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Copyright, 1989, 1991, by the Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904	Beau Lane,
Fairfax	VA 22031-1303 USA Phone	(703) 385-0273
[email protected]

All rights reserved.  Permission to copy granted subject to your
verification that this is the latest version of	this document, that your
distribution be	for the	promotion of Lojban, that there	is no charge for
the product, and that this copyright notice is included	intact in the
copy.
					       Number 9	- June-July 1989
				    Published by:  The Logical Language	Group, Inc.
				   2904	Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031 USA	(703)385-0273

     Ju'i Lobypli is the quarterly journal of The Logical Language Group, Inc.,	known in these pages as	la lojbangirz.
la lojbangirz. is a non-profit organization formed for the purpose of completing and spreading the logical human
language "Lojban".  The	newsletter section of Ju'i Lobypli is separately published under the name le lojbo karni.  Issue
#9 of le lojbo karni (LK9) was mailed in early May, as part of our effort to move our publication schedule up by one
month.	You should already have	received that issue by the time	you receive this.  Issue #10 of	both publications should
be distributed in August or early September.  Some 280 of you will receive this	issue of Ju'i Lobypli; we are
approaching 500	subscribers to le lojbo	karni.
     Our thanks	to those of you	who responded to our plea for contributions and	donations.  We aren't out of the woods
yet, but neither are we	afraid of not being able to pay	for this issue - a real	fear last time.	 We received several
donations of $100 or more, making up the deficit in the	bank account, and for the first	time, we have over 100 people
with positive balances.	 We still have a negative net worth, though.  So, we would still like to have those of you with
negative balances either to bring them positive	or to let us know that you are interested even though you cannot afford
to pay.
     Potential donors please note:  we still have not received IRS approval for	Section	501(c)(3) status, which	will
officially allow your donations	(not contributions to your voluntary balance) to be tax-deductible.  We	hope to	have
such approval by the end of the	year.  We are operating	in accordance with that	section, and your contributions	now
should be deductible if	approval is obtained later, although there is always the possibility of	disapproval.  You may,
if you wish, make your donation	contingent on our getting such approval.  We will inform all donors at the end of the
year as	to the status of deductibility of their	gifts.	We also	note for all potential donors that our bylaws require us
to spend no more than 30% of our receipts on administrative and	overhead expenses, and that you	are welcome to make you
gifts conditional upon our meeting this	requirement.

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Your mailing label reports your	current	mailing	status,	and your current voluntary balance including this issue.  Please
notify us if you wish to be in a different mailing code	category.  If there is an x or y code after your mailing status,
you will be reduced to the code	after the letter if we do not hear from	you before next	issue.	Balances reflect
contributions received thru 11 July.  Mailing codes (and approximate annual balance needs) are defined as follows:

Level B	- Product Announcements	Only   Level R - Review	Copy for Publications
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							   2


						 Contents of This Issue

This issue contains an attachment with the rafsi sorted	alphabetically.	 There are three lists,	in CVC,	CVV, and CCV
forms.	We have	a discussion of	the Lojban design of mathematical expressions (MEX).  Sheldon Linker provides some late
but significant	comment	on the algorithm used by us (and in previous versions of the language by Dr. James Cooke Brown)
to make	gismu.	We have	Lojban text from class members and two self-teaching students, the text	of the skit (written by
Nora) presented	at LogFest by the DC area class.  We have a short report on some recent	major events occurring since
LK9, including LogFest 89; a more complete report will be in LK10.

						   Table of Contents

News Update						    -----2
Commentary on the Loglan/Lojban	gismu Lexicon		    -----4
   On Constructing a Lexicon for an Artificial Language	- by Sheldon Linker	-----4
   Bob's Summary of the	gismu Algorithm			    -----6
   Bob's Response to Sheldon's Critique			    -----7
Special	Section	- Mathematics and Lojban		    ----11
   'An International Language for Mathematics' by Robert Strichartz
      -	reprinted with permission from "The Mathematical Intelligencer"	   ----11
   Our Submitted Response to Dr. Strichartz's Article	    ----13
   On the Lojban Design	for Mathematical Expression (MEX)   ----15
le lojbo se ciska					    ----19
   Self	Descriptions by	Lojban Students			    ----19
   With	Apologies to Spock by Bob LeChevalier		    ----20
   A Story from	Another	Culture	by Preston Maxwell (with corrections by	Bob and	Nora)	  ----21
   la sinderelwud. by Nora LeChevalier			    ----21
   lei lojbo by	Nora LeChevalier			    ----28
Translations of	le lojbo se ciska			    ----28
SCRABBLEtm for Lojban					    ----33
Ju'i Lobypli Editorial Conventions			    ----36

Attachment - Lojban rafsi Sorted Alphabetically


						      News Update

     This issue	was delayed a bit due to preparations for LogFest, coupled with	an effort to get copies	of the updated
Synopsis to all	people at level	1 or higher.  We also had our normal class preparations, and a pleasurably higher level
of new responses, contributions, and orders, all of which took away from my time to prepare this issue.
     Some significant things have happened since LK9 was written, and we don't want to make people wait	until August to
hear about them.

1. Some	40 of you are now receiving the	lessons	as they	are prepared, as opposed to waiting for	the textbook completion,
   currently scheduled for late	this year.
2. I have short	update notes on	the draft cmavo	list that will be sent to all of you who I have	down as	having received
   the draft list.  This is being sent on a fairly low priority, though.
3. Athelstan was forced	to cancel his trip to the West Coast due to a severe case of poison ivy, compounded by (Murphy's
   Law!) problems with his car.	 We apologize to all of	you who	were expecting him.  We	also want to thank those of you
   who offered sleeping	space or who were attempting to	organize meetings with him.  Hopefully,	at the very least the
   effort will stir some of you	to get together	with others who	are in your area.
4. The day I took LK9 to the printer, I	was told that we would now be charged only 3 cents/page	for orders of 25 or more
   copies instead of the previous 100 copy minimum.  This allows us to significantly reduce our	prices for draft text-
   book	lessons, draft cmavo lists, and	the draft machine grammar from the prices included in the last issue.  We are
   going to a 2-page order form	that contains more description of the materials	and explains our current prices.  The
   prices indicated have been in effect	since approximately 1 June.

							   3


5.   Athelstan was able	to attend LogFest 89 (albeit in		grammar	public for at least a year, and	his version of a
   considerable	discomfort), along with	20 others, half	of	parser will intentionally not contain the grammar in a
   them	from out-of-state.  Most people	stayed for the		human usable form.  This doesn't hurt us - we have a
   whole weekend.  We had hoped	for a larger attendance,	satisfactory grammar that is probably more sophisticated
   but those who came were among the most serious students	than JCB's; it does make his whole effort rather
   of the language - thus LogFest activities were more ad-	worthless, since a language with a secret grammar is
   vanced than in previous years.  The local class put on	uninteresting and unusable.
   the skit whose text is included in le lojbo se ciska		  The most serious criticism of	JCB's scientific work is
   below.							that he	has failed to submit it	to serious critical
     Brad Lowry	and new	Lojbanist Elliott Deal videotaped	review by qualified reviewers who have knowledge of the
   significant portions	of LogFest, and	interviewed most	language, most of whom are associated with us.	He
   attendees.  The results will	be used	to make	one or more	states that the	language has changed significantly since
   Lojban videos.  The first, a	short loop tape			the publication	of Notebook 3 two years	ago, a
   'commercial', should	be completed within a few weeks,	publication that was received by only a	few dozen
   and will be used at Worldcon	and other conventions and	people;	presumably only	a couple of these reviewed the
   meetings.							new book.  JCB has worked in a near-vacuum of outside
     Next year's LogFest will again be on the third weekend	review and support for the last	5 years, and we	expect
   of June.  Unfortunately, there is no	good alternative	that his results will show this.  We doubt that	anyone
   that	allows John Parks-Clifford (pc)	to attend and which	other than JCB,	members	of his family, and possibly Bob
   also	avoids the hottest part	of the summer here in DC.	McIvor,	who has	been doing the computer	work for the In-
   June	is hot enough.						stitute, have any real knowledge of the	current	state of
     Ralph Dumain attended LogFest, and	led a discussion of	his version of the language.
   his and others' ideas on the	Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and	  We hopefully will have received a copy by next issue,
   how Lojban/Loglan might be used to test it.	There was	and will offer a more thorough review at that time.  We
   excellent cross-fertilization of ideas, and we hope to	are also soliciting reviews and	comments from any of you
   have	three or four viewpoints summarized in the next		who receive the	book.  All comments, both positive and
   issue of JL.	 As noted in last issue, Ralph wrote a		negative, will be collected together and made available
   response to previous	comments on his	paper in JL6, and	to anyone who wants them (including JCB	if he asks).  We
   added a bibliography	of some	books he found interesting	are recommending that those of you who still have
   in regards to Sapir-Whorf and theories of 'linguistic	balances with the Institute consider using that	balance
   relativism'.	 We have copies	of Ralph's essays (about 10	productively to	order the book.	 Until there is	evidence
   pages) available on request,	along with a similar length	of lasting value, we cannot recommend sending additional
   collection of material from JL6 and JL7 on the subject.	money for the book.
6.   The Loglan	Institute, Inc.	has announced publication
   of a	new edition of Dr. James Cooke Brown's (JCB) Loglan  7.	  la lojbangirz. cannot	be considered an unbiased
   1.  This book describes an update to	what we	believe	to	reviewer of JCB's work,	however	we may try.  We	were
   be a	flawed version of the language.	 The Institute is	formed in opposition to	his policies and his language
   charging $24.00 for the paperback book of 600 pages.	 It	design decisions.  In addition,	we are now involved in a
   was supposed	to be shipped as of 1 June, but, as of		legal dispute with The Loglan Institute, Inc.  On May
   publication,	neither	we, nor	any of our contacts, have	23, after a unanimous vote of the Board	of Directors, we
   received copies that	were ordered.  The announcement		filed a	Petition for Cancellation of the Institute's
   includes a copy of the table	of contents, which reveals	registered trademark on	'Loglan' for 'dictionaries and
   that	the basic structure and	content	of the book is un-	grammars' on the grounds of fraud, and invalidity of the
   changed from	the 1975 edition.  There is a significant	name as	a trademark.  Bob, Nora, and Jeff Prothero had
   portion of the book devoted to various sorted gismu		retained a legal firm specializing in trademark	after
   lists, rafsi	lists, and cmavo lists (these are of course	the Institute threatened us with legal action last year.
   incompatible	with, and superseded by, the Lojban lists).	With our incorporation,	it was recommended that	the
   The notes on	each chapter have been expanded; in the		organization file the petition rather than individuals,
   previous edition, these usually contained technical		as the trademark has a more serious effect on the
   commentary and defenses against presumed criticisms of	organization as	an entity, than	on us as individuals.
   Dr. Brown's design.	The book contains a new	chapter		We of course believe that the trademark	damages	our
   (about 30 pages) on testing the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.	ability	to reach the community of people who know the
     As	can be determined from the table of contents, the	language and language project under the	name 'Loglan'.
   book's structure remains flawed; it is an overview and	  Because of our commitment to you not to use your money
   not a teaching tool.	 In addition, it is known to be		to fight this legal battle, we are maintaining a
   seriously incomplete.  JCB indicated	in a separate		separate legal account.	 We will use only money	donated
   letter to some people that he was intentionally omitting	specifically for this legal fund for expenses related to
   a complete specification of the grammar from	the book in	the petition.  Bob, Nora, and Jeff have	agreed to donate
   order to keep that grammar secret from la lojbangirz.	such money as is needed	to pay the legal bills.	 We will
   for a while longer.	He does	not intend to make this

							   4


   accept donations from others, but ask that your priority
   on donations	be for general support of the organization.	Before I begin the technical discussion, I must	take the
     Our expenses on this case will be included	within the   time to include a note of a personal nature.  I have been
   constraint of administrative	and legal costs	not	     asked (regarding the great	Loglan/Lojban debate) "whose
   exceeding 30% of total expenses.  This is not expected    side" I am	on.  I have always been	interested in the type
   to be a problem.					     of	technology which Loglan	and Lojban represent.  Dr.
     We	continue to seek an amicable settlement	of the	     Brown, in allowing	me the incursions into Loglan which he
   issue with the Institute.  However, after delaying for 3  did, forwarded my education immensely, and	more than he
   months, JCB rejected	our proposed settlement	without	     realizes.	For this, I will always	be grateful.  Why, then
   comment or counter-proposal,	then went sailing in the     is	this article in	Lojban,	and not	in 'The	Loglanist'?  I
   Caribbean.  His negative response coincided with his	an-  believe that here I will find a more receptive audience for
   nouncement of the new edition of Loglan 1, leading us to  this particular article.  In short, I am on the side of
   believe that	the delay was an attempt to stall until	the  advancement of this new art.
   book	was published.	In any case, you may wish to
   consider that payments to the Institute for Loglan 1	and  Background
   other materials might be used in a legal battle against
   us.								Both Loglan and	Lojban have a lexicon based on a few
     Since the Institute has specifically indicated that it  simple tenets:
   will	not sell its grammar in	the near future, and the
   obsolete 1976 dictionary has	been out-of-print for over     (1)     The lexicon must	be automatically separable:
   10 years, its claim that it is using	the supposed		  Some formal process must be able to separate words.
   trademark for these goods seems ludicrous, but that is      (2)     Certain word forms belong to certain grammatical
   for the U.S.	Patent and Trademark Office to decide.		  classes.
     We	will provide an	update and more	complete	       (3)     There exists a formula (well known to the readers
   information in the next newsletter.	Your comments and	  of this publication) which defines the recognition
   questions are welcome.					  factor (the "score") of the proposed word.

								Unfortunately, this formula has	never been tested.  It
Commentary on the Loglan/Lojban	gismu Lexicon		     seems strange to me that we have spent 34 years working on
							     a set of languages	without	ever attempting	to test	one of
   The following paper discusses the methodology used to     our basic assumptions.
build Loglan/Lojban gismu, first devised by Dr.	James Cooke
Brown (JCB) and	described in the 1960 Scientific American    Purposes of the word-building rules
article.  We will summarize the	algorithm after	the paper
for those unfamiliar with it.					There are several major	purposes of the	word-building
   Notwithstanding our baseline	policy,	it is still	     rules:
important to examine any and all assumptions that were a
basis for the language design.	Lojban will have to	       (1)     Understandability:  The word-building rules are
withstand questions and	criticisms on several fronts in		  claimed to lead to the highest possible recognition
order to be accepted for any of	its purposes.  Sheldon's	  factor, meaning that for the world's population, the
paper, written by a friend of the language, questions these	  greatest number of people will be able to recognize
assumptions and	allows us (and you) to evaluate	the quality	  and understand the formulated	word.
of our response	in a non-hostile environment.  We thus	       (2)     The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:  The	word-building
welcome	Sheldon's paper	and commend his	points to your con-	  rules	take into account words	naturally built	by a
sideration.  We	will respond to	some of	them afterwards.	  variety of languages and cultures, and intermix them,
								  supposedly building a	culture-free lexicon.
(Note -	the sample gismu used by Sheldon are from an
earlier	version	of the language, although his points apply   Problems with the word-building rules
to Lojban and other more recent	versions.)
								First, let me take on problems with the	Sapir-Whorf idea
   On Constructing a Lexicon for an Artificial Language	     behind the	word-building rules.  I	claim that there is no
							     such thing	as a cultural connection to a language's lexicon
		     by	Sheldon	Linker			     construction.  A word is a	collection of symbols, eliciting
      13612 Onkayha Circle, Irvine, California 92728	     an	ordered	set of sounds, which in	turn will or will not be
	   714-552-1904	voice	714-552-6985 fax	     recognized.  Once the word	is recognized, cultural	biases
							     of	the word or predication	may be introduced by the lis-
   Abstract:  This document presents a discussion of the     tener, but	not until then.	 Thus, any purpose to word
  Loglan/Lojban	lexical	axioms,	and takes a second look.     construction other	than a means to	recognize the given word
							     down not apply.
Statement of Alignment

							   5


   Second, if the Sapir-Whorf connection did apply, the		There are questions which I am not prepared to answer.
words should be	built evenly across all	languages, without   My	point in bringing them up is to	point out that nobody
regard to the populations speaking those languages.	     knows the answers to there	questions.  Nobody has ever
Perhaps, if this were actually a factor, the language	     tested the	recognition factors or anything	like it	to see
should be built	evenly from Hopi, English, Chinese, and	     what the weighting	factors	should be.
Swahili.  I'll not belabor this	point.
   If, on the other hand, we are not interested	in culture-  New rules:
free juxtapositions of letters taken from the English
alphabet, then we must only consider the recognizability of	There are some factors not previously considered in
words.	This leads me to the number of languages which are   determining the recognition factor	of a proposed word:
used to	build the lexicon.  It seems to	me that	there are
only three ways	to go when deciding on the number of	       (1)     I believe, but have not tested this, that only
languages to be	included in the	word-building formula:		  contiguous groups of letters should count in building
								  the recognition factor.  For instance, in the	Loglan
  (1)	  Use every language spoken in the world:  This		  word MRENU, we are told that we have a 100% match (for
     would include little-spoken languages, such as		  English) on MEN.  However, I do not believe that
     Cornish, and languages spoken only	by people who know	  anyone's mind	joins the M to the EN in MRENU.	 I
     other languages, such as Ladino.  The logic here is	  believe that the R forces us to stop,	and that only
     that if we	are truly to have an accurate mixture of	  the EN component of the word can be used in the
     languages,	let's not stop at an arbitrary limit.  If	  calculation.	Thus, using the	rule that only
     we	should include all of the languages, we	should in-	  contiguous letters count, the	English	factor for MRENU
     clude all of them.						  is limited to	67%.
  (2)	  Use the top seven languages in the world: Fine,      (2)     I believe, but have not tested this, that we
     some say that a limit must	be set somewhere.  But why	  should not be	counting or comparing the words	letter-
     not six?  And why not eight?				  by-letter using Loglan or Lojban letters.  Rather, we
  (3)	  Use only one language:  While	this may seem a		  should use the object	language's phoneme set to count
     radical proposal, this is actually	a pair of radical	  letters.  Thus, Loglan's MADJI should	not be compared
     proposals:	 One method is to use only one language	and	  to English's MAGI as MADGAI (yielding	83%).  Rather,
     to	make everyone else learn that language.	 Since		  Loglan's MADJI should	be rendered to object language
     virtually every Loglanist and Lojbanist in	the world	  to be	sued, a	comparison alphabet must first be
     speaks English, this would	give a good place to start.	  devised.  There exists an alphabet, called the
     The other option is to recognize that since words are	  International	Phonemic Alphabet, commonly known as
     just tokens, they may be mindlessly translated by a	  IPA, ideally suited to this purpose, for most
     machine.  Thus, it	is practical to	have an	English-	  languages.
     based Loglan/Lojban vocabulary, and a Spanish one,	and    (3)     If there	exists a bigger	word in	the object
     a Chinese one, and	even a Latvian and a Sing Language	  language, then a smaller word	cannot be used,	as the
     version.							  larger word provides a bigger	"handle" for cognition.
								  For example, in the Loglan word GOTSO, we get	a 100%
   Of all these	methods, I personally favor the	idea of		  match	on GO.	We also	get a 100% match on SEW, GOAT,
having a number	of single-language-based lexicons.  It		  and GOATS.  Thus, we can keep	the 100% match score for
would make the language	much easier for	all of us to learn.	  GOATS, but any attempt to use	this word for GO or SOWs
It would also make the language	learnable by someone who is	  SHOULD RESULT	IN AN English component	score of 0%.
not an aficionado; the common folk might even see a	       (4)     If there	exist more words in the	object language
properly constructed lexicon as	a dialect, with	a "funny	  the same size	as the subject word, then the subject
grammar".  If I	write a	letter using such a lexicon, and	  word score should be divided by the number of	such
the intended recipient of the letter speaks only Japanese-	  words, as there is equal likelihood that the wrong
based Loglan/Lojban, I could push a button on my word		  word will be recognized as there is the likelihood
processor, and in a fraction of	a second, a simple		  that the correct word	will be	recognized.  For
dictionary look-up gives us a translation, fully correct,	  instance, in the Loglan word MRENU, we consider the
as the grammars	are identical.					  letters EN (other letters could be considered, but
   There are more completely untested axioms:  Do we use,	  this is a limited example).  EN appears as 67% of DEN,
as a weighting factor, the percentage of the world's		  HEN, KEN (the	verb), MEN, PEN, TEN, WHEN, YEN, ZEN,
population which speaks	each language as their main		  and END.  Thus, there	are ten	English	matching words,
language?  Do we use the percentage which speak	the		  not counting proper names, so	the 67%	score is divided
language, multiplied by	the grade-level	of use and under-	  by this ten, yielding	a 6.7% score.
standing, divided by some constant?  Do	we use the percent-    (5)     If, in the object language, there exists	a word
age of the world's population who speak	the language as		  in the language with a higher	score than the subject
their first of second language?	 Do we use the percentage	  word,	then that subject word should receive a	zero
of the population which	speak the language to any extent at	  score, as it is not the most likely word to be
all?								  recognized.  Thus, in	the Loglan word	MRENU, EN has a

							   6


     raw (undivided) score of 67% from MEN, but	REN gets an  reference.	 The results recorded in the 1976 dictionary
     undivided score of	75% from RENT.	Once we	start	     reveal weak language scholarship often involving use of the
     dividing, we get 25% (75% by RENT,	WREN, and REND), as  wrong word, the use of several different Romanization
     opposed to	6.7%.  Thus the	score for MEN in MRENU is    techniques	for Chinese that are contradictory, and	the use
     zero, as it will be overpowered by	other words.	     of	questionable synonyms which heightened the scores for
  (6)	  There	should possibly	be a factor for	commonness   English and Spanish.  (It is natural to be	able to	think of
     of	use.  For instance, a word based on UNDERSTANDING    more cue words for	a concept when you know	the language
     might be more likely recognized than a word based on    better; this happened to us with Lojban, as well.)	 The
     KEN, and a	word based on SAID might be more likely	     words selected were often not the highest possible	scores,
     recognized	than a word based on QUOTH.		     as	he found when he 'remade' several of them around 1980 in
							     order to assign unique rafsi.
Conclusion							The Lojban gismu were made using the same algorithm, but
							     using more	recent linguistic population data.  We used
   I may be correct in my statements and suggestions listed  recent dictionaries, but make no claims for our scholarship
above, and I may be wrong in my	suggestions for	additional   in	Hindi, Arabic, and Chinese, although we	did spot checks
rules.	But when anyone	says that I am wrong, I	will	     with speakers of these languages where possible.	    We
politely ask them to prove it.	But if anyone tells me that  used only 6 languages for four reasons:
I am right, I will shout "Prove	it!"			     -	there was ambiguity in the order for the next few
							     languages;
							     -	we could not get a good	dictionary for Bengali,	which
	   Bob's Summary of the	gismu Algorithm		     was a plausible 7th or 8th	language;
							     -	each language added increased research and computer
   Contrary to Sheldon's note, I suspect most readers have   processing	time;
joined the project without having been told of the details   -	we tried experiments in	which we found that using a
of the word-making algorithm.  For those unfamiliar with     language from another language family (like Malay-
the algorithm, here is a brief description:		     Indonesian, another candidate language) tended to muddy the
							     results, giving many candidate words with nearly identical
   JCB used 1950 language population estimates to select     scores even though	there was little similarity among them.
the 8 most commonly spoken languages.  (He claims to have	We also	experimented with variations in	the scoring
investigated possible use of Arabic, then in 9th place,	and  algorithm.	 Including Chinese tones merely	reduced	the
found it to have no positive effect; he	has never published  Chinese weights by	a predictable fraction,	since every
supporting data, nor does he indicate what standards he	     Chinese word has tones that are lost in Lojban.  This also
used to	decide on excluding it.)  For each proposed gismu    resulted in many tie scores, since	that reduced weight
to be constructed (which he called C-Prims), he	looked up    nearly equalized Chinese and English scores.  We have
one or more word for the concept in each language.	     retained all of our input data and	results	for later
   Possible constructed	words were then	evaluated using	a    analysis and reference.
scoring	algorithm for recognizability weighted among the	It was noted that the computer usually found at	least
source languages.  (Language population	weights	were based   one possible word form higher than	the typical human
on first language speakers plus	1/2 of second language	     guesses for the best choice, thus causing greater suspicion
speakers.  The number of speakers of various languages is    of	the results of JCB's manual techniques.
too uncertain to use any more refined algorithm.)  The		In our final word choices, we often took choices that
words were expressed in	'Loglan	phonemes' similar to the     were not the highest scores in order to increase coverage
process	described for Lojbanization of names in	lesson 1 of  of	rafsi assignments.
our textbook.  A score of 2 was	given for two adjacent		In spite of the	frequent ties between unrelated	words,
letters	in a possible constructed word matching	two	     the concept of randomly assigned words, chosen solely for
adjacent letter	phonemes in the	Loglanized source word,	or   rafsi assignment purposes,	was discussed by the community
for the	two same letters separated by a	letter (possibly     (at a LogFest) and	rejected by consensus.	As part	of the
different) in both source and possible word.  A	score of 3,  gismu baseline decision last year,	however, any future
4, or 5, was given for the same	letters	appearing in both    words will	have a lower priority placed on	recognition
words in the same order, regardless of whether they	     score than	on rafsi assignment needs.  It was also	decided
appeared together or in	matching patterns.		     that words	would not be remade based on questions of the
   Scores were then divided by the length of the source	     suitability of the	algorithm that we used.
word, and weighted by the fractional population	for the
source language.  Thus blanu (the word for 'blue' in all	The description	of the algorithm answers some of
versions of the	language, including Lojban) gets 3/3 x 28%   Sheldon's questions, although perhaps not to his
for 'Loglanized' English "blu" and 3/3 x 25% for	     satisfaction.  I'll look now at his reasoning and
'Loglanized' Chinese "lan".  Chinese tones were	ignored	in   proposals.
scoring.
   JCB claims to have investigated the words in	depth, and		Bob's Response to Sheldon's Critique
to have	used speakers of the source languages for

							   7


   First of all, I agree with the concept behind Sheldon's   algorithm,	which does not recognize a difference between
basic argument:	 it is true that neither JCB nor the Lojban  vowels and	consonants for scoring purposes, and considers
gismu list workers did sufficient scientific research as to  voiced/unvoiced consonant pairs to	be as different	from
the validity of	the methodology	used to	build gismu.	     each other	as from	other consonants.
   An example:	JCB has	never given a real rationale for	The word-making	algorithm ignores all of historical
the claim that his algorithm gives any meaningful statistic  linguistics, which	documents certain sound	shifts as being
about recognizability.	I suspect that he made an educated   especially	common or likely in the	development of a
guess based on his own experiences.  Sheldon's counterexam-  language's	lexicon.  These	sound shifts tell us that some
ples (for example with 'GOTSO')	show that that guess may     consonants	are more alike than others, and	that vowel
not have been perfect.					     differences in words are relatively unimportant.  Learning
   I have problems with	most of	the detailed ideas Sheldon   these Indo-European sound shifts is especially useful to an
presents.  He leaves out a lot of important information	     English speaker studying other European languages,	since
about his counterexamples, information that I believe	     cognates can be recognized	that otherwise appear or sound
renders	them invalid.  I must start by questioning his	     very dis-similar to the native language word.  Sound shifts
assumptions.						     have other	important roles.  In English, changing a word
							     from a verb to a noun or an adjective involves adding a
	       Assumptions About Word-Making		     suffix and	often performing a sound shift.	 Compare 'act'
							     (/ekt/ in Lojbanized form)	and 'action' (/ek-can/); the 't'
   The first two assumptions given in Sheldon's	background   becomes silent, and may not be as important to recognition
section	are fine, if somewhat oversimplified.  In addition   as	the /ek/ root.	Russian, with its extensive set	of
to what	he has stated, the lexicon must	be audiovisually     declensions, changes stress and final consonants in many of
isomorphic - the spoken	language must uniquely reflect the   them.  The	stress changes usually cause a Lojbanically
written	language and vice-versa.			     significant vowel shift.  We had no way to	take this into
   The third assumption, which Sheldon questions, is not     account in	the algorithm, and used	the root form, trying to
nearly as basic	to the language	as the others.	Both JCB     drop the shifting trailer wherever	possible.  It seems
and la lojbangirz. have	made some gismu	without	using the    likely that there would have been better ways to reflect
'recognition factor' algorithm where we	felt it	appropriate  the sound shifts in estimating recognizability.
- the formula was a means to an	end, not an end	in itself.	Other factors not accounted for	by the algorithm include
   The desired goal is a lexicon which is reasonably	     the appearance of non-Lojban phonemes in the source
independent of any single natural language, while still	     languages,	such as	tones in Chinese.  A related factor
easy to	learn.	If the lexicon were tied to a single	     stems from	the fact that many Russian root	words are longer
language, the semantics	of that	source language	would	     than Lojban's 5-letter gismu, while Chinese roots are
heavily	color Loglan/Lojban semantics.	If Sapir-Whorf is    shorter.  Chinese roots that end in a consonant almost
true to	any extent, linguistics	experiments using the	     always ends in a sound that Lojbanizes as 'n'.  These
language would be expected to be affected by whether an	     factors all skew lexicons,	and perhaps cultures.  They
experimental subject came from the same	culture	or from	a    definitely	lead to	those languages	not being equally repre-
different culture as the single	source language.  This is    sented in Lojban according	to their population weights or
one of the principal arguments against an 'Anglan', as	     their recognition scores.
proposed and discussed in JL6 and JL7.	See those issues	Sheldon	argues that cultural neutrality	would dictate
for more on the	several	arguments against a single language  that words	be built evenly	across all languages regardless
source for the lexicon.					     of	populations of speakers.  Possibly true, but this leads
   Sheldon claims that there is	no connection between	     to	an unworkable algorithm, since for any given word we
culture	and the	construction of	a language lexicon.  There   have only 3 consonants and	2 vowels to play with.	Equal
is counter-evidence to this claim.  Some languages like	     weights on	languages would	lead to	tie scores on several
Finnish	and Turkish are	agglutinative, they build words	out  possible combinations, giving no basis to choose words.
of root	pieces,	just as	Lojban does.  English is less so,    (We tried it - in fact equal weights on Chinese and English
but uses a few suffixes	and prefixes.  Other languages are   alone caused this problem.)  A 'better' solution to
highly inflected - the form of the word	varies depending on  cultural neutrality would be random words,	chosen to
its grammatical	position.  It can safely be argued that, if  optimize the rafsi	selections, but	this leads to no
there is a tie between the structure of	a language and	     apparent benefits in learning the words.
culture	(per Sapir-Whorf), that	these varying approaches to	I think	the algorithm we used, or something similar to
a lexicon could	affect and be affected by culture.  If we    that algorithm, maximizes cognate value, yet leads	to most
do not assume that Sapir-Whorf might be	true, we cannot	use  words being different from	comparable words in each source
Lojban to test it.					     language, minimizing semantic transference.  This is a
   Arabic is an	extreme	case.  The roots of Arabic are	     delicate trade-off, that give more	learnability than random
reflected entirely in consonants - vowels are inserted and   words, while promoting cultural neutrality	and a separate
varied to cause	small changes in grammatical usage or	     identity as a language.
semantic meaning.  In addition,	the consonants can vary		The weighting based on language	population is only one
some as	well, especially in whether they are voiced or	     possible way to get needed	non-equal weights for non-tie
unvoiced.  This	caused a lot of	problem	with the Lojban	     scores.  It gives at least	the appearance of an attempt to

							   8


not make the language too relatively easy for people from    word - letters I might otherwise forget.  To give "jimpe" a
one particular culture (especially the English-speaking	     score of 0	is underweighting; 3/10	of 18% (5.4) is	a quite
one), offering a little	bit of a political advantage in	     low score.	 It is true that "jimpe" more strongly suggests
winning	interest from other cultures.  The emphasis is	     "jump" and	"imp", but the tie to "comprehend" is real and
placed on getting broad	input from multiple source	     worth a little bit, if not	much.
languages, giving speakers of each of them a few hooks to	This brings out	my major point;	the word recognition
learn by.						     scores are	supposed to reflect an ease in devising	cognate
   Beyond the question of trading off cultural neutrality    aids to both your recognition and recall.	Both directions
vs. learnability, there	is very	little reason to choose	one  are important; Sheldon concentrates on recognition
algorithm over another.	 Lojban	used the same algorithm	as   problems, even though recall of the Lojban	given the
JCB did	because	our goal at the	time was to remake the	     English is	the harder skill to learn.  While he may not see
words with a minimum time and effort without introducing     'go' in 'gotso', surely given the word 'go', he will more
new questionable procedures, especially	ones that would	     likely think of 'gotso' than 'mrenu' as being the word to
make it	impossible to obtain reconciliation with JCB at	     remember.
some later time.						In practice, people develop their own memory hooks for
   It is vital to see that the actual words used are	     each word that they try to	learn.	If the word has	a
relatively unimportant to Lojban's acceptability; this is    cognate value, they have some clue	to recall it by.  If
fundamental to our argument that Lojban	is essentially the   there is none, they have to devise	some non-English cognate
same language as JCB's earlier versions.  The major	     basis.  So	if they	know one or more of the	others of our
requirements are that they be a	reasonably complete and	ra-  source languages, they may	get some cognate value from the
tional set of words, that they be compatible with the	     words for the concept from	those languages.  But even if a
morphology, and	that they have a viable	set of rafsi.  If    word has a	score of 0 (many Lojban	words have a 0 English
they are easy to learn,	that is	a benefit.  JCB's emphasis   score), this doesn't mean that the	word is	difficult to
on the word-making algorithm in	the 1960 Scientific	     learn.  The Lojban	word for "child" is "verba", obviously
American article exaggerates its true importance; there	was  with a 0 score.  After having had a seven-year old	around
really very little else	that JCB could have talked about     during most of June, I have NO TROUBLE AT ALL remembering
then, since the	language was little more than a	vocabulary   that one, either by the cognate "verb" for	the activity
list and a grammar concept when	the article was	written.     level, or "verbal"	for the	noise level.
								So 'recognition	scores'	are NOT	expected to be an
	  Problems With	Sheldon's Counterexamples	     accurate measure of learnability for the word.  We	would
							     expect there to be	some correlation between 'recognition
   Sheldon uses	some 1976 gismu	in his discussion of	     scores' and the rate of learning.	Sheldon	is right in
possible alternative rules.  In	a telephone conversation,    saying that this particular algorithm has never been
he indicated that he had done an informal test of some of    verified to correlate with	learnability; he is almost
these rules.  He doesn't clearly report	this in	his	     certainly correct in saying that there are	probably
article, but I suspect that the	test was invalid, anyway.    algorithms	that would correlate better.
   The reason I	feel this way is the misconception embedded	Sheldon	proposes 6 rules that he would like to see
in his new rule	#3.  He	claims that 'gotso' is more	     incorporated in the word-making algorithm.	 He doesn't
recognized as 'goats' than as 'go', and	that to	use it for   actually write a resulting	algorithm, so it is hard to see
any shorter word than 'goats' should rate a 0 score.  This   how these rules would be incorporated.  His rule #4 would
would be true only for someone who didn't know the basis     be	unworkable in Chinese -	almost every word has multiple
for word-making.					     meanings determined by tone, and every partial word can be
   First of all, Loglan/Lojban would never have	a gismu	for  found in an even larger number of words.  However,	I can't
'goats', since we do not have separate roots for plurals.    say that his approach is wrong, because I haven't tested
Second,	we know	that short English words are most likely to  it.
be found among the gismu concepts (by Zipf's law, which		Since the words	are made, we could say that the	point is
says that the length of	a word is inversely proportional to  moot and who cares	whether	recognition scores mean
its frequency of occurrence).  Therefore, someone seriously  anything.	We wouldn't redo the words if a	negative
learning the language and attempting to	guess the word from  correlation was found; this would be unfair to the	people
pure cognate recognition would try the shortest	common word  who have started to learn the language.  Stability	is more
that is	recognizable from the gismu, not the longest.	     important than an idealized algorithm.
   I challenge Sheldon to come up with any valid gismu-form	However, since Lojban IS first and foremost a scientific
5-letter word based on 'understanding' that is		     experiment, I agree with Sheldon that the algorithm should
recognizable, much less	more recognizable than one based on  be	tested for validity, if	only to	find out the truth about
'ken' (as he suggests in rule 6.  It turns out that the	     our assumptions on	learnability as	an exercise in
Lojban for that	concept, "jimpe", derives from 'comprehend'  scientific	integrity.  In any case, Lojban	will be
(Lojbanized as /kamprixend/ getting a score of 3/10).  I     criticized	and questioned for years to come by newcomers,
will be	the first to admit that	I would	never see this word  and it would be useful to have an answer.	We also	might
in "jimpe" without being told it.  But given that informa-   learn some	meaningful truths about	how people learn foreign
tion, I	may remember the 'mp' cluster in the middle of the   languages,	truths that would not be limited to Lojban

							   9


learning.  In this way we might	make a contribution to
education independent of any value Lojban has in itself	as		 A Short Note on Another Experiment
a language tool.
   It turns out	that a basic version of	such a test is not	By the way, there is already one other experiment that
at all difficult to conduct, and can be	performed at any     has been proposed and agreed upon,	though unrelated to
time.  We simply instrument LogFlash to	gather statistics    Sheldon's paper.  pc has identified a standard test which
on individual words, recording how long	is spent learning    measures 'logical thinking'.  He has proposed it be given
both to	recognize and to recall	them.  For any individual    to	a set of Lojban	students before	they start studying the
user, this data	should correlate statistically with English  language, and then	again after they have completed	a class
(or whatever the person's native language is) recognition    (or become	fluent).  This could be	a first	data point in
scores.	 So we could get meaningful data from a	single	     identifying a means of measuring possible 'Whorfian
user, and reduce dependency on other variables by taking     effects' of Lojban.
data from several users.					pc expects to provide me with copies of	the test when he
   Instrumenting LogFlash is trivial; we could do it in	a    gets back to St. Louis around Labor Day, and we will
day or two.  We	would need volunteers who could	commit to    definitely	be using it on any following local classes,
consistently using the program.	 If the	person skips a	     while encouraging any people starting to learn the	language
couple of days now and then, the scores	for the	words being  elsewhere to help pc's research effort.  We will announce
studied	will be	skewed;	we know	from user experience that    details and criteria later, but it	seems both interesting
irregular habits are far more significant than other	     and relevant to note that the application of Lojban to
factors	in learning rate.  But we can even record lesson     scientific	questions has begun.
dates and times	to allow filtering of invalid data, though
I'm not	sure what threshold for	filtering would	be ap-
propriate.							      Special Section -	Mathematics and	Lojban
   We have our words, and their	recognition scores using
our current algorithm.	Sheldon, or any	one else, could		The possible usage of Lojban for machine translation
generate recognition scores for	our words using	his or any   discussed in the last issue has particular	application in
other algorithm.  Some scores using these algorithms on	our  the area of scientific and	technical writing.  Dr.	Robert
words might be low, and	some might be high; it doesn't	     Strichartz	of Cornell University wrote the	following
matter.	 We simply look	for a correlation between scores     article describing	what he	perceived as the requirements
and actual learning rates.  If an algorithm has	a greater    for a 'logical' language oriented towards mathematical
correlation with learning than ours, it	suggests that that   communication.  Several readers pointed the article out to
algorithm would	have been better used instead of ours to     us, and we	received permission from the editor of "The
make the words.						     Mathematical Intelligencer" to reprint it.	 We also include
   The experiment could	be extended to make words using	a    our submitted response to "The Mathematical Intelligencer".
new algorithm, but I think it would be invalid to do so.     We	have been told that a shortened	form of	this response
Lojban learners	have motivation	to learn Lojban	words, so    will be printed later this	year.
that they can use the language.	 There is no comparable		Since the subject is mathematical expression, an area of
motivation to learn another set	of words that isn't being    Lojban's design that has been discussed very little, I am
used; it would also be unfair to ask someone to	spend time   taking the	opportunity to give an overview	of our perceived
to learn a bunch of gismu that aren't going to be used.	     requirements and the resulting design that	is currently in
   But even the	simpler	test will meet Sheldon's standard,   the language.
and prove or disprove the usefulness of	our algorithm.		JCB has	made several attempts to deal with the problem
   If people want to seriously volunteer for this	     he	labelled as 'MEX' (for mathematical expressions).  He
experiment, and	are willing to make the	commitment to	     has indicated that	he feels the problem to	be separate from
science	to regularly use LogFlash, Nora	and I will make	an   that of completing	the language, and something that he does
instrumented program.  We'll even give people the program    not plan to address further (and does not address in Loglan
for free conditional on	their following	through	and return-  1,	according to his Table of Contents).  I	and others
ing a data disk.  We do	need to	know what your education     within la lojbangirz. feel	that the language is incomplete
level is, how many years of what languages you have	     without some such design, even if it is less than perfect.
studied, and at	what grade level; this type of thing is	     I believe that the	design described here addresses	the
needed to provide the scientists with information on other   requirements of international mathematical	expression,
variables; scientists also may want other basic	statistical  while staying within the framework	of the rest of the
data like age, sex, field of employment, etc. if we get	     language.
data from enough people	to make	this useful.			I've had a thought-out concept for MEX ever since the
   We'll provide raw data (and possibly	reduced	data as	     LogFest in	June 1987, but have never before tried to set it
well) to anyone	who wants to research and test their own     down in words.  (The resulting design, of course, has been
algorithm, including Sheldon and JCB (if he decides he	     embedded in cmavo and an unambiguous grammar for several
wants to conduct his own tests).			     months.)  This issue seems	like a good place to open this
   Hopefully, Sheldon, you will	be first on the	list of	     concept to	the review and scrutiny	of others.
LogFlash volunteers!  Then you can prove it to yourself!

							   10


   The presentation given is only an overview.	Some of	the  been successful.  I would guess that some modification of
design exists only as rules in the grammar and pre-assigned  G�del's Incompleteness Theorem would show that automatic
cmavo; these will be fleshed out when I	write the textbook   translation, if not impossible, is	at least an extremely
sections on the	subject.				     difficult task.  However, such problems would not
							     necessarily arise for translation of texts	that were
	 An International Language for Mathematics	     designed in advance for easy translation.	Mathematical
		   by Robert Strichartz			     texts use a limited vocabulary in a very stylized way, and
      reprinted	with permission	from "The Mathematical	     thus suitable prepared mathematical text would seem the
		      Intelligencer"			     first plausible candidates	for an automatic translation
							     system based on an	international language that would serve
	 An International Language for Mathematics	     as	an intermediary	between	different natural languages.
		   Robert S. Strichartz			     Say we call this language Intermath; a mathematician
							     writing in	English	would have her text automatically
      Reprinted	with permission	from The Mathematical	     translated	into Intermath.	 No one	would read the text in
Intelligencer, Volume 11, No. 1.  Copyright 1989 Springer-   Intermath,	but a Chinese mathematician could have the
		      Verlag New York			     Intermath text automatically translated into Chinese.  To
							     ensure the	correctness of the translation,	the author would
   Mathematics has long	been an	international discipline.    simply have the Intermath translation of the text auto-
Euler, a German-speaking Swiss,	spent much of his career in  matically translated back into English (presumably	the
Russia,	but by writing primarily in Latin he could be as-    computer would not	be allowed to cheat by peeking at the
sured that all his contemporaries could	read his works.	 It  original).	 If the	sense of the text is preserved,	then the
has been a long	time since Latin was the universal language  translation into Intermath	is correct; if not, the	author
of scholarly writing.  Some would say -	and many more would  will have to correct the errors.
hope - that English has	taken its place.  If so, this has	What would be involved in setting up such a system?  We
been a short-term phenomenon, a	result of successful	     already have a simple model of what a mathematical	language
American cultural imperialism; we certainly cannot rely	on   might be in the formal languages of mathematical logic.  In
it continuing indefinitely.  And there are still many	     principle these languages are capable of expressing any
exceptions to the rule that all	important mathematical	     mathematical argument, although in	practice such
writing	is in English (or rapidly translated into English).  expressions would be overly complicated.  This is not
The French persist in writing in their language, and the     surprising	if we remember that these formal languages were
Russians produce a body	of Russian language mathematics	of   created for the purpose of	studying the algebra of
large volume and high quality.	The Germans, Italians,	     mathematical proof, so a premium was put on limiting the
Hispanics, and Japanese	have by	and large capitulated; we    number of symbols and the different ways they can be com-
do not know what the Chinese will do as	they become a	     bined.  Intermath,	as a formal language, would be created
mathematical superpower.  Therefore, to	accept English as    to	embody all the different ways of expression used by
the international language of mathematics strikes me as	     mathematicians in their normal modes of writing.  The
short-sighted, presumptuous, and dangerous.		     inventors of Intermath will have to examine actual
   Given that mathematicians will be writing in	a number of  mathematical texts	to see how language is used, and then
different languages, what are the prospects for	rapid and    capture these uses	in Intermath.  A medium-sized vocabulary
intelligible translations?  Recently, the mathematics	     of	technical terms	will be	needed;	they will have to be
library	at Cornell suggested the possibility of	dropping     updated from time to time to include newly	coined terms.
its subscriptions to some translated Russian journals in	An automatic translation program back and forth	between
order to save money.  The reasoning is that these journals   all the natural languages and Intermath will have to be
are not	frequently used, and we	already	receive	the	     written, along with a program for modifying Intermath text
Russian-language originals, so our collection would remain   by	a user who does	not know Intermath.  The underlying as-
complete.  Alas, only the Russian-born among us	can read     sumption is that every sentence of	a mathematical text has
them.  The reason we do	not drop the subscriptions to the    an	unambiguous meaning, and so can	be translated into an
originals is that their	cost is	negligible in comparison to  Intermath sentence.  Undoubtedly there are	many ways of
the cost of the	translations.  The translation process is a  realizing the meaning of a	mathematical sentence in a
time-consuming and difficult task, and the results are	     natural language, so an Intermath translated text may lack
sometimes unsatisfactory when the translators do not	     the spontaneity and stylistic elegance of a well-written
understand the texts as	mathematics.  To translate an	     text.  Also, a portion of the text, especially in the
entire journal cover to	cover certainly	seems inefficient,   introduction and in motivating remarks, may be beyond the
when only a few	of the translations will actually be read    reach of the Intermath language.  But on balance, aren't we
at a particular	library.  On the other hand, the cost of     better off	having a translation that is accurate and
translating articles on	demand may also	be prohibitively     intelligible, even	if it is stylistically tedious and
expensive.						     missing a few paragraphs?
   The computer	would seem the natural solution	to our		How much would mathematical writers have to change their
translating problem.  Of course, attempts so far to have     practices in order	to produce a text that would be	suitable
automatic computer translation of general texts	have not     for automatic translation into Intermath?	This is	probably

							   11


the key	issue that will	determine whether an Intermath	       - It should have	a vocabulary including technical terms
system can be used.  If	we cannot write, "there	are an		 which can be readily expanded to include newly	coined
infinite number	of primes," but	are forced to substitute,	 words;
"the cardinality of the	set of prime numbers in	infinite,"     - It should embody the 'unambiguous meaning' underlying
I am afraid we will all	curse the system and do	what we	can	 mathematical text, without necessarily	preserving
to sabotage its	adoption.  On the other	hand, if all we	are	 stylistic features;
required to do is answer a few queries about ambiguous	       - It should be amenable to machine translation
sentences, I don't think very many of us will object.		 techniques.
Probably we cannot know	how such a system would	work until
one is constructed and tested.	But even in the	worst case,	I am pleased to	report that a language has already been
if such	a system proved	impractical, I still think we would  developed which meets the criteria	described by Dr.
learn a	lot about the way mathematics is written.	     Strichartz.
   Who would construct the system, and who would finance	Lojban (pronounced /LOZH,bahn/)	is the latest version of
it?  I think the project is challenging	enough that	     the language first	described by Dr. James Cooke Brown in
talented mathematicians, computer scientists, and linguists  "Loglan", Scientific American, June 1960.	Dr. Brown
would work on it, provided it was funded.  Therefore I	     started the Loglan	project	in 1955	as an attempt to develop
appeal to the professional mathematical	societies to	     a language	as a test tool for experiments relating	to the
consider organizing and	funding	such a project.		     Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistics.  Dr. Brown's
   The benefits	of such	a project would	extend beyond the    formulation of that hypothesis was	that the structure of a
mathematical community.	 No doubt other	sciences and	     language constrains the thought of	a culture that uses that
technical disciplines might imitate the	idea successfully.   language.	Thus, as a corollary, a	language which embodied
Also, by strengthening the tradition of	international co-    a structure that was drastically different	from any natural
operation in mathematics (and other cultural disciplines),   language, and which minimized metaphysical	assumptions that
the creation of	an international mathematical language may   might be considered 'cultural biases', might detectably
help to	build some bridges between the peoples of this	     alter the hypothetical constraints.
planet.	 Our governments may never be able, on their own,	Dr. Brown modelled his grammar on predicate logic, and
to break out of	the quagmire of	hostility and warfare that   specifically included grammatical techniques of clearly and
has characterized international	relations since	time	     unambiguously expressing logical connectives and other
immemorial.  But we, the mathematicians	of the world, can    concepts that are not easily expressed in English and other
maintain a system of international relations based on	     languages.	 The language was also designed	to be
cooperation, friendship	and mutual respect that	can serve    audiovisually isomorphic:	spelling is completely phonetic,
as a model for others to follow.			     each sound	corresponds to exactly one letter, and a stream
							     of	speech can be uniquely resolved	into individual	words.
							     Dr. Brown also attempted to devise	a mathematically-
    Our	Submitted Response to Dr. Strichartz's Article	     provable unambiguous grammar.
								The project received minimal funding in	the early 1960's
						 9 May 1989  and then stagnated.  Dr. Brown published a	microform
							     description of the	language in the	mid-60s, then revised it
Dr. Sheldon Axler					     into a printed book that was published in 1975.  The early
Editor,	The Mathematical Intelligencer			     versions did not achieve the desired unambiguity, and did
Dept. of Mathematics					     not live up to goals in vocabulary	development.  Only a
Michigan State University, MI 48824			     couple of people ever learned any of these	versions, and
							     the language evolved so rapidly that no one ever mastered
Dr. Axler:						     the language well enough to test the original goals.  The
							     handling of mathematical expressions turned out to	be
   This	letter is submitted in response	to Robert	     extremely deficient, a major drawback to the intended
Strichartz's essay (Vol. 11, No. 1) on "An International     language audience.
Language for Mathematics".  In that essay, Dr. Strichartz	The rise of the	computer, and especially the personal
proposes the development of an artificial language, which    computer, changed this.  Computational techniques of
he calls 'Intermath', as an interlingua	that could be used   proving computer languages	unambiguous were first applied
in computer-aided translation of mathematical text.	     to	Loglan in the mid-70s.	By 1982, a core	subset of the
   Dr. Strichartz identifies some properties that such a     language had been verified	unambiguous using the UNIXtm
language might possess:					     tool 'YACC' (Yet Another Compiler Compiler).  Meanwhile,
							     the word-formation	rules were redesigned to expand	the
  - It should be modelled on the formal	language of	     capability	to add new vocabulary with easily identifiable
    mathematical logic;					     etymologies.
  - It should extend beyond that formal	language "to embody	Lojban is the latest version of	this language, developed
    all	the different ways of expression used by	     by	The Logical Language Group from	Dr. Brown's seminal
    mathematicians in their normal modes of writing";	     research.	It is the first	version	of the language	to have
							     a completely specified unambiguous	grammar, verified by the

							   12


YACC algorithm.	 Lojban	is still based on predicate logic.   biguous natural language to unambiguous Lojban; the other
The language definition	phase is being completed in 1989;    direction should be much easier.
systems	engineering techniques such as configuration		A mathematician	should eventually be able to write text
management have	arrested the uncontrolled evolution of the   either in his/her native language or in Lojban.  Journals
language, while	still permitting carefully controlled	     would be distributed internationally in Lojban.  Cornell,
growth into new	areas as we learn more about specialized     or	any other university, would need only to translate from
language needs.						     Lojban into English, and then only	if the mathematician
   Lojban's grammar includes a grammar for mathematical	     couldn't read the Lojban; this is much easier (and	cheaper)
expressions that goes well beyond simple mathematical	     than translating from a large variety of languages.
operations.  This grammar includes a metalanguage		The ease of learning Lojban should not be understated.
capability for defining	new operators, redefining the	     The first class is	being taught In	the Washington DC area
precedence grouping of operators (unparenthesized Lojban     during the	first half of 1989; a textbook is being	written
defaults as left-grouping), and	intermingling of 'normal     simultaneously and	is expected to be published by the time
language expression' with mathematical expressions.  The     this appears in print.  It	is believed that the course
Lojban design allows for standard notations as well as	     being developed could allow reading fluency in a semester,
Polish,	reverse	Polish,	and an indefinite variety of other   and conversational	fluency	or the ability to write
systems	- a feature vital for supporting the many varieties  sophisticated texts (such as mathematics) within a	year.
of mathematical	expression used	in specialized disciplines.  The actual	time to	achieve	fluency	is mostly dependent on
Lojban also incorporates a scheme for borrowing	words from   the rate of learning the root  and	structure word
the international scientific vocabulary, as well as an ex-   vocabulary.  Students are already reading and writing
tremely	rich combinatorial technique of	building words from  fairly natural and	comprehensible non-technical text,
Lojban roots.						     limited primarily by their	mastery	of vocabulary, after
   In addition to its capability for mathematical	     less than 30 classroom hours.  Computer-aided vocabulary
expression, Lojban is designed to be a human language.	     instruction tools have been in use	for a couple of	years
Studies	of language universals have led	to the inclusion of  and have proven extremely effective.  When	fully integrated
stylistic features ranging from	the observer-based	     with classroom instruction	and standard techniques	such as
indicators found in native American languages, a tense-	     language labs, the	learning process may even be
location system	that allows for	optional treatment of	     accelerated.
space-time as a	single concept,	the isolation of concrete	Lojban's cultural neutrality and decidedly non-English
concepts from abstractions, and	a variety of subjective	     syntax eliminates any dependence on 'American cultural
emotional markers that distinguish the attitude	of the	     imperialism'.  There is interest in Lojban	among the
speaker	from the semantic content of the expression.	     community favoring	an 'international language', although
   Lojban retains audiovisual isomorphism.  The	grammar	is   this is not the primary aim of Lojban.  Lojban certainly
comparable in complexity with the more sophisticated	     has some claim to viability as an international auxiliary
computer languages of today.  A	core of	1300 root words	and  language; its ease	of learning and	cultural neutrality help
about 600 structure words (many	of them	mathematically-ori-  give Lojban standing in the idealistic internationalist
ented) can be simply combined into an effectively infinite   community.	 On the	other hand, Lojban's applicability to
vocabulary.  The small vocabulary and simple grammar make    machine translation, AI applications, and scientific and
Lojban easy to learn.					     mathematical expression, as well as its flexibility for new
   What	does this mean in terms	of Dr. Strichartz's	     uses, combine to give Lojban a practical (and possibly
proposal?						     commercial) short-term future.
   Lojban is certainly capable of serving as 'Intermath'.	Most surprisingly, almost all of the language
A Lojban parser	is under development, the first	step in	a    development has been performed without normal academic
machine	translation system.  Artificial	intelligence	     funding.  Dr. Brown funded	much of	the early work out of
experts	have started looking at	techniques that	are espe-    his own pocket, especially	after he left the University of
cially suited for AI-based translation from natural	     Florida in	the early 1960's.  Almost all of the work in the
languages into Lojban.	Lojban's syntax	resembles that of    last 10 years has been performed by unpaid	volunteers, and
LISP and PROLOG, which are often used in storing knowledge-  funded by small contributions and subscriptions to
base information for AI	processing.  It	is conceivable that  publications.  Unfortunately, independence	from academic
the Lojban machine translation system might actually be	     funding has also avoided the necessary academic review pro-
written	in a Lojban computer language.	Lojban is probably   cess.  While several linguists, logicians,	and computer
capable	of expressing even some	of the stylistic features    scientists	have worked together to	develop	Lojban,	no
of a source natural language.				     mathematician or scientist	has actually put it to the test
   More	important, a scientist or mathematician	can write    of	usage.	For too	long, we have been without the critical
originally in Lojban, using its	unique stylistic	     inputs of the mathematical	community which	would ensure
capabilities; this writing would be especially suited to     that our design meets their requirements.
mathematical texts due to the predicate	structuring of		With the language definition complete, the review and
sentences.  Writing directly in	Lojban eliminates the most   testing process by	scientists, the	development of
difficult step in machine translation: going from an am-     acceptable	application software for translation, and even
							     the original linguistic research that inspired the	language

							   13


all will require funding.  To earn that	funding, and to	     have been discussed previously; we	addressed machine
earn the respect this long-term	effort deserves, it is time  translation issues	in JL8.
for the	Loglan/Lojban project to assume	a proper role in	Lojban is, of course, designed as a predicate language
the academic process and prove its value to the	community    and is thus modelled on mathematical logic.  We have,
that we	expect will find it most useful.		     incidentally, tried to allow for non-traditional logics,
   The Logical Language	Group, Inc. is a non-profit	     such as 'fuzzy logic'; in general,	however, these new
organization dedicating	to developing Lojban, teaching it,   logics must be covered under the requirement to support new
and encouraging	its practical use.  We have teaching	     technical terms and forms,	and need not be	in the
materials available in addition	to computer-aided tools.  A  underpinning of the language.  There are a	myriad of
quarterly journal, "Ju'i Lobypli", discusses the project     possible new approaches to	mathematics and	logic; we cannot
goals and technical issues in the language, and	provides     hypothesize that any particular one of them is more
some amount of Lojban text in a	variety	of styles.  Recent   important or more lasting than the	others,	or this	might
issues have dealt with both mathematical expression and	ma-  skew Lojban's long-term usefulness, as well as its	claim to
chine translation, and reprint copies are available.  A	     being unbiased.
short newsletter, "lojbo karni", is also published to		This leads me to emphasize the second guideline	listed
inform interested but less active participants.		     above, "to	embody all the different ways of expression used
   We call for mathematicians to support our efforts, and    by	mathematicians in their	normal modes of	writing".
if possible to learn Lojban and	to test	its applicability    Lojban is not, and	must not be, an	attempt	to impose a new
to communication within	their specialties.  We would like    system of expression on mathematics, nor to constrain
to see classes taught in the university	environment, and     mathematicians to use one system on the grounds that it is
perhaps	some graduate research projects	that depend on	     'better' than any other.
Lojban could be	undertaken.  (Research activities that		Much of	the debate about the design of MEX during the
involve	communicating with native speakers of other	     history of	Lojban and predecessor versions	of the language
languages might	find Lojban an especially valuable tool.)    has revolved around this last issue.  Proponents of Polish
   Your	support	will help determine the	ultimate value of    notation, reverse Polish notation,	and other varieties of
Lojban,	whether	for scientific communication, linguistics    expression	have argued for	their preferred	notation as
research, or any of the	other goals that have been	     being superior to others, inferring therefore that	Lojban
proposed.  We are especially interested	in ideas for	     MEX should	require	mathematics to be expressed in that
research and application approaches that will attract	     form.
funding	and participation from the scientific community.	There are several flaws	with this thinking.
We look	forward	to your	interest, comments, and	questions	First, a notation that is good for one form of
on our efforts.						     mathematics may be	difficult to use with other forms.  For
							     example, logicians	often find advantage in	using Polish
				 Bob LeChevalier, President  notation for certain types	of logical analysis.  On the
			   The Logical Language	Group, Inc.  other hand, computer mathematics is often organized around
							     reverse Polish notation.
								In a similar vein, the existence of two	forms of
							     calculator	mathematics (standard and reverse Polish), each
  On the Lojban	Design for Mathematical	Expression (MEX)     with its own proponents, is a simple example demonstrating
							     that the superiority of one form of expression over another
   Let us start	by reiterating Dr. Strichartz's	guidelines   is	arguable even within one area of mathematics.
for an international mathematical language:			Lojban is an attempt to	structure language to allow for
							     unambiguous logical expression.  Regardless of which of the
  - It should be modelled on the formal	language of	     forms of expression is used, the international language of
    mathematical logic;					     mathematical expression is	already	both unambiguous and
  - It should extend beyond that formal	language "to embody  logical.  It is unambiguous in that any mathematician,
    all	the different ways of expression used by	     anywhere in the world, can	read any written mathematical
    mathematicians in their normal modes of writing";	     expression	and will 'parse' that expression the same way.
  - It should have a vocabulary	including technical terms    Mathematical language is logical in that it can be	used to
    which can be readily expanded to include newly coined    make inferences by	simple,	regular, manipulations.
    words;							Note that I qualified the previous point by referring to
  - It should embody the 'unambiguous meaning' underlying    written mathematical expression.  Even in non-Romanized
    mathematical text, without necessarily preserving	     languages,	mathematics is written using the standard
    stylistic features;					     Romanized nomenclature, and is read and understood	in
  - It should be amenable to machine translation	     exactly the same way as in	other languages.  However, where
    techniques.						     the system	breaks down is in the spoken form of these
							     expressions.  Because natural languages are neither
   These are merely a starting point, but clearly Lojban's   unambiguous nor designed to express mathematical thought,
handling of MEX	must address all of these.  Some of these    the spoken	forms of mathematics are often both clumsy and
							     ambiguous.

							   14


   We are attempting to	make the Lojban	design both	     4.	  Lojban MEX must be extendible	to handle the widely
unambiguous and	able to	express	mathematics.  Furthermore,     varying formulaic structures of the hundreds of computer
we desire Lojban expression to be audio-visually isomorphic    languages in wide use, as well as semi-mathematical
- we want any written form to be read in one unique way,       expressions such	as chemical formulae and equations.
and any	spoken form to have a unique written corresponding
form.							     As	partial	solutions to these requirements, the following
   It turns out	that we	can do this with minor allowances.   derived requirements are proposed:
The proposed MEX grammar allows	for a unique spoken form
for a given written form.  It also defines a written form    5.	  Lojban must be able to include text from other
that complies with international mathematical conventions.     languages inside	quotes,	including text that does not fit
   Unfortunately, that form is not a unique form because       Lojban phonology, morphology, or	orthography.
international mathematics does not prescribe unique forms.   6.	  Lojban must have an extendible set of	special
The best example is the	elision	of the multiplication	       characters and symbols for reading off non-Lojbanic and
operators in '3x + 2y'.	 Because we must preserve	       mathematical text as strings of symbols.	 We must be able
unambiguity in speech, and there are other possible	       to make up words	for symbols which are easy to remember.
interpretations	for the	strings	'3x' and '2y' than as	     7.	  There	must be	a way to incorporate Lojban predicates
mathematical multiplication, the spoken	form of	this	       into MEX	functions and operators.  This allows the power
expression must	not elide the multiplication operators in      of metaphor and borrowing to be applied to MEX.
its spoken form.
   In addition,	Lojban cannot make assumptions about the	(I extended this requirement to	include	the ability to
precedence of mathematical operations.	First of all,		incorporate predicates as numbers or quantifiers - as we
Lojban must allow for the addition of new operators as new	do in English when we talk about a 'brace of oxen', 'a
mathematical forms are developed.  Lojban must also permit	herd of	sheep',	or 'an exultation of doves'.  These are
the specification of nonce operators, such as those used in	folk quantifiers that do not have general mathematical
abstract algebra in discussing the properties of rings,		applicability -	I don't	know what you get when you add
fields,	and other systems that are defined by their		two 'exultations' together, or even worse, multiply
permitted operations.  Obviously, any new operation may		them.  But people have and do use them either as numbers
have a precedence which	is higher, lower, the same as, or	or collectives in expressions, and Lojban should not
in between the precedences of other existing operators.		presume	to say that they cannot	be used.)
Furthermore, it	is permissible in some mathematics to
define systems where precedences differ	from those commonly	Finally, Bill describes	a 'wish	list' of features he
attributed to mathematical operations.			     sees as being needed in the language.  Starting with his
   For examples, I reference Dr. M. Ecker in The REC	     list, I've	expanded and generalized some areas.  The
Newsletter, Vol. 3, No.	8, Dec 1988.  Dr. Ecker	reports	     following are major elements:
that of	many spreadsheets tested, one processes	'- 5 ^ 2'	Quantifiers
to be '-25', the rest put negation as higher precedence		  - scalar radices (bases) such	as binary, octal,
than exponentiation.  Many computer-based calculators even	    decimal, and hexadecimal, including	the capability
ignore precedence between addition and multiplication,		    to specify a default;
evaluating '1 +	2 x 3' as '9'.	Regardless as to whether	  - vector radices, such as time, where	the base changes
these are 'right' or 'wrong', there exist mathematical		    as you move	from hours to minutes to seconds;
processes that differ in regard	to precedences.	 To discuss	  - data-dependent radices, where the base is determined
those differences, you must be able to express them.  So	    by the data	itself,	such as	dates.	Americans can
Lojban must be able to specify non-standard precedences	and	    tell just by looking how to	interpret the dates 6/89
to specify the relative	precedence of new operations.		    and	6/18/89.  (Other countries sometimes use a
   Before I proceed with a description of how we do this, I	    different order.);
want to	summarize some other requirements for Lojban MEX.	  - Roman numerals and other non-radix number systems;
The subject of MEX requirements	was discussed in some		  - scientific notation;
detail by Lojbanist Bill Mengarini in The Loglanist, Vol 5,	  - repeating decimals;
No. 1.	I will summarize the list of requirements presented	  - irrational numbers;
there.								  - numbers typically represented by symbols, such as
								    'e', 'pi', and 'i';
1.   Lojban must be 'continuously and infinitely		  - complex numbers of arbitrary degree;
  extendible, capable of having	new constructions added	to	  - rational and mixed numbers;
  it as	easily as new metaphors	can be added to	the		  - a means of specifying the precision	of numbers;
  [Lojban] vocabulary'.						  - intervals, both discrete and continuous, open and
2.   Lojban must be able to handle data	aggregates such	as	    closed;
  matrices, arrays, records, heterogeneous lists, stacks,
  queues, trees, etc.						Strings
3.   Lojban must be able to express values in a	variety	of	  - an open ended set of characters, capable of	dealing
  bases, including octal, hexadecimal, and binary.		    with ASCII,	and other character sets;

							   15


     - a means of indicating spacing in	strings;		Experimental forms
     - quantifiers must	be able	to include strings, and	we	  - For	example, Jerome	Frazee has proposed a set of
       must be able to do operations on	strings;		    systematical mathematical operators	that clearly
   Data	Types							    indicates the relationship between addition,
     - a means to indicate restricted data types such as	    multiplication, and	exponentiation,	and higher
       those use in computer languages (Boolean, Integer,	    degrees in the same	vein.  While it	is not clear
       Floating	Point),	including user-defined data types;	    that these operators are useful in most mathematical
     - a means to discuss the attributes of such data (data	    applications, they must be able to be experimented
       declarations);						    with either	within or without the rest of the MEX
   Data	Aggregates						    system.
     - sets, including multisets that allow duplicates,
       fuzzy sets with uncertain membership, and ordered	Pinning	down the bounds	of international mathematical
       sets;						     language is difficult, and	probably impossible; no	one
     - multi-dimensional sets, such as arrays and matrices;  knows all fields of mathematics.  Perhaps the editors of
     - graphs and directional graphs (digraphs), including   the best mathematical journals are	the best equipped in
       trees;						     this area,	or perhaps mathematical	linguists.  No one will
   Units of Measurement					     ever be certain that we have covered all possibilities.
     - being able to talk about	dimensioned numbers and	     The above list is probably	a good starting	point, however.
       dimensionless numbers;
     - simple dimensions (meters) and compound dimensions	All of these bits and pieces come together as a	large
       (furlongs/fortnight);				     order, especially for an unambiguous language.  However,
     - a means of talking about	the dimensionality of	     the international language	of mathematics manages it, and
       numbers;						     Lojban should be able to.
   Functions/Operations						Let us now describe how	the current Lojban MEX design
     - a set of	'primitive' functions or operations (I am    meets these multitudinous requirements.  It turns out that
       not using the mathematical definition of	function     there is a	fairly simple solution - the same one used by
       here; some operations may have more than	one answer,  international mathematics.	 That is to assume a certain
       such as the 'zeroes' of a polynomial);		     default set of types and parameters, and to have a	means of
     - a means of defining an extendible set of	new	     specifying	deviations from	that default, both for the short
       functions/operations;				     term, and for the long term.
     - functions/operations which can operate on non-		By long	term deviations, I mean	that if	we are talking
       numeric operands, including equations;		     about chemical equations, we must label that we are doing
     - functions and operations	which return more than one   so, and then use the defaults of chemical expressions until
       type of result (such as multiple	parameter	     the default is reset.  By short term deviations, I	mean
       subroutines);					     such things as marking a single number as being in	a non-
   Relations						     standard base and assuming	all others to be in that base.
     - greater than, less than,	equation, similarity, set    When you read a mathematical expression, a	chemical
       membership, vector componency are but a few of	     formula, a	computer program, or a graph, you know the
       these;						     conventions that apply.  Most important, you handle these
     - we must be able to distinguish between assertions     conventions more as a semantics problem than one of
       and assignments ('x = 5'	and 'set x = 5';	     grammar.
   Predications							Lojban can handle a variety of systems of notation
     - we must be able to express predications (bridi)	     because of	its predicate structure.  There	is no
       about quantifiers, strings, functions, and	     requirement in Lojban that	particular sumti of a predicate
       relations;					     be	always on the left or the right	as long	as they	are in
							     the right order, or if not, some type of marker indicates
   Formulae and	Algorithms				     that they are not.	 Lojban	does vary slightly from	this, in
     - means of	expressing sequences of	operations,	     that it requires a	marker if all of the sumti are to the
       including precedences;				     right of the kunbri, in order to distinguish this form from
     - means of	asserting a default precedence;		     an	observative.  Lojban MEX need not include observatives,
     - means of	expressing data	dependent variations in	the  and hence is simpler than non-Mex grammar.
       sequence	of operations;					In fact, it turns out that a large number of features of
   Interfaces to Non-MEX Lojban				     non-MEX Lojban grammar have little	or no value in MEX, and
     - each component of MEX must be discussable as a sumti  the resulting grammar for MEX is simpler than the grammar
       in a non-MEX bridi;				     for non-MEX.  If you learn	the regular Lojban grammar, you
     - each component of MEX must be convertible to one	or   already know the basics of	MEX.
       more appropriate	predicates (kunbri or bridi);		The major 'problem' with Lojban	MEX as a representation
     - non-MEX constructions must be convertible to	     of	the international mathematical language	is the default
       appropriate MEX equivalents (such as 'exultations'    precedence.  Because of the requirement for flexibility and
       of doves	as quantifiers).			     extensibility, Lojban cannot assume a fixed set of	prece-

							   16


dences.	 This is a good	thing, since each precedence level   myself a master of	the linguistics	of mathematics.	 Even
assigned in grammar rules doubles the number of	rules	     the textbook will only skim the surface, since many of the
required.						     more interesting examples of mathematical expression will
   Instead, Lojban uses	its normal default system of left    be	unintelligible except to those who are familiar	with the
grouping.  It allows parenthesis of a couple of	types to     particular	branch of mathematics involved.
attach operands	unambiguously to their correct operations,	Some day, perhaps, someone will	write a	general
and to specify the order of operations.	 In spoken Lojban,   mathematical linguistics text for Lojban, probably	as part
you would express these	parenthesis in order to	be	     of	implementing the machine translation project proposed by
unambiguous.  In reading off an	international mathematics    Dr. Strichartz.  I	may help, but it is out	of my area of
formula	in any notation, you must therefore be able to add   expertise.
them in	easily while reading, and it turns out that this	Until then, we will have a system that we know to be
almost trivial.	 You also must insert elided operations,     unambiguous at the	parser level, is known to be flexible
such as	the missing multiplications in '2x + 3y'.	     and extendible in numerous	ways, and which	can easily
   The Lojban grammar will left-group all constructs	     handle the	basic mathematical expressions used in everyday
without	parenthesis.  You can specify non-left grouping	     speech, while doing so in a manner	that is	compatible with
precedence in three ways.  Most	clearly, you can add in	     the international mathematical language.
parentheses to force the verbal	grouping to represent your
precedence structure.  When you	do so, of course, your
verbal expression will no longer be identical to the				  le lojbo se ciska
formulaic expression.
   As a	second choice, you can adopt the conventions of			Self Descriptions by Lojban Students
international mathematics for whatever notation	system you			  le ve	skicu be mi
are using, and then use	those conventions to override the
default	grouping as part of the	semantic interpretation	of	  Lesson 5 is the first	lesson that asks a student to
the expression.	 In other words, the Lojban text will have   write more	than single sentences; we ask people to	write a
parentheses that indicate how operators	and operations are   short self-description paragraph.	Some students know more
attached.  It will also	have parentheses relating to	     grammar and vocabulary than is covered in the first five
operation precedence that can be ignored when analyzing	     lessons, but in general, the following reflect the	grammar
what the expression really means.			     in	the first five paragraphs.  Darren Stalder, Sylvia
   The third and most complicated choice is to specify the   Rutiser, and Paul Francis O'Sullivan are in the DC	area
precedence of each operation with the operation.  Lojban     class.  Jamie Bechtel is self-teaching in Omaha, but wrote
provides the capability	to attach any MEX quantifier to	an   his self-description at LogFest.  Each lesson thereafter
operation as a precedence marker.  You can then	use the	     asks the students to do a little writing that exercises the
procedure discussed for	the second choice to analyze the     points covered thus far.  I'm asking all students receiving
expression semantically.				     lessons to	send me	their self-descriptions	and later
   There are arguments that this approach violates Lojban's  writings.	We will	check and comment on them, and if the
unambiguity.  I	believe	those arguments	to be invalid	     students permit, will include some	of them	in later issues
unless you are willing to label	international mathematical   as	additional examples or inspiration for the others.
language to be similarly ambiguous.			     Jamie has already send us his Lesson 6 writing, which I
   If you make that concession,	then I concede the	     believe is	the first Lojban science fiction.  Maybe next
argument.  But Lojban, and Lojbanists, are NOT going to	     issue.
change international mathematics now or	in the near future;	  As usual, translations will appear after the end of
certainly not to impose	a more rigid standard of	     this section, so that people who are learning the language
unambiguity than has served for	centuries.  Lojban is	     can try to	read the text without help first.  I'm going to
merely trying to represent that	mathematical expression	at   be	sparing	on commentary on these writings; each reflects
the level of sophistication that serves	adequately at	     the author's personal style, which	I want to encourage, and
present.  We go	beyond that by providing explicit means	to   each has been checked by several people, and/or by	Jeff
specify	conventions and	protocols, and a unarguably	     Taylor's parser, for correctness.
unambiguous, if	unorthodox, expression form which can use
either left-grouping or	parenthesization.					 la deron. stalder.
   So Lojban MEX is sufficiently unambiguous to	encompass
existing international mathematical expression,	while	     coi  .i mi	du la deron. stalder.  .i mi ba	speni la rebekas
providing extra	capability to go beyond	that form if	     caivlis. goi ko'a	.i .iu ko'a traji leka melbi be	mi kei
necessary or desirable.					     le	zmadu roda  .i ko'a galfi leko'a cmene lemi cmene lenu
							     speni poi ka lijda	cfari ca le la xamast. detri  .i
   I'm not going to go into examples at	this point.  For     la'edi'u ka clani lisri kei gi'e canai se skicu  .i mi
one thing, the semantic	conventions and	precedences haven't  barda nanmu gi'e ckaji lo barda ke	xance je jamfu	.i lemi
been defined.  I've merely made	sure that there	is room	to   kerfa cu bunre  .i	lemi kanla noi dasni le	lenjo cu crino
do so.	For another, even I don't know the system well	     .i	mi xebni le tagji ke jibri cutci  .i mi	nelci lenu lemi
enough to demonstrate it fluently, nor do I really consider  jamfu cu lunbe  .i	le girzu skami preti danfu cu jibri mi

							   17


.i mi nelci la'edi'u .e	lei jibri jdini	 .i lemi karce ca
xe klama ri'anai leka slabu  .i	.uu lemi karce cu mutce
pilno le karce muvdu jisra  .i mi ca cliva do  .i .u'i mi
cu pamoi troci le mu'i clani ke	lojbo nu cusku	.i co'o.

							   18


						      la silvian.

mi du la silvian.  .i mi se jibri loinu	minji platu finti  .i le na jibri nu gasnu po mi du la lojban

ni'o mi	cu litru fi le cmalu ke	blanu karce noi	se jadni loi dertu ri'a	lenu mi	na lumci

ni'o lo	so'imei	zdani dinju poi	nenri la .aleksendrias.	ca zdani mi  .i	lemi zdani goi ko'a cu se canko	le so'imei
ki'unai	lenu ko'a cu berti  .i la'edi'u	mukti lenu mi ponse la .afriikan. vailet. poi spati

ni'o mi	cu nelci loi cizra gerna

			   __________________________________________________________________
					      la polpronCIIS. .osuliaVAN.

coi.  .i mi du la polpronCIIS. .osuliaVAN.  .i mi cmaci	prenu  .i mi zasni gunka  .i le	citri citri logji cu pluka mi
.i lo su'ore drata ke logji ciste cu pluka mi  .i mi pacna lenu	fanva le gerna la lojban. la esperanton.  .i mi	pacna
lenu fanva le pagbu be le jegvo	cukta le su'ore	slabu bangu le lojban.	.i mi nanmu gi'e na denmi ke grusi xunre se
kerfa

			   __________________________________________________________________
						      la djeimis.

mi du la djeimis.  .i lemi kerfa cu kalsa je ke	bunre narju  .i	lemi kanla cu blanu  .i	mi carmi nelci le nu cinki tadni
.i mi rirni le jdaselsku cinki pe zoi le. religioso senonsis .le  .i mi	xebni leka mintu gasnu	.i mi tadni lenu mi
sanji senva  .i	mi pujeca na snada ri  .i mi ckule tadni le prije larcu.


						With Apologies to Spock
					   Row,	Row, Row Your Boat in Lojban
						   by Bob LeChevalier

I haven't seen it yet, by I've been told that the latest Star Trek movie has the stars sitting around a	campfire singing
'Row, Row, Row Your Boat', while Spock attempts	to analyze the song logically.	I was challenged at LogFest to attempt a
translation, which I did in 10 minutes while the others	were arguing about what	the song really	meant.

.a'i .a'i ga'acpu ledo bloti
bainaiku le cmari'e terflecu
ci'o leka gleki	leka gleki leka	gleki
.i ki'ubo loi nunji'e cu nunsne

   .a'i	       .a'i	 ga'acpu     ledo  bloti
  /ah,hee(pause)ah,hee gah,HAH,shpu leh,do BLO,tee/
    /  -	/   -	    /	  -    -     /	-
  bainaiku  le		cmari'e		terflecu
/bai,nai,ku,leh	     shmah,REE,heh     ter,FLEH,shu/
    /	   -		-   /	-	-    /	  -
  ci'o	   leka	 gleki	   leka	  gleki	    leka   gleki
/shee,ho leh,kah GLEH,kee leh,kah GLEH,kee leh,kah GLEH,kee
   /	    -	   /	     -	    /	      -	     /
      .i     ki'ubo  loi    nunji'e    cu   nunsne
/(pause)ee kee,hu,bo loi,noon,ZHEE,heh,shu  NOON,sneh/
		/	-	/     -	     /	   -


					      A	Story from Another Culture
				 by Preston Maxwell (with corrections by Bob and Nora)

Preston	has been working on a series of	simple stories taken from non-Indo-European cultures, attempting to translate or
re-express them	in Lojban, partly as teaching examples,	partly as inter-cultural education.  His translations are still
at an early stage, since he is only up to Lesson 6.  But he has	done a lot of work, and	I want to see it recognized as

							   19


an example for others.	Nora and I took	one of his stories and polished	up the translation to make it minimally
grammatical, and here it is.  We hope to have more of Preston's	stories	in later issues.

so'o pendo puca	pinxe lo vanju
.i ko'a	goi pa le pendo	cu djica lenu jarco leko'a pixra cupra ka certu
.i semu'ibo ko'a cupra co pixra	lo since
.i leko'a pendo	cu bacru zo .ii
.i le pixra cu selcertu	.ia
.i ko'a	pensi cusku lu mi ba xagzadri'a	levi pixra
gi'e semu'i cupra co pixra lo tuple be le since
.i leko'a pendo	cu bacru lu .iinai lo'e	since cu na ponse lo tuple  .i seni'ibo	le pixra pujecanai xamgu li'u


					  la sinderelwud. by Nora LeChevalier

				 ******************************************************
					 SCENE 1 - At the Home of Cinderelwood
				 ******************************************************

(Father):	ju'i doi sindereluyd. ko cazi brulu'i le loldi
		Hey, Cinderelwood, right-now sweep the floor.
(Cinderelwood):	.ai doi	mamtyspen.
		Yes O MotherSpouse.
(1st son):	doi paf. la relber. pu porpi lemi selkei
		O Father, 2nd-Son broke	my toy.
(2nd son):	mi pu na porpi ri  .i la pavber. pu kalsyri'a lemi melbi kerfa
		I didn't break it.  1st-Son messed-up my beautiful hair.
(1st son):	.o'o naku mi go'i
		(anger)	I did not!
		(** 1st	son hits 2nd son **)
(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
		(** 2nd	son kicks 1st son **)
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.
(Father):	ju'i doi sindereluyd. .o'o do naku xu mulri'a lenu brulu'i le loldi
		Hey, Cinderelwood, (anger) aren't you done with	the sweeping of	the floor?
		.i ko jbikla
		Approach!
		.i ko komnicri'a le kerfa be la	relber.
		Comb the hair of 2nd-Son.
		.i baku	ko cikre le selkei po la pavber.
		Afterwards, fix	the toy	of 1st-Son.
		.i baku	ko mulri'a cai lenu brulu'i le loldi
		Afterwards, finish the sweeping	of the floor.
(Cinderelwood):	.ai doi	mamtyspen.
		Yes O MotherSpouse.
		(** Aside **)
		.i .uu lomi ni se bilga	cu zenba
		(sorrow) My duties increase.



				 ******************************************************
						       INTERLUDE
				 ******************************************************

(** Act	out each line in background as it is spoken by narrator. **)

(Narrator):	ko'a goi la sindereluyd. komnicri'a le kerfa be	la relber.

							   20


		He, Cinderelwood combs the hair	of 2nd-Son.
		.i baku	ko'a cikre le selkei po	la pavber.
		Then he	fixes the toy of 1st-Son.
		.i baku	ko'a [kefcfa|ke'ucfa] lenu brulu'i le loldi
		Then he	again-starts to	sweep the floor.

				 ******************************************************
							SCENE 2
				 ******************************************************

(** Fanfare sounds; knock on door heard; Father	opens door; Herald enters **).

(Herald):	coi doi	se zdani
		Hello O	occupant(s).
		.i ca'i	le banli nolrai	pe la noltaj. mi cpedu lenu ro nanmu po'u vi le	gugde ba klama le la noltaj.
		nunsaldansu
		By-the-authority-of the	great king King, I request that	all men	in the country come to the King's ball.
		.i la nolraitix. poi tixnu be fi la noltaj. cu cuxna lera ba'ispe leva zvati
		KingDaughter, who is daughter of the great king, chooses her fiance from the attendants.
		.i ti pikta pi'o ro do
		Here are tickets for all of you.
		(** Herald hands tickets to Father and leaves **)
(1st son):	.ui mi ba zvati	le banli nunsaldansu
		(happy)	I will attend the great	ball.
(2nd son):	.ui mi ba zvati	le nunsalci
		(happy)	I will attend the celebration.
		(** Preens his "beautiful" hair	**)
		.i mi ba mebrai	leva zvati
		I will be the most beautiful of	the-there attendees.
(1st son):	.o'o naku do go'i  .i mi go'i
		(anger)	You will not!  I will!
(2nd son):	.o'o naku do go'i  .i mi go'i
		(anger)	You will not!  I will!
		(** 1st	son hits 2nd son. 2nd son kicks	1st son	**)
(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.
(Father):	.e'o ko	smaji doi zanbre be fi mi
		(please) Be quiet O favorable-context sons of mine.
		.i le remei pe do ba mebrai
		The two-some of	you will be the	most beautiful.
		.i .iacai le nolraiti'u	ba cuxna pa do
		(intense-certainty) The	princess will choose one of you.
(Cinderelwood):	.ue mi mo'u pa'a do pu se cpedu
		(surprise) I, in addition to you, was requested.
		.i mi ba klama le nunsalci
		I will go to the celebration.

(Father):	.o'o na	go'i  .i do ba stali ti	gi'e gunka
		(anger)	No you won't.  You will	stay here and work.
		.i mi mipypu'i ledo pikta
		I hide your ticket.
		.i ko mulri'a lenu brulu'i
		Finish sweeping.
		(** Hides one ticket in	a lamp **)

				 ******************************************************
						       INTERLUDE
				 ******************************************************

							   21


(Narrator):	ni'o ca	le nunsalci djedi le lanzu cu redri'a pida'ari
		On the celebration day,	the family readies all-but-one-of themselves.

				 ******************************************************
							SCENE 3
				 ******************************************************

(1st son):	la relber. pu malcpa lemi degjai
		2nd-Son	stole my ring.
(2nd son):	mi na go'i  .i la pavber. pu malcpa lemi kerfa dasri
		I did not.  1st-Son stole my hair ribbon.
(1st son):	naku mi	go'i
		I did not.
		(** 1st	son hits 2nd son. 2nd son kicks	1st son	**)
(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.
(Father):	ju'i doi sindereluyd. ko cpacu le drata	degjai .e le drata ke kerfa dasri
		Hey Cinderelwood, get the other	ring and the other ribbon.
(Cinderelwood):	.ai doi	mamtyspen.
		Yes, O MotherSpouse.
		(** Cinderelwood gets the ring & ribbon. Others	finish dressing	**)
(1st son):	mi bredi le nunsalci
		I'm ready for the celebration.
(2nd son):	ba'e mi	bredi lenu se cuxna la nolraitix.
		I'm ready to be	chosen by KingDaughter.
(1st son):	naku do	ba se cuxna la nolraitix.  .i mi ba go'i
		You won't be chosen by KingDaughter.  I	will.
(2nd son):	naku do	go'i  .i mi go'i
		You won't be.  I will.
		(** As the three leave the house, 1st son hits 2nd son.	2nd son	kicks 1st son **)
(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.

				 ******************************************************
						       INTERLUDE
				 ******************************************************

(Narrator):	ni'o la	sindereluyd. cu	na selkansa
		Cinderelwood is	alone.
		(** Fairy Godfather enters, hidden **)
		.i .ue .ianairu'e go'i
		(surprise) (maybe not) That's so!



				 ******************************************************
							SCENE 4
				 ******************************************************

(Cinderelwood):	mi na selkansa	.i naku	.uu mi klama le	nunsalci
		I am alone.  It	is not the case	(sorrow) that I	go to the celebration.
		.i mi bilga lenu gunka
		I am obligated to work.
(Godfather):	coi. .elwyd.  .i mi ridrirni do
		Hello, Elwood.	I am fairy-godfather to	you.
(Cinderelwood):	.ue

							   22


		(surprise)
(Godfather):	.ai do ba klama	le nunsalci  .i	mi sidju do
		(intention) You	will go	to the celebration.  I help you.
		.i ko zgana
		Observe.
		(** Magic motions cause	ticket hiding place (lamp) to light up.	 He gets ticket, and hands it to
		Cinderelwood  **)
		.i do ca ponse le pikta
		You now	have the ticket.
		(** More magic motions **)
		.ije le	selgunka ca mulno
		And, the work is done.
(Cinderelwood):	.ui  .i	mi ca kakne lenu klama le nunsalci
		(happy)	I can go to the	celebration.
		.i  .y	naku .uu mi ponse lo drani taxfu
		(hesitation) I don't have any appropriate clothes.
(Godfather):	ko denpa
		Wait!
		(** More magic motions.	Opens drawer showing fine clothes & holds them up to Cinderelwood. **)
		.i ko zgana do le minra
		Observe	yourself in the	mirror.
(Cinderelwood):	.ue le taxfu cu	mutce melbi
		(surprise) The clothes are very	beautiful.
(Godfather):	do mo'u	pa'a cu	mutce melbi  .i	.o'u ko	se kajde
		You, also are very beautiful.  (Warning) Be forewarned!
		.i do bilga lenu cliva le nunsalci pu la parecac.
		You must leave the celebration before 12 o'clock.
		.i ca la parecac. ro ledo melbi	taxfu ba binxo ledo mabla ke slabu taxfu
		At 12, all your	beautiful clothes will change into your	old and	broken clothes.
(Cinderelwood):	mi ba morji doi	ridrirni  .i mi	mutce ckire do
		I will remember, O fairy-godfather.  I am very grateful	to you.
(Godfather):	.e'o ko	klama gi'e lifri le pluka
		(please) go and	experience the pleasant.
(Cinderelwood):	.aicai
		(intense-intention).

				 ******************************************************
						       INTERLUDE
				 ******************************************************

(Narrator):	ni'o mi'o bazi zgana le	nunsalci vi le nolraizda po la noltaj.
		We will	now observe the	celebration at the king-house of King.

				 ******************************************************
						SCENE 5	- At the Castle
				 ******************************************************

(Princess):	mi xanka denpa lemi ba speni
		I nervously await my future spouse.
		(** Father & 2 sons enter **)
(Herald):	la paf.	mamtyspen. noi selkansa	la pavber. .e la relber.
		Father MotherSpouse, who is accompanied	by 1st-Son and 2nd-Son.
(Princess):	(** Points to sons **)
		.ue ta xajmi dasni
		(surprise) They	are comically dressed.
(1st son):	(** Flexes muscles to impress princess **)
		coi nolraiti'u	.i mi tsarai
		Hello Princess.	 I am the strongest.
(2nd son):	(** Preens **)
		coi nolraiti'u	.i mi mebrai

							   23


		Hello Princess.	 I am the most beautiful.
(1st son):	.o'o naku do go'i  .i mi go'i
		(anger)	No you're not.	I am.
(2nd son):	.o'o naku do go'i  .i mi go'i
		(anger)	No you're not.	I am.
		(** 1st	son hits 2nd son. 2nd son kicks	1st son	**)
(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.
(Princess):	coi vitke
		Hello, visitors.
		(** To Herself **)
		.i'u ti	mabla seicni
		(disgust) They are self-interested.
(1st son):	(** grabs princess **)
		mi dansu co kansa do
		I dance	with you.
(Princess):	(** To Herself **)
		.o'e ti	dansu co cpana lemi jamfu
		(OUCH) He dances on my feet.
(2nd son):	(** grabs princess **)
		mi dansu co kansa do
		I dance	with you.
(Princess):	(** To Herself **)
		.o'i ti	dansu co dukse le kazyjbi
		(annoyance) He dances too close.
		(** Elwood enters **)
(Herald):	la miprycmen.
		SecretName.
(Princess):	.ue .ui	ti drani dasni
		(surprise) (happy) This-one is appropriately dressed.
(Elwood):	coi doi	nolraiti'u.  .i	mi manci lesi'o	rinsa do
		Hello, O princess.  I am awed by the thought of	greeting you.
(Princess):	coi. miprycmen.	 i do melbi cusku
		Hello, SecretName.  You	beautifully express.
(Elwood):	.i do melbi .i .e'o xu do curmi	lenu do	dansu co kansa mi
		And you	are beautiful.	(please) Will you allow	that you dance with me?
(Princess):	.ai .ui
		Certainly.  Happily.

		(** Elwood and the princess dance beautifully **)
(Princess):	(** To Herself **)
		.ui ti certu dansu
		(happy)	This-one skillfully dances.
		(** Clock begins to strike 12 **)
(Elwood):	.ue ma tcika
		(surprise) What	is-the-time?
(Princess):	la parecac.
		Twelve.
(Elwood):	.o'i  .i .uu .ei mi cazi cliva	.i co'o	doi se manci
		(annoyance). (sorrow) (obligation) I right-now leave.  Good-bye	O awesome-one.
		(** Elwood runs	out, catching his belt on the door.  Elwood leaves; his	belt doesn't.  Optionally, his
		pants fall and he picks	them up	before he gets out **)
(Princess):	ju'i. miprycmen.  .i do	puzi cirko ledo	befydai
		Hey SecretName.	 You just lost your belt.
		ko denpa
		Wait!
		(** To the Herald **)
		ko sisku lepu dasni be ti  .i mi minde la'edi'u

							   24


		Seek the former	wearer of this.	 I command it.
(Herald):	.io doi	nolraitix.
		Yes O KingDaughter.
(1st son):
(2nd son):	ju'i. nolraitix. ko catlu mi
		Hey KingDaughter, look at me!
(Princess):	.oi
		(complaint)

				 ******************************************************
						       INTERLUDE
				 ******************************************************

(Narrator):	ni'o caki le bavlamdei vi le zdani be la sindereluyd.
		The next day, at the home of Cinderelwood.

				 ******************************************************
					 SCENE 6 - At the Home of Cinderelwood
				 ******************************************************

(** Cinderelwood is sweeping again.  Fanfare; a	knock; Herald enters **)

(Herald):	coi doi	se zdani
		Hello, O occupant(s).
		.i ca'i	le banli nolraiti'u pe la nolraitix. mi	cpedu lenu ro nanmu po'u vi le gugde ba	troci co mapti
		levi befydai
		By-the-authority-of the	great princess KingDaughter, I request that all	men in the country try fitting
		this belt.
		.i la nolraitix. sisku lepu dasni be ti
		KingDaughter seeks the former wearer of	this.
		.i la nolraitix. cu jdice lenu spebi'o rixici
		KingDaughter decides on	marrying the third-forementioned.
(1st son):	.ai mi troci pamoi  .i mi kakne	lenu dasni ta
		I try first.  I	can wear that.
(2nd son):	na go'i	 .i mi go'i
		No you can't.  I can.
		(** 1st	son hits 2nd son. 2nd son kicks	1st son	**)
(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.
(Herald):	mi ba troci co mapti ro	do  .i ko jbikla
		I will try fitting all of you.	Approach.
		(** Have fun with Herald trying	to fit belt on too-big 1st son **)
(1st son):	xu mi mapti le befydai
		Do I fit the belt?
(Herald):	na go'i	.iacai
		No (intense-certainty).
		(** Have fun with Herald trying	to fit belt on too-big 2nd son **)
(2nd son):	.i'acai	mi mapti le befydai
		(intense-belief) I fit the belt.
(Herald):	na go'i	.iacai
		Not so (intense-certainty).
		.i ju'i	brulu'i	ko jbikla ki'u lenu troci co mapti le befydai
		Hey sweeper, approach to try fitting the belt.
(Father):	la sindereluyd.	na mapti
		Cinderelwood does not fit.
		.i ri na pu zvati le nunsalci
		He did not attend the celebration.
		.i ko ranji lenu brulu'i doi sindereluyd.

							   25


		Continue to sweep O Cinderelwood.
(Herald):	la nolraitix. pu minde lenu ba'e ro nanmu cu troci
		KingDaughter commanded that ALL	men try.
		.i ko jbikla doi brulu'i
		Approach, O sweeper.
		(** The	Herald tries the belt on Cinderelwood, and it fits **)
(Herald):	.ue .ui	do mapti
		(surprise) (happy) You fit.
(Cinderelwood):	.ia  .i	mi pu dasni le befydai ca le prulamdei
		Certainly.  I wore the belt yesterday.
(Herald):	ko klama la nolraitix. mu'i lenu spebi'o ri
		Go to KingDaughter to wed her.
(Cinderelwood):	.ai .uicai
		I will (intense-happiness).

				 ******************************************************
						       INTERLUDE
				 ******************************************************

(** In the background are Elwood and the Princess, obviously happily reunited **)

(Narrator):	.i la .eluyd. spebi'o la nolraitix.
		Elwood marries KingDaughter.
		.i le remei bazize'o gleki ke kansa lifri
		The two-some very-soon-and-indefinitely-beyond happily together	experience.
		.i le drata mo
		And the	others are doing what?

(** Father, 1st	son and	2nd son	are apart from Elwood and the Princess,	looking	unhappy	**)
(** 1st	son hits 2nd son. 2nd son kicks	1st son	**)

(2nd son):	.o'e la	pavber.	pu darxi mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 1st-Son hit me, O Father.
(1st son):	.o'e la	relber.	pu tikpa mi doi	paf.
		(OUCH) 2nd-Son kicked me, O Father.
(Father):	.oi
		(Complaint!)

				 ******************************************************
							THE END
				 ******************************************************


					     lei lojbo by Nora LeChevalier


					  Translations from le lojbo se	ciska

						   le ve skicu be mi
						 The Description of Me

						   la deron. stalder.

coi  .i	mi du la deron.	stalder.  .i mi	ba speni la rebekas caivlis. goi ko'a  .i .iu ko'a traji le ka melbi be	mi kei
le zmadu roda

Greetings!  I am the same as the one called 'Darren Stalder'.  I will be married to Rebecca Shively (ko'a).
(Affection!) She is superlative	in the property	of beautifulness-to-me in direction the	greater	than all-somethings.

							   26


.i ko'a	galfi leko'a cmene lemi	cmene lenu speni poi ka	lijda cfari ca le la xamast. detri  .i la'edi'u	ka clani lisri
kei gi'e canai se skicu

She modifies her name into my name at the event-of-being-spouse	which is (religious initiatedness during the 6th month's
date).	The-referent-of-the previous (the modifying) is	a long-story-ness and a	not-now	described thing.

.i mi barda nanmu gi'e ckaji lo	barda ke xance je jamfu	 .i lemi kerfa cu bunre	 .i lemi kanla noi dasni le lenjo cu
crino

I am a large-man and am	characterized by big hands-and-feet.  My hair is brown.	 My eyes, which	incidentally wear the
lenses,	are green.

.i mi xebni le tagji ke	jibri cutci  .i	mi nelci lenu lemi jamfu cu lunbe  .i le girzu skami preti danfu cu jibri mi  .i
mi nelci la'edi'u .e lei jibri jdini

I hate the tight job-shoes.  I am fond of the state of my feet being bare.  The	group-computer question	answerer
(computer networking consultant) be-jobs me.  I	am fond	of the referent	of the previous	(the be-jobbing) and (as well
as) of the mass	of job-money.

.i lemi	karce ca xe klama ri'anai leka slabu  .i .uu lemi karce	cu mutce pilno le karce	muvdu jisra  .i	mi ca cliva do
.i .u'i	mi cu pamoi troci le mu'i clani	ke lojbo nu cusku  .i co'o.

My car is presently a mode of transportation despite the oldness.  (Regret!) My	car is a much-user of the car-move
juice.	I now leave you.  (Pleasure!) I	first try the purposefully (long type-of Lojbanic expressing.)	Good-bye!

			   __________________________________________________________________
						      la silvian.

mi du la silvian.  .i mi se jibri loinu	minji platu finti  .i le na jibri nu gasnu po mi du la lojban

I am the same as the one called	'Sylvia'.  I am	be-jobbed by Machine-design Invention.	The not-job doing-without-
purpose	which pertains to me is	the same as the	thing called Lojban.  (My hobby	is Lojban.)

ni'o mi	cu litru fi le cmalu ke	blanu karce noi	se jadni loi dertu ri'a	lenu mi	na lumci

(New topic.) I travel using the	small blue-car,	which incidentally is adorned with dirt	because	of the state of	my not-
washing.

ni'o lo	so'imei	zdani dinju poi	nenri la .aleksendrias.	ca zdani mi  .i	lemi zdani goi ko'a cu se canko	le so'imei
ki'unai	lenu ko'a cu berti  .i la'edi'u	mukti lenu mi ponse la .afriikan. vailet. poi spati

(New topic.) A manysome-nest building which is inside the thing	called Alexandria is a nest for	me.  My	nest (ko'a) is
be-window-ed by	the many-some despite (justification) the state	of them	being-to-the-north.  The referent of the
previous (the be-window-ing) motivates the state of my owning that called 'African violet', which is a plant.

ni'o mi	cu nelci loi cizra gerna

(New topic.)  I	am fond	of Bizarre Grammar.

			   __________________________________________________________________
					      la polpronCIIS. .osuliaVAN.

coi.  .i mi du la polpronCIIS. .osuliaVAN.  .i mi cmaci	prenu  .i mi zasni gunka  .i le	citri citri logji cu pluka mi
.i lo su'ore drata ke logji ciste cu pluka mi  .i mi pacna lenu	fanva le gerna la lojban. la esperanton.  .i mi	pacna
lenu fanva le pagbu be le jegvo	cukta le su'ore	slabu bangu la lojban.	.i mi nanmu gi'e na denmi ke grusi xunre se
kerfa

Greetings!  I am the same as the one called 'Paul-Francis O'Sullivan' (Irish pronunciation).  I	am a mathematical
person.	 I temporary work.  The	history-history	type of	logic pleases me.  Some	(numbering at least two) other type-of
logic systems please me.  I hope for the state of translating the grammar from Lojban to Esperanto.  I hope for	the

							   27


state of translating the page(s) of the	Jehovah-book (the Bible) from the (at-least two) old languages into Lojban.  I
am a man and not-dense grayish-red be-haired.

			   __________________________________________________________________

						      la djeimis.

mi du la djeimis.  .i lemi kerfa cu kalsa je ke	bunre narju  .i	lemi kanla cu blanu  .i	mi carmi nelci lenu cinki tadni
.i mi rirni le jdaselsku cinki pe zoi le. religioso senonsis .le  .i mi	xebni leka mintu gasnu	.i mi tadni lenu mi
sanji senva  .i	mi pujeca na snada ri  .i mi ckule tadni le prije larcu.

I am the same as the one called	'Jamie'.  My hair is chaotic-and-brownish-orange.  My eyes are blue.  I	am intensely
fond of	the event(s) of	being an insect-student.  I rear the (religious-expressor) praying insect who is "religioso
senonsis".  I hate the property	of same-doing-ness without purpose (conforming).  I study  the state of	my consciously
dreaming (being	aware and able to control my dream).  I	was-and-now not-succeeding at this (the	state of conscious
dreaming).  I school-study the wise-art	(philosophy).


						With Apologies to Spock
						   by Bob LeChevalier

.a'i .a'i ga'acpu ledo bloti
(Effort!) (Effort!) Rod-pusher of your boat

bainaiku le cmari'e terflecu
not-forcedly to	the small-river	place-flowed-to

ci'o leka gleki	leka gleki leka	gleki
with emotion of	happiness about	happiness about	happiness.

.i ki'ubo loi nunji'e cu nunsne
Because	(justificational) Life is a dreaming.

You will note that the translation is not literal.  I tried to capture my sense	of the song.  I'm proud	of my means of
acquiring the song's necessary repetition both grammatically and productively.	The first two attitudinals emphasize the
strokes	of rowing, as in the English version.  The nested 'happiness's put some	meaning	to the repeated	'merrily's of
the English beyond more	repetition emphasizing oar strokes.  It	also ties in with my interpretation of the song.

There has been considerable debate about the last word.	 I have	chosen the interpretation that the song	compares life to
a (perpetual) state of dreaming, easy and gentle, relaxing and merry, like rowing a boat downstream.  If the last word
is "selsne", my	original choice, the song is harder to pronounce.  It however suggests the interpretation that life is a
dream (and presumably not real).  The more I thought about it, the less	I saw the first	three lines as agreeing	with
this interpretation.  But poetry is in the mind	of the beholder.  (Hmmm!  If I want to be consistent, perhaps the first
two words should be ".a'inai .a'inai" since I want to stress the ease of rowing	downstream.  This suits	the rhythm
better,	too.  What do you think?)

Now I can go see what Spock thinks it means.  I	welcome	other viewpoints as to what the	song means, especially if you
translate it.  (I won't	print them unless they are in Lojban, though.)



					      A	Story from Another Culture
				 by Preston Maxwell (with corrections by Bob and Nora)

so'o pendo puca	pinxe lo vanju
Some friends were-then drinking	some wine.
.i ko'a	goi pa le pendo	cu djica lenu jarco leko'a pixra cupra ka certu
He (one	of the friends)	desires	the state of showing his picture-producing expertness.
.i semu'ibo ko'a cupra co pixra	lo since
Therefore, he picture-of-a-snake produces.

							   28


.i leko'a pendo	cu bacru zo .ii
His friends uttered ".ii (Approval!)"
.i le pixra cu selcertu	.ia
The is be-experted-at (expertly	done) (Certainly!).
.i ko'a	pensi cusku lu mi ba xagzadri'a	levi pixra
gi'e semu'i cupra co pixra lo tuple be le since
He thinkingly-expresses	"I will	better-cause (improve) this picture
and therefore (motivationally) picture-of-some-legs-of-the-snake produces.
.i leko'a pendo	cu bacru lu .iinai lo'e	since cu na ponse lo tuple  .i seni'ibo	le pixra pujecanai xamgu li'u
His friends utter ".iinai (Non-approval!) The typical snake not-possesses some legs.  Therefore	(logical entailment) the
picture	was-but-is-not-now good."

					     lei lojbo by Nora LeChevalier

     This issue's strip	introduces a new character, Bob	and Nora's daughter la katrin.	I can't	say what her English
name is; there are several related forms of this name in English ranging from Catherine	to Katrina.  I believe the
latter is the intent, though, since it is a name Nora and I have considered if we ever have a daughter.	 It has	the
unusual	advantage of being an acceptable English name for a girl and being both	positive and meaningful	in Lojban as
well:  ka trina	translates as "attractiveness".	 la katrin. is a valid way to turn this	kunbri into a name.
     The humor of the comic is based on	the ambiguity of English when translated into Lojban.  It shows	just how hard
the translation	problem	is if you are completely open-minded and have no context clues.	 ALL of	the interpretations have
Sam the	computer assuming that English "after" refers to time sequence,	when a correct interpretation requires the
semantics of physical sequencing. (Either no one has told Sam about the	multiple meanings of "after", or he hasn't
gotten there yet by the	end of the comic.)
     Note that all of the interpretations given	differ from each other in Lojban grammar.

katrin.:  doi sam. mi na jimpe levi jufra be fi	le glibau
       "O Sam, I not-understand	the-here sentence in-language the English-language."
       "Sam, I don't understand	this English sentence."
sam.:  mi ba sidju pe'u. katrin.
       "I will help you, I request you,	O Katrina."
       "Can I help you,	Katrina?"
katrin.:  zoi .by. Spot	ran after the ball .by.
       "Spot ran after the ball"
       (This is	presumably read	aloud slowly with no particular	emphasis, as would happen when a child reads words
	  without understanding.)  The "zoi" marks a delimited quote of	non-Lojban text, with the delimiter being a
	  single non-compound Lojban word, in this case	"by", the letter "b".
sam.:  ko viska	la ran.	mo'u ba	le bolci
       "(Imperative You) See Ran after (you see) the ball."
       "Spot Ran after the ball!"
       This panel shows	Katrina	seeing a ball, and then	seeing la ran. ("Ron"?,	or "Ran" from "Randall") at a later
	  time.
       "mo'u" attaches "ba le bolci" as	a modal	modifier to "la	ran.", so that you know	that the parallelism is	between
	  "la ran." and	"le bolci".  Compare "ko mo'u ba le bolci cu la	ran." meaning "See, after the ball does, Ran."

sam.:  .y sa.
       "...Ummm... Take	that last sentence back."
       la spat.	mo'u ba	le bolci pu bajra
       "That named 'Spat', after the ball, past-run."
       "Spat ran after the ball."
       This panel shows	the ball running, and then a plant ("spati") named "Spat" from the Lojban word for plant.  The
	  grammar uses the alternative parallelism in the last panel, but also plays on	possible meanings of the word
	  Lojbanized as	"spat".
sam.:  .y sa.
       "...Ummm... Take	that last sentence back."
       la spat.	bajra ba le nunsaldansu
       "Spat is-a-runner after the ball	(event-of-celebration-dancing)."
       "Spat ran after the ball."
       This panel shows	a ball,	a celebration dance, and then the plant	named Spat running at a	later time.
sam.:  .y sa.

							   29


       "...Ummm... Take	that last sentence back."
       le barna	mo'u ba	le bolci cu rumpe'a
       "The mark, after	the ball does, runs (meltingly-spreads)."
       "Spot ran after the ball."
       Playing off both	"run" and "spot" this time, with a pictorial reference to modern surrealistic art.
sam.:  .y sa.
       "...Ummm... Take	that last sentence back."
       la spat.	ran. po'u ba le	nunsaldansu
       "The one	named Spat Ran,	after the ball."
       "Spat Ran after the ball!"
       A person	named "Spat Ran", presumably because he	is wearing a plant on his suit (Yes, it's hard to see this.) has
	  sore feet (o'e = "Ouch" is the indicator for pain or suffering), after his celebration-dancing.
       In afterthought,	there is another plausible meaning of "nunsaldansu" besides a celebration party	with dancing.
	  Specifically,	it could refer to the informal,	more individual-oriented dance of happiness one	might perform in
	  celebration of something.  In	spite of the usage in this strip as well as in Cinderelwood of "nunsaldansu" for
	  'ball', note that all	such lujvo at this point are still proposals and are not 'set in concrete'.  This new
	  interpretation may be	better,	since "ball" might require some	sense of 'party', or a mass of people:
	  "nungumsaldansu".  Other tanru are possible.
       These are the type of questions to be resolved through usage before we write the	dictionary.  We	do not want to
	  enshrine lujvo with 'official' meanings until	usage backs them up as the 'best' or 'most useful' or 'clearest'
	  interpretation.  None	of us can claim	that they have the Lojbanic skill or the cultural neutrality to	make
	  these	decisions alone.  At this point, when we are trying to convey stability	of the basic language elements
	  like the grammar and gismu, we don't need people thinking that Bob's and Nora's off-the-wall lujvo inventions
	  are to be enshrined.	Lojban is YOUR language, not ours.
sam.:  .y sa. ...
       "...Ummm... Take	that last sentence back.
       Presumably Sam will follow with several more possible interpretations, but Katrina runs out of the room and
	  doesn't hear them.  The panels given have played upon	every word except "the", which has at least half-dozen
	  interpretations in Lojban (most of which are difficult to differentiate in a comic strip, but	Nora might try
	  that for next	time).	And eventually,	Sam might consider the other meanings of 'after'.
katrin.:  mi bajra ba lenu se cfipu
       "I run, after the state of being-confused-by."
       "I'm leaving, since you've confused me."
       Katrina runs away, her mind blown by Sam's interpretations, incidentally	mirroring another grammatical form that
	  could	be used	to interpret the original "Spot	ran ..." sentence.


						 SCRABBLEtm for	Lojban

     After several issues of promising it, I'm finally managing	to get this into this one.
     JCB first wrote up	some rules for playing SCRABBLEtm back in The Loglanist, Volume	2, in the late 70's.  No one
ever reported playing the game other than JCB.	his rules became obsolete around 1980 with GMR,	when he	remade many
words as well as the rules for making lujvo.  Certainly, letter	frequencies did	not stay constant through this change.
When we	again rebuilt the gismu	list for the Lojban version of the language, we	also changed these frequencies.
     Since we've now baselined the list	of gismu, that portion of the frequencies should not change.  The cmavo	list
isn't baselined, but we	know that 90% of all possible V, CV, VV, and CVV combinations have a meaning; the holes	are
nearly random, except for the xVV cmavo, reserved for experimental use.	 So we can estimate the	final letter frequencies
with some expectation of validity.
     lujvo are harder to deal with, since there	isn't even a list of them yet.	However, in developing and tuning the
rafsi assignments, I had gathered statistical data from	several	thousand tanru proposed	over several years by JCB, the
old Word Makers' Council, Eaton	project	volunteers, contributors to TL,	and our	own gismu list workers.	 This data
reflects no actual set of words, only word proposals.  However,	its statistical	size suggests that it can't be too far
off in representing the	eventual letter-frequency distribution for Lojban.
     I did these letter	frequency estimates right after	the gismu list was baselined, and in November, converted them to
SCRABBLEtm frequencies.	 Nora and I also talked	about some rule	modifications we think are needed to practically play
the game with Lojban.  I'll report my conclusions on these in a	moment.	 First the letter frequencies, which I give both
including and excluding	the lujvo data:

Letter				    non-lujvo frequencies   with-lujvo frequencies
      occurs Lojban/points English/points    occurs Lojban/points

							   30



a	991    12/1	9/1	      2949   10/1
e	496    6/1	12/1	      1560   5/1
i	1045   12/1	9/1	      2678   10/1
o	395    5/2	8/1	      1046   4/2
u	642    8/1	4/1	      1755   6/1
y	19     0	2/4	      5553   8/1
'	316    4/1	-	      1012   4/2

b	212    2/5	2/3	      865    2/4
c	360    4/2	2/3	      1040   3/3
d	219    3/3	4/2	      862    2/4
f	149    2/5	2/4	      616    2/4
g	146    2/5	3/2	      589    2/4
j	249    3/3	1/8	      1008   3/3
k	285    3/3	1/5	      1107   3/3
l	348    4/2	4/1	      1395   4/2
m	254    3/3	2/3	      1048   3/3
n	563    7/1	6/1	      2047   7/1
p	203    2/5	2/3	      872    2/4
r	460    5/1	6/1	      2979   7/1
s	339    4/2	4/1	      1363   4/2
t	361    4/2	6/1	      1359   4/2
v	119    1/8	2/4	      490    1/6
x	108    1/9	1/8	      532    1/6
z	87     1/10	1/10	      359    1/9
blank	       2/-	2/-		     2/-

h			2/4
q			1/10
w			2/4

Total	       100/184	100/187		     100/190

     I've given	separate statistics for	non-lujvo words	so that	you can	play without lujvo.  The significant occurrence
of "y" only in lujvo requires different	statistics.  Read the rules notes following to decide whether you want to
include	lujvo or not.
     Thus, to turn a standard set of pieces into a Lojban set you need to make the following changes (presumably by
marking	them in	pencil or pen on the English pieces):

Without	lujvo:
     3 e's changed to i's
     3 e's changed to a's
     3 o's changed to u's with remaining o's changed to	2 points
     1 r changed to n
     2 w's changed to '	with score changed to 1	point
     2 t's changed to '	with remaining t's changed to 2	points
     1 g changed to m with remaining g's changed to 2 points
     2 y's changed to c's with 2 points, other c's also	changed	to 2 points
     2 h's changed to j's with 3 points, other j also changed to 3 points
     1 q changed to u with 1 point
     1 d and 1 v changed to k's	with 3 points, other k also changed to 3 points
	  remaining d's	changed	to 3 points, remaining v changed to 8 points
     Change scores on all p's and f's to 5, on all l's and s's to 2, all b's to	3, and the x to	9.

With lujvo:
     1 e changed to a, 2 e's changed to	u, 1 e changed to i, 1 e changed to n, 1 e changed to r
     1 e changed to c with value changed to 3 points
     2 existing	y's changed to 1 point
     4 o's and 2 t's changed to	y, with	remaining o's and t's changed to 2 points

							   31


     1 q changed to ' with value changed to 2 points
     2 d's and 1 g changed to ', remaining d's and g's changed to 4 points
     1 v changed to m with value changed to 3 points, remaining	v changed to 6 points
     2 h's changed to k	with value changed to 3	points;	other k	also changed to	3 points
     2 w's changed to j	with value changed to 3	points;	other j	also changed to	3 points
     Change score on all b's and p's to	4 points, on all l's and s's to	2 points; change x to 6	points and z to	9
	  points.

Now for	rules changes:

     Since there is no standard	dictionary that	can be used as a reference, as in the English version, we have to have a
way to verify that words that are made are valid.  Since this is presumably also a teaching tool, we want to eliminate
wild guesses, which is a problem for cmavo.  Let's handle each word type separately.

     gismu may be verified on the standard list, although optionally the person	may be required	to give	the keyword,
place structure	and/or to make a sentence that reasonably uses the word	as a sumti or as part or all of	a kunbri; these
are thus relatively easy.  Challenges can be easily resolved; mis-spellings are	the most common	mistakes to watch for.
     cmavo should be based either on the latest	draft cmavo  among new Lojbanists.  I suggest that, if possible, it
list or	on the textbook	- in the latter	case, only those     should be left to the other players to vote on
cmavo that have	been covered up	to an agreed upon point	in   acceptability, with an urging that	open-mindedness	be
the textbook, as well as all cmavo in the flash	card list,   emphasized	- let Lojban stretch your mind.
should be allowed.  In any case, the person using a cmavo
MUST express a sentence	using that cmavo in a rational way,	  le'avla borrowings were not included in the
and if challenged, must	explain	what the sentence means	and  statistics.  If permitted,	it is recommended that the
how the	meaning	is affected by that particular cmavo.	     person be required	to show	that the word is of proper
rafsi are NOT words, and should	not be accepted	as valid.    morphology	(it cannot break down as a lujvo; if preceded by
     Because nearly every possible V, VV, CV, and CVV is a   a cmavo, it cannot	suck up	the cmavo and then break down
valid cmavo, someone who knows the cmavo can fairly easily   into a lujvo or gismu; and	it must	have a a consonant
go out,	possibly without ever drawing.	As counter-	     cluster in	the first 5 characters,	use no 'y's, and have no
motivation, all	letters	in cmavo count with a value of 1,    unpronounceable clusters caused by	adjacent impermissible
ignoring both the face value AND multiplier squares.  You    medials in	the same syllable), and	that it	is reasonably
can get	rid of any piece, but it isn't worth much.  On the   Lojbanized	from an	identifiable root in another language.
other hand, if you make	one or more gismu (and/or lujvo) at  I also recommend that only	le'avla	with rafsi categorizing
the same time as the cmavo, then the points count normally   on	the front end be permitted, this is not	an official
when scoring those words.				     restriction on le'avla, but makes evaluating validity a lot
     I recommend that cmavo compounds either be	disallowed,  easier.  le'avla are the most arguable of word forms, and
or that	they be	limited	to those compounds recognized as     should not	be allowed unless all players are reasonably
valid by the machine grammar lexer (for	those having a	     familiar with the rules for making	and evaluating them.
copy, these are	compounds that are flagged with	a lexer	     While I can make le'avla in my head, I would still	choose
lexeme).  Note that this is NOT	the same as the	set used in  to	leave them out of the game at this point.
Ju'i Lobypli; in our text, we write some words as compounds	  House	rules should be	decided	in advance as to whether
that are broken	into two words and kept	apart by the	     sentences demonstrating usage must	be fully grammatical, or
machine	grammar	(such as "lenu"	and "lemi").  See the note   whether a sentence	with a grammatical error unrelated to
following this article for more	on this	subject.  In any     the word being demonstrated is acceptable.	 The latter rule
case cmavo compounds should be judged under the	same rules   seems appropriate to me for evaluating gismu and lujvo and
as cmavo, except for adding the	machine	grammar	as a	     le'avla, but I think cmavo	sentences must be completely
reference for which words can be compounded.  Scoring for    grammatical.
compounds should be pre-decided	- either 1 point per token
as for cmavo, or normal	scoring;  it seems that	the	     Some hints	that are applicable if you use lujvo:
restrictions on	valid compounds	may reduce the valid set so	  Often, you can turn a	gismu into a lujvo by adding a
that special scoring is	not needed to make the game work     trailing vowel.  Make sure	you can	identify and define it,
properly.						     though.
     lujvo can be evaluated either by requiring	that the	  Similarly, cmavo can easily be turned	into brivla.
person make a valid sentence using the word, or	that the     Most CVV cmavo are	also rafsi that	can be included	in a
person give both the tanru that	the word is based on AND a   lujvo.
reasonable place structure and/or explanation that shows	  Prefixing a CVVr/n, CCV, or CVC/CVCy rafsi on	any
that the word has a potentially	usable meaning.	 Be sure to  brivla makes a longer lujvo, if you can determine an
check for valid	morphology, and	that the rafsi used	     acceptable	meaning.
correctly represent the	tanru.	'Reasonable' meanings, and
'valid'	sentences are going to be arguable, especially

							   32


     Except for	scoring	cmavo, and adapting the	rules for	  My writing style is not formally decided on, and may
determining word validity to fit Lojban's lack of a	     not be the	best or	most appropriate; but it at least is
dictionary, the	game should proceed along familiar lines.    fairly regular.  I'm open to suggestions and changes.  We
We haven't actually play-tested	these rules, but we welcome  could, for	example, restrict compounds to those treated as
you all	to try them and	to report on your results.  We may   such by the machine lexer.	 However, some machine lexer
print a	sample game in a later issue if	a good one turns     compounds would be	hard to	read due to length, and	we might
up.							     not want to require these to be written as	one word.
							     Students of the old language, who are used	to compounds
     Last minute note:	John Hodges has	reported to me that  like "lemi" and the old "lepo" that is now	written	as
he had devised a variation on Scrabbletm that is useful	for  "lenu" may	like the compounds as I	currently write	them.
teaching.  He is planning on using it in the Blacksburg		  Remember that	by the rules for Lojban	morphology, ANY
class, which is	studying Lesson	3.  Fleshing out his brief   cmavo that	are adjacent in	an expression may be compounded
description to me gives	the following:			     and written as a single word.  NO cmavo may be compounded
							     with a brivla or name.  However, while there is no	rule
     You can use the flash cards (up through an	arbitrary    forbidding	it, if you compound across an elidable
lesson)	and additional cards cut to the	same size, or you    terminator, you probably will make	it difficult for a human
can use	a few hundred regular index cards with gismu	     (though not a computer) to	figure out.
(again,	up through an arbitrary	lesson)	written	on them.	  If compounding joins two words separated by a
Extra cards are	left free (blanks) and put in a	stack; a     mandatory pause, the period representing the pause	is
person can take	one or more of these and write any needed    mandatory.	 Otherwise, these periods are optional aids to
cmavo (you may or may not want to limit	the number of pro-   the reader.  In Ju'i Lobypli, we will try to always include
sumti, but don't give too few).	 The cards in your hand	are  the periods, or to	add them in if the author did not do so.
lesson vocabulary words, and they are the only ones that	  Since	we are a major source of 'good'	Lojban,	I can't
score (probably	1 point	a piece).  cmavo from the	     print things with known grammatical errors	or obvious
vocabulary list	might or might not be worth anything.	     mistakes in, for example, tanru.  I will correct these if
Players	must build off of other	people's sentences on the    the change	is obvious.  If	I make more extensive changes
board.	If it is grammatical, you score	the number of	     (as I did with Preston's story above), then I will	indicate
vocabulary words that you used.	 Elision is optional; if     that it is	corrected.  If there are still mistakes	then,
you elide correctly, though, you leave fewer cmavo lying     you can blame it on me.  If you want, I will optionally
loose for someone to build off.				     return such changes to you	for verification and approval
     The sentence must be grammatical, and if challenged,    (or rewriting) before printing, in	which case it will not
the person should be able to at	least paraphrase it	     be	marked as 'corrected by'.
correctly into English.						  If you annotate your work to indicate	that a given
     This is a brief outline.  I may report next issue on    non-standard writing or grammar is	intended, I will print
how it worked out for John's group.  Feel free to play with  it	as you ask.  Similarly,	I will use your	compounding
it and send me any ideas for improvements or details that    practices instead of mine if specifically asked.  For exam-
I've omitted.  The advantage of	this game is that it	     ple, Nora chooses to often	write "lenu" as	two words, as
encourages interactive learning, and it	also gets people to  shown in the last panel of	lei lojbo.
build sentences	in Lojban directly from	the gismu, rather	  Something known to be	invalid	by the current rules of
than making up sentences in English and	translating them.    Lojban (as	opposed	to my writing style policy) will be
People who don't write a lot often have	trouble	thinking of  marked with an '*'.  If of	uncertain validity, it will be
topics for sentences; the limited set of gismu on the board  marked with a '?'.	 There may be instances	where, for
or in your hand	helps you focus	on specific topics.  People  poetry or example,	you want to have something intentionally
who translate from English often try to	express	more com-    invalid.  As long as it is	marked as such,	fine.
plex ideas than	they've	studied	the grammar for.


	    Ju'i Lobypli Editorial Conventions

     I'm starting to receive a variety of Lojban text for    Well, that's it for this issue.  As I write this, it is
printing in Ju'i Lobypli.  There is enormous variety among   starting to feel that we really have a language, now that
these writings as to which cmavo are written as	compounds.   several people are	learning and using Lojban.  Keep it up
With handwriting, I can't always tell if compounds are	     and help make next	issue even better.
intentional.  I	am following the practice of regularizing
which words I compound to match	my own writing style.  This  co'o.
both proposes a	standard, and makes it possible	to use my
word processor spelling	checker	in a useful way.  Proof-
reading	Lojban text is hard enough without trying to deal
with a variety of writing forms.