zoi

zoi one of two words in selmo'a ZOI (the other being la'o). zoi quotes a non-Lojban phrase. zoi is one of the Magic Words.

zoi can be a really useful quoting mechanism when you don't know the proper Lojban word for something. la'e zoi gy. foo .gy can stand in for the concept represented by foo.

Choice of delimiter for zoi

The choice of delimiter for zoi is both a stylist and informational choice. The only requirement is that it not a word that appears in the quoted text. The following delimiters can be used to communicate specific intent:

|| .fanva. | This zoi quote is a translation of some preceding material.

.glic. | A variation of .gy.

.gy. | This zoi quote is quoting English text.

.kliz. | This zoi delimiter suggests the user is quoting Klingon. Klingon writing has no k or z, and Klingon speech has nothing confusable for z. As well, .kliz. is reminiscent of the language name.

.url. | This zoi quote is quoting a url.

.xlali. | This guard word suggests (but does not require that) the speaker doesn't like the quotation.

.xy. | A good guard word for English as the letter combination is rare and it is a non-English phoneme. It may sound like "uh huh," however. ||

A long text should really use a long and unlikely word as a delimiter, to remove the possibility of it appearing in the text.

You are limited to using Lojban words as your delimiter in zoi. Punctuation, like "" or <> are not valid lojban words. If you use punctuation in a zoi quote, you may be understood, you won't be speaking proper Lojban.

Interaction with other Magic Words

For every magic word, the interaction with all other magic words is defined. This table covers all interactions of zoi+word, where word is any of the magic words, both alone and within their own grammatical contexts.

|| bu | zoi bu | ungrammatical | zoi binds bu as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter. |

| zoi bu bu | any-string | zoi binds with the first bu as the first delimiter, and the second bu as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

| zoi broda bu broda bu | BY pseudo-word | zoi binds with the first broda as the first delimiter, quotes the first bu, and binds with the second broda as the second delimiter. The zoi pseudo-word is then turned into a letteral by the second bu. | *controversial

| zoi bu bu bu | BY pseudo-word | zoi binds with the first bu as the first delimiter, and binds with the second bu as the second delimiter. The zoi pseudo-word is then turned into a letteral by the third bu. | *controversial

| zoi broda bu broda | any-string | zoi binds with the first broda as the first delimiter, quotes the bu, and binds with the second broda as the second delimiter. |

fa'o | zoi fa'o | ungrammatical | zoi binds fa'o as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi fa'o fa'o | any-string | zoi binds with the first fa'o as the first delimiter, and the second fa'o as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

lo'u | zoi lo'u | ungrammatical | zoi binds lo'u as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi lo'u lo'u | any-string | zoi binds with the first lo'u as the first delimiter, and the second lo'u as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

le'u | zoi le'u | ungrammatical | zoi binds le'u as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi le'u le'u | any-string | zoi binds with the first le'u as the first delimiter, and the second le'u as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

sa | zoi sa | ungrammatical | zoi binds sa as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi sa sa | any-string | zoi binds with the first sa as the first delimiter, and the second sa as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

si | zoi si | ungrammatical | zoi binds si as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi si si | any-string | zoi binds with the first si as the first delimiter, and the second si as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

su | zoi su | ungrammatical | zoi binds su as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi su su | any-string | zoi binds with the first su as the first delimiter, and the second su as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

zei | zoi zei | ungrammatical | zoi binds zei as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi zei zei | any-string | zoi binds with the first zei as the first delimiter, and the second zei as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

zo | zoi zo | ungrammatical | zoi binds zo as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi zo zo | any-string | zoi binds with the first zo as the first delimiter, and the second zo as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. |

zoi | zoi | ungrammatical | zoi does not find a delimiter to bind. | zoi zoi | ungrammatical | the first zoi binds with the second zoi as the first delimiter, but does not find a second delimiter to bind. |

| zoi zoi zoi | any-string | the first zoi binds with the second zoi as the first delimiter, and the third zo as the second delimiter, creating an empty quote. ||

Questions about interaction with other Magic Words

Q: Can sa erase an incompletely or improperly quoted zoi?

A: sa cannot erase an improperly quoted zoi (i.e., zoi .gy. sa broda). The sa is considered to be a word quoted by zoi even in cases where the zoi pseudo-word is not constructed. This prevents ambigious situations like {zoi broda sa broda}.

Q: Can su erase an incompletely or improperly quoted zoi?

A: su cannot erase an improperly quoted zoi, just like sa cannot. A zoi must be closed before su will be considered to have erased it. This prevents ambigious situations like {zoi su broda su}

See Also

• zo for quoting a single Lojban word.
• la'o for quoting a non-Lojban name.

• LL 19.10 More on quotations: ZO, ZOI