BPFK Section: Text Structure cmavo
- This page is imported from version 29 of the page BPFK Section: Text Structure cmavo from the lojban Tiki.
Prior usage and discussion
ni'o
Seems to be used mostly parallel to paragraph breaks in natural languages. See [1], [2], and [3]. On IRC, which is indicative of spoken language, this appears to have more of a meaning of changing the subject. Examples: [4], [5].
ni'o implicitly cancels some assignments, depending on the number of consecutive ni'o and whether the text is spoken or written. The following table is due to CLL pp. 446--447.
| Number of consecutive ni'o | Written | Spoken |
| ni'o | no effect | cancel KOhA and GOhA |
| ni'oni'o | cancel KOhA and GOhA | cancel KOhA and GOhA and tenses |
| ni'oni'oni'o | cancel KOhA and GOhA and tenses | cancel KOhA and GOhA and tenses |
Examples of ni'o Usage
A: ni'o mi ca'o kelci lo samselkei B: .i .ua go'i lo samselkei no'u ma A: .i go'i la'o gy. Final Fantasy .gy. B: .i .io mi nelci A: ni'o mi djica lo nu citka B: no'i mi djica lo nu jbera fi do A: .i je'e
Notes
I did not include a natural example because the usage is wide, varied, and mostly incorrect between spoken, e-mailed, IRC'd, and written Lojban. It should be used for starting new topics of discussion, which as a by-product also clears KOhA and GOhA as well as sticky tenses (IIRC). It is not a paragraph marker (whitespace can be used for that and nobody said how much whitespace is allowed), it is a topic marker.
Issues
Proposed dictionary entries
cmavo: fa'o (FAhO)
Proposed Definition
Unless quoted by "zo" or "lo'u" -- "le'u", turned into a quote delimiter by zoi, or acting as part of a lujvo made by a preceding "zei", marks the end of input to be parsed. Any remaining text is to be disregarded.
See Also
- {fe'o}
- {fanmo}
Proposed Keywords
- The End.
- parsing ends here
- end parsing here
Usage Examples
There is no usage other than quotes or jokes in English. The only usage that could be deemed correct is a single fa'o at the end of the Berenstein Bears books or other books.
Notes
Described as unconditional end of parsing. Evidently intended only for machine input. Sometimes used in the sense of "the end". Some erroneous uses, such as inside of tu'e -- tu'u groups. See 1 I see no reason to legalise this practice, since fe'o is available for this purpose.
cmavo: i (I)
Proposed Definition
Starts a new sentence.
See Also
- {ni'o}
- {no'i}
- {tu'e}
- {fa'o}
Proposed Keywords
- and then
Usage Examples
(see ni'o)
Notes
Ubiquitous. This is used mostly in front of sentences that are not the first sentence in the text. Sometimes also the first sentence in the text is prefixed with .i. (However, this is incorrect.)
It is used to indicate the beginning of a new jufra continuing on the topic established with ni'o.
cmavo: mai (MAI)
Proposed Definition
Enumerates a point in the text. Combines with the preceding numeral to make a free modifier, which can be placed almost anywhere in a text.
See Also
- {mo'o}
Proposed Keywords
- -stly
- -ndly
- -thly
Usage Examples
Notes
MAI is postfix, this was probably decided to make it analogous to mei, moi, roi, and re'u. However, this serves to make the grammar of Lojban non-LALR(1), because the parser may have to look through an arbitrarily large numeral string to decide that it actually belongs in a free modifier. This should not be a problem if Robin's PEG parser is made official. If Robin's PEG parser is not made official, however, extensive pre-processing will be required.
cmavo: mo'o (MAI)
Proposed Definition
Enumerates a higher-level section or chapter in the text. Combines with the preceding numeral to make a free modifier, which can be placed almost anywhere in a text.
See Also
- {mai}
Proposed Keywords
- -st section
- -nd section
- -rd section
Usage Examples
Notes
MAI is postfix, this was probably decided to make it analogous to mei, moi, roi, and re'u. However, this serves to make the grammar of Lojban non-LALR(1), because the parser may have to look through an arbitrarily large numeral string to decide that it actually belongs in a free modifier. This should not be a problem if Robin's PEG parser is made official. If Robin's PEG parser is not made official, however, extensive pre-processing will be required.
cmavo: ni'o (NIhO)
Proposed Definition
Marks the start of a paragraph and a change of subject. Multiple "ni'o" in a row means higher-level section breaks. In written contexts, two or more consecutive "ni'o" cancels the assignment of pro-sumti and pro-bridi in the selma'o KOhA and GOhA, respectively, and three or more consecutive "ni'o" additionally cancels all current tenses. In spoken contexts, a single or several consecutive "ni'o" cancels the assignment of pro-sumti and pro-bridi in the selma'o KOhA and GOhA, respectively, while two or more consecutive "ni'o" additionally cancels all current tenses.
See Also
- {no'i}
- {i}
- {ta'o}
Proposed Keywords
- continuing to the next topic
Usage Examples
Artificial:
A: ni'o mi ca'o kelci lo samselkei
B: .i .ua go'i lo samselkei no'u ma
A: .i go'i la'o gy. Final Fantasy .gy.
B: .i .io mi nelci
A: ni'o mi djica lo nu citka
B: no'i mi djica lo nu jbera fi do
A: .i je'e
cmavo: no'i (NIhO)
Proposed Definition
Marks the start of a paragraph and change back to a previous subject. If no'i has a positive or zero subscript, it indicates the continuation of an earlier topic that was introduced with the word ni'o with the same subscript. If no'i has a negative subscript, it is a resumption of the topic of the paragraph found by counting backwards, starting with the paragraph before the one introduced with ni'o.
See Also
- {ni'o}
- {i}
- {ta'o nai}
Proposed Keywords
- returning to the previous topic
Usage Examples
- no'i la xrist. ba cpacu loi vanju mu'i lenu pinxe kei gi'e te preti fo ko'a felenu ko'a djica lenu la xrist. dunda dakau ko'a
- "Christ then took wine to drink, and asked the man what he wanted Christ to give him."
From the translation of "Cardplayer", by Nick Nicholas. 2
- no'i mi pu co'a mutce kurji lo nu jmina la jbovlaste
- "Anyway, I take great care about additions to Jbovlaste." 3
Also see example at {ni'o}.
cmavo: tu'e (TUhE)
Proposed Definition
Starts a text scope, which is a group of sentences. The text scope acts as a single sentence externally, for purposes such as logical operators.
See Also
- {tu'u}
Proposed Keywords
Usage Examples
Usage is contended. No consistent natural examples exist. Arbitrary examples follow:
- ro da pa de zo'u tu'e da gerku .ije de mlatu tu'u .inaja da jersi de
- mi pensi gi'e se zdile vau la'e di'e .i tu'e la'au lo mi jufra li'u zo'u ra'apxu lu do naljmi lo du'u lo jbobau cu mo kau .i ko vau li'u .i ku'i lo drata selsa'a zo'u to'e co'e lu lo jbobau cu mo .i .au djuno li'u tu'u
- .i di'e lisri .i tu'e lo plise zo'u citka .i lo nu kuktce zo'u gleki tu'u .i di'u lisri
- xu ro bu'a zo'u tu'e ro da bu'a inaja su'o de bu'a tu'u
Notes
tu'e - tu'u seems to be used mainly to be used to set off a large block of text and refer to it metalinguisticially. For instance, there is a (very large) mailing list thread called loi preti be fi lo nincli zo'u tu'e. Also lots of poetry are prefixed with titles that uses di'e to refer to the body of the poem, set of with tu'e.
cmavo: tu'u (TUhU)
Proposed Definition
Ends a text scope. Elidable terminator for tu'e.
See Also
- {tu'e}
Proposed Keywords
- end of text scope
- terminator
Usage Examples
See {tu'e}.
cmavo: zo'u (ZOhU)
Proposed Definition
Marks the end of a prenex. A prenex can occur at the beginning of the sentence, and consists of one or more terms. A term is either a sumti or a sumti preceded by a tense or modal tag. The primary use of a prenex is for quantifying logical variables prior to their use in the sentence and/or sentences that are joined to it by a logical connective. Terms that do not quantify logical variables are instead interpreted as 'topics' of the containing sentence, and any sentences that are joined to it by a logical connective.
See Also
Proposed Keywords
- so that
- such that
Usage Examples
- i lo do solri nu canci zo'u do ba lifri i mi ba mi'ecpe
- Your sun-like vanishing exists such that you will experience it. I will demand it.
Notes
Marks the end of a prenex. A prenex can have one or more terms, which may constrain the instantiation of logical variables in the main sentence. Prenexes are also used as a topic field.
Interaction with other sections
- The wording of the definition of "fa'o" must be watched closely to prevent contradictions with BPFK Section: Nonce connectives.
- The selma'o MAI probably requires either preprocessing prior to YACC, or a PEG grammar.
Notes
TUhU is currently seldom elidable. I believe that currently it is only elidable at the end of text. It is the belief of .xorxes., me, and possibly others that it should never be elidable. - .aionys.
NIhO should *NOT* have different uffects depending on the medium it is in. rlpowell agrees. (I don't like how "ni'o"*N resets various things depending on N. Can't tense be reset using KI?) - .djeims./purpleposeidon/neptunepink (+1 check out my notes by the applicable words. -Lindar)
Impact
It is my belief that this section does not invalidate actual usages that were previously valid, nor does it contradict current prescription of the language.
- Clarification: topic resumption by label applies if no'i has a positive or zero subscript.
- Clarification: topic resumption by back-counting starts at section before the one currently being introduced.
- Clarification: the implication that any term in a prenex is either a bound variable or a topic (CLL p. 467) is made explicit.