John [[:Category:[past]|[past]]] goes to-the store

where the tag pu forces the sentence to refer to a time in the past. Similarly,

Example 3.91:

la djan. ca klama le zarci

John [[:Category:[present]|[present]]] goes to-the store

necessarily refers to the present, because of the tag ca. Tags used in this way always appear at the very beginning of the selbri, just after the cu, and they may make a cu unnecessary, since tags cannot be absorbed into tanru. Such tags serve as an equivalent to English tenses and adverbs. In Lojban, tense information is completely optional. If unspecified, the appropriate tense is picked up from context. Lojban also extends the notion of “tense” to refer not only to time but to space. The following example uses the tag vu to specify that the event it describes happens far away from the speaker:

Example 3.92:

do vu vecnu zo'e

You yonder sell something-unspecified.

In addition, tense tags (either for time or space) can be prefixed to the selbri of a description, producing a tensed sumti:

Example 3.93:

le pu bajra ku cu tavla

The earlier/former/past runner talked/talks.

(Since Lojban tense is optional, we don't know when he or she talks.)Tensed sumti with space tags correspond roughly to the English use of “this” or “that” as adjectives, as in the following example, which uses the tag vi meaning “nearby”:

Example 3.94:

le vi bajra ku cu tavla

The nearby runner talks.

This runner talks.

Do not confuse the use of vi in Example 3.94 with the cmavo ti, which also means “this”, but in the sense of “this thing”.

Furthermore, a tense tag can appear both on the selbri and within a description, as in the following example (where ba is the tag for future time):

Example 3.95:

le vi tavla ku cu ba klama

The here talker [future] goes.

The talker who is here will go.:This talker will go.

Lojban grammatical terms

Here is a review of the Lojban grammatical terms used in this chapter, plus some others used throughout this book. Only terms that are themselves Lojban words are included: there are of course many expressions like “indicator” in Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch that are not explained here. See the Index for further help with these.

bridi

• predication; the basic unit of Lojban expression; the main kind of Lojban sentence; a claim that some objects stand in some relationship, or that some single object has some property.

sumti

• argument; words identifying something which stands in a specified relationship to something else, or which has a specified property. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

selbri:

• logical predicate; the core of a bridi; the word or words specifying the relationship between the objects referred to by the sumti. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

cmavo:

• one of the Lojban parts of speech; a short word; a structural word; a word used for its grammatical function.

brivla:

• one of the Lojban parts of speech; a content word; a predicate word; can function as a selbri; is a gismu, a lujvo, or a fu'ivla. See

Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

gismu:

• a root word; a kind of brivla; has associated rafsi. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

lujvo:

• a compound word; a kind of brivla; may or may not appear in a dictionary; does not have associated rafsi. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch and Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

fu'ivla:

• a borrowed word; a kind of brivla; may or may not appear in a dictionary; copied in a modified form from some non-Lojban language; usually refers to some aspect of culture or the natural world; does not have associated rafsi. See

Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

rafsi:

• a word fragment; one or more is associated with each gismu; can be assembled according to rules in order to make lujvo; not a valid word by itself. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

tanru:

• a group of two or more brivla, possibly with associated cmavo, that form a selbri; always divisible into two parts, with the first part modifying the meaning of the second part (which is taken to be basic). See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

selma'o:

• a group of cmavo that have the same grammatical use (can appear interchangeably in sentences, as far as the grammar is concerned) but differ in meaning or other usage. See Chapter ELG-ERROR in Template:Lch.

Subjunctives. Imaginative and factitive te sumti types.

Introduction. fau and da'i

In this lesson we'll talk about subjunctive worlds. Let me explain what it means.

The first basic word in this section is.

da'i (UI3). The clause containing this particle describes an imaginary, not real event. Expresses subjunctive mood (in linguistics terms)

The opposite word for it is:

da'inai. The clause containing this particle describes an actual, real, not an imaginary event. Expresses indicative mood (in linguistics terms)

Constructs with da'i are usually translated to English with so called auxiliary verbs such as can/could, will/would, may/might, should and must. Clauses with da'i in English are said to be in subjunctive mood.

The second basic word that we'll deal with in this lesson is fanbu.

fanbu = x1 is a situation / time / place / "internal world" / event / circumstances / conditions (by default this world/this time/this place/this reality) in which x2 actually takes place

lo nu mi ca ciska cu se fanbu

The event of me writing now is actually taking place.

This verb covers some situation, imaginary or real. Sometimes such situation happens during some time in some place. You might notice that this powerful word fanbu in some ways resembles Einstein's concept of unity between time and space. Well, actually in the Quechua language a similar concept of pacha (roughly translated as a world) has existed for at least hundreds of years. However, our fanbu can cover even imaginary situations.

fanbu covers such verbs as fasnu, vanbi (hence its similarity to those two), tcini, cabna, selzvati, munje but it has a more generalized meaning.

The verb fanbu describes events or situations taking place in a described world.

fanbu is very useful when joining two events within one without raising any causal relation like in the following sentence: "By banging his gavel and standing up, the judge declared the trial adjourned".

We'll use one short and very useful preposition here:

fau = in the event/situation/world of ...

fau = fi'o fanbu

Often it's more convenient to use this preposition fau instead of the full verb fanbu.

We might want to combine those two words with each other. That's how we get several scenarios.

Let's discuss them all.

da'i and fau in main and in embedded clauses

da'i broda fau da describes events taking place not in da, i.e. not in our fanbu. In other words we create an imaginary world and talk about it.

broda fau da'i da talks about probabilities of events in da - the fanbu we previously created in our speech and now describe. We don't create any new worlds here.

We can omit da'i in such sentences making them more vague and short.

Omitting da'i doesn't add factuality to the clauses where it is absent.

You should add da'inai only to explicitly state factuality.

da'i broda. Imagination

Let's compare the following sentences:

a) da'i mi pavyseljirna

I could be a unicorn.

b) da'inai mi pavyseljirna

I am a unicorn.

c) mi pavyseljirna

I am a unicorn.

In the sentence a) the event is imagined.

The word da'inai from sentence b) explicitly states that the event is not imagined by anyone and therefore takes place in this world.

The meaning of the sentence c) would be clear from it's context.

da'i broda fau lo nu broda

da'i mi gleki fau lo nu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu

I am happy in-an-imaginary-world-in-which I have one million dollars.

I would/could be happy if I had one million dollars.

I would/could be happy in a world where I had one million dollars.

I imagine myself being happy and having one million dollars.

Here the event inside fau is equally imagined together with mi gleki. And here is the reverse example:

da'inai mi gleki fau lo nu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu

Having one million dollars I am happy.

broda fau da'i da. Probabilities

The following constructs can be used.

1. broda fau da'i da = x1 is possible; x1 may/can possibly happen.
2. broda fau da'i ro da= x1 is certain; x1 would necessarily happen.
3. broda fau da'i so'e da = x1 is probable; x1 will probably/is likely to happen.
4. broda fau da'i so'o da = x1 is remotely probable; x1 could/might happen.
5. broda fau da'i so'u da = x1 is not likely, probably not.
6. broda fau da'i no da = x1 is not possible.

As you can the difference between these is the number of fanbu we take into account.

Suppose you come home and hear someone scratching. You can say one of the following sentences (we'll omit da'i for brevity):

fau da ti mlatu.

This might be/possibly is a cat. It is possible that this is a cat.

(You keep several animals at home. So it might be your cat scratching but you are not sure).

fau ro da ti mlatu.

this must be/certainly is the cat.

(You have a cat and such noise can be produced by only one object, that cat).

fau so'e da ti mlatu.

This should be/probably is the cat.

(If you have a dog then it can also produce such sounds but your dog usually doesn't do that so the cat is more likely).

fau so'u da ti mlatu.

It is not probable that this is the cat.

fau no da ti mlatu

This can't be the cat. This must be not the cat. It is impossible that this is the cat.

Of course we can rephrase any of those sentences as e.g.

da fanbu lo nu ti mlatu

The state of this being-a-cat is possible.

Double negation

Sometimes it's necessary to use double negation. Let's show how this works using examples from English and Chinese.

The structure 非...不可 (fēi … bùkě) is one of the most commonly used in Mandarin Chinese. It means "must"/"absolutely must"/"need to." 非 means "not"/"no" and 不可 means "not possible". It's literally translated as "not not possible."

mi na'e cfifa'i ra fau no da

我非批评她不可。

wǒ fēi pīpíng tā bùkě

I can't not to criticize her.

I absolutely must criticize her.

mi'a na'e tadni fau no da

我们非学习不可。

wǒmen fēi xuéxí bùkě

We must study.

broda fau da'i PA nu brode

Here is a story. A tourist lady glances smilingly at another tourist lady, already seated, as she passes down the aisle. The seated tourist lady says

- Oh! Have I taken your seat?

- No. And if you had, it wouldn't have mattered!

The last sentence in Lojban would be na go'i i fau da'i lo nu do go'i na vajni Here we have a speaker displaying publicly a feature of a privately imagined world. The amazing thing is that we all trust the speaker of this graceful sentence to "know" the causal laws by which she runs events in her own imaginary world, and so we trust her report of this causal linkage! We trust her, in short, to know herself so well that she can speak "truly" of an imaginary situation in which she has probably never found herself before!

Here are other examples.

fau da'i ronu mi megdo rupnu ponse vau mi ricfu

If I have a million dollars, I'm necessarily rich.

fau da'i su'o nu lo trene cu spofu vau mi jai lerci

If the train breaks down, I could be late.

If the train breaks down (or: had broken down), I could be late (= it could happen that I am late).

In some possible world in which the train breaks down, I am late.

fau da'i su'o nu do mi jibni vau mi do darxi

Were you (ever) to come near me, it's possible that I'd hit you.

broda PU da'i PA nu brode

As said earlier fanbu is a more general verb compared to cabna. Therefore instead of fau we can use tenses described in earlier chapters like pu, ca, ba or (in verb form) purci, cabna, balvi and combine them with da'i.

mi gleki ca da'i su'o nu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu

I might be happy when I have one million dollars

fau da'i ro nu do mi ba jibni vau mi do darxi

If you come near me, I will hit you.

ba nu fau da'i da la toriz cu jinga fo lo ba co'e

Come what may, the Tories will win the next election.

fau da'i su'o nu do mi ba jibni vau mi do darxi

If you ever come near me, it's possible that I'll hit you.

fau da'i da la toriz ba jinga fo lo ba co'e

The Tories could win the next election.

Some more examples to show the power of fau da'i

fau da'i da la toriz cu jinga fo lo ba co'e

The Tories could have won the next election

fau da'i ro da ro nanmu cu prenu

Men are necessarily people.

In every possible world, every man is a person

fau da'i ronu lo trene cu spofu vau mi jai lerci

If the train breaks down (or: had broken down), I would be late

In every possible world in which the train breaks down, I am late

fau da'i ronu do mi jibni vau mi do darxi

Were you (ever) to come near me, I would hit you.

Whenever you come near me, I would hit you.

fau da'i ro da la toriz cu jinga fo lo ba co'e

It's impossible that the Tories could have failed to win the next election.

da'i broda fau da'i lo nu brode. Imagination and probabilities

We can also describe an alternative imagined world using da'i in the main clause and talk about possible events in it using fau da'i. Thus we get full subjunctive claims.

da'i mi gleki fau da'i su'o nu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu.

I might (possibly) be happy if I had one million dollars.

da'i mi gleki fau da'i so'e nu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu.

I should (probably) be happy if I had one million dollars.

da'i mi gleki fau da'i ro nu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu.

I would (certainly) be happy if I had one million dollars.

We don't have to combine da'i with fau da'i all the time. We do that when we want maximum clarity giving the subjunctive world this optional second dimension.

Likelihood of possibilities

When we want to specify the pro- or counterfactuality of our subjunctive worlds we use such clauses as but it'll never happen or which is impossible or and that's quite possible.

Let's show how we can express them.

da'i mi gleki fau lonu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu i da'inai go'i fau da'i noda

I would be happy if I had one million dollars, which (the event of me having one million dollars) is not possible.

As usual go'i copies the previous verb phrase but doesn't copy da'i or any other particle of class UI or sei clause. Then da'inai is used in this copied phrase. This da'inai refers to the current non-imagined world. And a new fau da'i clause is added thus stating that the imaginary event of me having one million dollars is not possible inside this world.

da'i mi gleki fau lonu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu i da'inai go'i fau da'i su'o me'i so'e da

I would be happy if I had one million dollars, which (the event of me having one million dollars) is possible but not likely.

da'i mi gleki fau lonu mi ponse lo megdo rupnu i da'inai go'i fau da'i so'e me'i ro da

I would be happy if I had one million dollars, which (the event of me having one million dollars) is likely but not certain.

And this is how we can create contradictions. Let's use our example with morsi.

mi na'e pacna lo nu do morsi

I don't hope you die (and you didn't yet!)

mi na'e pacna lo nu do morsi i me ri da'inai

I don't hope you die (but yet, you do!)

Advanced management of fau and da'i

Some parts of a verb phrase can refer to imaginary objects, others to non-imagined objects. In such cases we mark different parts of the phrase with da'i or da'inai where needed.

1. da'inai lo panzi be ra cu bilma

   His kids are ill (it is known he has kids and it is known they are ill).

2. lo da'inai panzi be ra cu bilma fau da'i da

   Maybe his kids are ill (i.e., it is known that he has kids but it is not known whether they are ill).

3. di bilma fau ro nu di da'inai panzi be ra

   His kids'll be ill OR If he has kids, they are ill (i.e., it is unknown whether he has kids, but if he does, they are certainly ill).

4. di bilma fau su'o nu di da'inai panzi be ra

   Maybe his kids are ill (i.e., it is unknown if he has kids but if he does, they may be ill).

5. di bilma fau ro nu di da'i panzi be ra

   His kids would be (would have been) ill (i.e., if he had kids they would be ill, but he doesn't).

6. di bilma fau su'o nu di da'i panzi be ra

   His kids might've been ill (if he had kids, but he doesn't, so we'll never know).

7. lo panzi be ra cu bilma fau ro da

   His kids are (must be) ill (i.e., as implied by some other fact such as his staying home from work).

8. lo panzi be ra cu bilma fau da

   His kids may be ill (i.e., as implied by some other fact such as his staying home from work).

Global subjunctivity

Subjunctivity can be implied in many other places. When you say

lo'e cinfo cu fengu

Typical lion is angry.

you don't state that it is angry now. Actually you are not talking about any given lion but about some typical, i.e. imaginary one. Similarly,

mi vedli lo ka pu bajra

I remember myself running.

talks about past events that are retained only in your memory.

In some languages future tense is equivalent to subjunctive mood. This makes sense as future events can usually only be predicted, i.e. imagined.

The words metfo and pevna (and the interjection pe'a) describe events and objects as having imagined properties.

Words with da'i copied from the clause into arguments

Another example showing that da'i is implied in many abstraction places of verbs.

mi catlu lo nu do morsi

I watch you die (and you really do die, else how could I watch it?)

The second place of the verb catlu copies the value of da'i/da'i nai from the main clause.

So when you have da'i nai stated or implied by context in the main clause (mi catlu) it is also present inside lo nu do morsi. But e.g. explicitly adding da'i into the inner clause leads to no effect. It can't override da'i in the main clause.

Words with static da'i in arguments

Other verbs can have some places with da'i implied (and not copied from external verb phrase). Some of them can be completely defined using fanbu and da'i. Here are some of them with glosses.

• EXPECT

kanpe = x1 expects/looks for the occurrence of x2 (da'i-event), expected likelihood x3 (0-1, default li so'a, i.e. near 1); x1 subjectively evaluates the likelihood of x2 (event) to be x3.

x1 x2 x3 kanpe = ga'a x1 x2 da'i se fanbu me x3 da

mi kanpe lo nu do ba jinga vau li so'e

I expect with a high probability that you will win.

You'll probably win.

kanpe describes possible events in our fanbu from the viewpoint of it's creator or user.

mi kanpe lo nu mi cortu fau ro nu lo rokci cu farlu lo tuple be mi

I know for a fact that if a rock lands on my foot, it will hurt.

• POSSIBLE

cumki = x1 (da'i-event/state/property) is possible under conditions x2; x1 may/might occur; x1 is a maybe.

x1 x2 cumki = x1 da'i se fanbu su'o x2

x1 cumki = fa zi'o fe x1 fi li su'o kanpe

• PROBABLE

lakne = x1 (da'i-event/state/property) is probable/likely under conditions x2.

x1 x2 lakne = x1 da'i se fanbu so'e x2

x1 lakne = fa zi'o fe x1 fi li so'e kanpe

• WOULD BE

vudbi = x1 (da'i-event/state/property) must occur under conditions x2; x1 can't not to occur; x1 is a must; it's impossible that it wouldn't x1 under conditions x2; it would would necessarily x1 under x2; it is not the case that it is possible that it is not the case that x1 happens under conditions x2

x1 vudbi = x1 da'i se fanbu ro x2

Technically vudbi = naku naku cumki. naku...naku creates a negation scope only between the two naku.

• DESIRE

djica = x1 wants x2 (da'i-event)

mi djica lo ka vitke fi la .paris.

I would rather visit Paris. I want to visit Paris.

Indeed, what we desire is always in our imaginary world.

• HOPE

pacna = x1 hopes for x2 (da'i-event) with likelihood x3 (by default liso'a i.e. close to 1)

pacna has the same place structure as kanpe, but in addition to a vague, may be even impartial expectation, it has the meaning of "hope". In fact pacna is something like kanpe je djica.

• INTEND

te mukti = x1 is motivated to bring about result/goal/objective x2 (da'i-abstraction) by x3 (motive, abstraction).

mi te mukti lo ka vitke fi la .paris.

I will visit Paris. I intend to/I'm gonna visit Paris.

mi te mukti vitke fi la .paris.

I'm visiting Paris intentionally.

• CAPABLE

kakne = x1 can/is able to do x2 (ka, da'i-abstraction).

mi pu kakne lo ka gunka

I could work. I was able to work.

• SHOULD

te javni = x1 should/ought to do x2 (da'i-abstraction) under rule x3.

mi te javni lo ka gunka

I should work.

• Don't have to, Needn't, Don't need to, Lack (absence) of obligation

na te javni

• NEED, NECESSITY

nitcu

• HAVE TO, OBLIGATION

bilga = x1 must/is obliged to do x2 (da'i-abstraction) under conditions x3.

mi bilga lo ka gunka

I must work. I have to work.

• ALLOW

curmi = x1 allows/permits x2 (da'i-abstraction)

• FORBID

tolcru = x1 forbids/prohibits x2 (da'i-abstraction)

• ADVISE

stidi

• BE SURE

birti = x1 is certain/sure/positive/convinced that x2 (da'i-abstraction) is true

• DOUBT

senpi = x1 doubts that x2 (da'i-abstraction) is true.

senpi = nalbirti

• IMAGINARY

xanri = x1 (da'i-abstraction) is imagined by x2

mi se xanri lo nu mi pavyseljirna.

I imagine myself being a unicorn.

I could be a unicorn.

Words with static da'inai in arguments

Other verbs can have da'inai implied in one of it's arguments.

• SURPRISE

spaji = x1 (da'inai-abstraction) surprises/startles/is unexpected [and generally sudden] to x2.

Chinese style yes/no questions

yes/no questions with ji

There is another method of asking 'yes/no' questions. If the verb relation consists of only one verb word you can use repeat that verb word two times linking it with ji:

pei do nelci lo tcati - je'u

Do you like tea? - Yes.

do nelci ji nelci lo tcati - je

When using such method

• yes is je
• no is na je nai

This method is similar to the Chinese method of asking yes/no questions:

好不好 ?

hăo bù hăo?

Are you all right? (literally - "good not good"?)

As you can see "good" is repeated two times separated by the word "bù". Similarly, in Lojban we use ji, although the answers are not like in Chinese.