The Incomplete Lojban Language

Table of Contents

1. Lojban as we mangle it in Lojbanistan: about this book

1.1. What is Lojban?

1.2. What is this book?

1.3. What are the typographical conventions of this book?

1.4. Disclaimers

1.5. Acknowledgements and credits

1.6. Informal bibliography

1.7. Captions to pictures

1.8. Boring legalities

2. A quick tour of Lojban grammar, with diagrams

2.1. The concept of the bridi

2.2. Pronunciation

2.3. Words that can act as sumti

2.4. Some words used to indicate selbri relations

2.5. Some simple Lojban bridi

2.6. Variant bridi structure

2.7. Varying the order of sumti

2.8. The basic structure of longer utterances

2.9. tanru

2.10. Description sumti

2.11. Examples of brivla

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

2.13. Possession

2.14. Vocatives and commands

2.15. Questions

2.16. Indicators

2.17. Tenses

2.18. Lojban grammatical terms

3. The hills are alive with the sounds of Lojban

3.1. Orthography

3.2. Basic phonetics

3.3. The special Lojban characters

3.4. Diphthongs and syllabic consonants

3.5. Vowel pairs

3.6. Consonant clusters

3.7. Initial consonant pairs

3.8. Buffering of consonant clusters

3.9. Syllabication and stress

3.10. IPA for English speakers

3.11. English analogues for Lojban diphthongs

3.12. Oddball orthographies

4. The shape of words to come: Lojban morphology

4.1. Introductory

4.2. cmavo

4.3. brivla

4.4. gismu

4.5. lujvo

4.6. rafsi

4.7. fu'ivla

4.8. cmevla

4.9. Rules for inserting pauses

4.10. Considerations for making lujvo

4.11. The lujvo-making algorithm

4.12. The lujvo scoring algorithm

4.13. lujvo-making examples

4.14. The gismu creation algorithm

4.15. Cultural and other non-algorithmic gismu

4.16. rafsi fu'ivla: a proposal

5. “Pretty little girls' school”: the structure of Lojban selbri

5.1. Lojban content words: brivla

5.2. Simple tanru

5.3. Three-part tanru grouping with bo

5.4. Complex tanru grouping

5.5. Complex tanru with ke and ke'e

5.6. Logical connection within tanru

5.7. Linked sumti: be - bei - be'o

5.8. Inversion of tanru: co

5.9. Other kinds of simple selbri

5.10. selbri based on sumti: me

5.11. Conversion of simple selbri

5.12. Scalar negation of selbri

5.13. Tenses and bridi negation

5.14. Some types of asymmetrical tanru

5.15. Some types of symmetrical tanru

5.16. “Pretty little girls' school” : forty ways to say it

6. To speak of many things: the Lojban sumti

6.1. The five kinds of simple sumti

6.2. The three basic description types

6.3. Individuals and masses

6.4. Masses and sets

6.5. Descriptors for typical objects

6.6. Quantified sumti

6.7. Quantified descriptions

6.8. Indefinite descriptions

6.9. sumti-based descriptions

6.10. sumti qualifiers

6.11. The syntax of vocative phrases

6.12. Lojban names

6.13. Pro-sumti summary

6.14. Quotation summary

6.15. Number summary

7. Brevity is the soul of language: pro-sumti and pro-bridi

7.1. What are pro-sumti and pro-bridi? What are they for?

7.2. Personal pro-sumti: the mi-series

7.3. Demonstrative pro-sumti: the ti-series

7.4. Utterance pro-sumti: the di'u-series

7.5. Assignable pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the ko'a-series and the broda-series

7.6. Anaphoric pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the ri-series and the go'i-series

7.7. Indefinite pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the zo'e-series and the co'e-series

7.8. Reflexive and reciprocal pro-sumti: the vo'a-series

7.9. sumti and bridi questions: ma and mo

7.10. Relativized pro-sumti: ke'a

7.11. Abstraction focus pro-sumti: ce'u

7.12. Bound variable pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the da-series and the bu'a-series

7.13. Pro-sumti and pro-bridi cancelling

7.14. The identity predicate: du

7.15. lujvo based on pro-sumti

7.16. KOhA cmavo by series

7.17. GOhA and other pro-bridi by series

7.18. Other cmavo discussed in this chapter

8. Relative clauses, which make sumti even more complicated

8.1. What are you pointing at?

8.2. Incidental relative clauses

8.3. Relative phrases

8.4. Multiple relative clauses: zi'e

8.5. Non-veridical relative clauses: voi

8.6. Relative clauses and descriptors

8.7. Possessive sumti

8.8. Relative clauses and complex sumti: vu'o

8.9. Relative clauses in vocative phrases

8.10. Relative clauses within relative clauses

8.11. Index of relative clause cmavo

9. To Boston via the Road go I, with an excursion into the land of modals

9.1. Introductory

9.2. Standard bridi form: cu

9.3. Tagging places: FA

9.4. Conversion: SE

9.5. Modal places: FIhO, FEhU

9.6. Modal tags: BAI

9.7. Modal sentence connection: the causals

9.8. Other modal connections

9.9. Modal selbri

9.10. Modal relative phrases; Comparison

9.11. Mixed modal connection

9.12. Modal conversion: JAI

9.13. Modal negation

9.14. Sticky modals

9.15. Logical and non-logical connection of modals

9.16. CV'V cmavo of selma'o BAI with irregular forms

9.17. Complete table of BAI cmavo with rough English equivalents

10. Imaginary journeys: the Lojban space/time tense system

10.1. Introductory

10.2. Spatial tenses: FAhA and VA

10.3. Compound spatial tenses

10.4. Temporal tenses: PU and ZI

10.5. Interval sizes: VEhA and ZEhA

10.6. Vague intervals and non-specific tenses

10.7. Dimensionality: VIhA

10.8. Movement in space: MOhI

10.9. Interval properties: TAhE and roi

10.10. Event contours: ZAhO and re'u

10.11. Space interval modifiers: FEhE

10.12. Tenses as sumtcita

10.13. Sticky and multiple tenses: KI

10.14. Story time

10.15. Tenses in subordinate bridi

10.16. Tense relations between sentences

10.17. Tensed logical connectives

10.18. Tense negation

10.19. Actuality, potentiality, capability: CAhA

10.20. Logical and non-logical connections between tenses

10.21. Sub-events

10.22. Conversion of sumtcita: JAI

10.23. Tenses versus modals

10.24. Tense questions: cu'e

10.25. Explicit magnitudes

10.26. Finally (an exercise for the much-tried reader)

10.27. Summary of tense selma'o

10.28. List of spatial directions and direction-like relations

11. Events, qualities, quantities, and other vague words: on Lojban abstraction

11.1. The syntax of abstraction

11.2. Event abstraction

11.3. Types of event abstractions

11.4. Property abstractions

11.5. Amount abstractions

11.6. Truth-value abstraction: jei

11.7. Predication/sentence abstraction

11.8. Indirect questions

11.9. Minor abstraction types

11.10. Lojban sumti raising

11.11. Event-type abstractors and event contour tenses

11.12. Abstractor connection

11.13. Table of abstractors

12. Dog house and white house: determining lujvo place structures

12.1. Why have lujvo?

12.2. The meaning of tanru: a necessary detour

12.3. The meaning of lujvo

12.4. Selecting places

12.5. Symmetrical and asymmetrical lujvo

12.6. Dependent places

12.7. Ordering lujvo places.

12.8. lujvo with more than two parts.

12.9. Eliding SE rafsi from seltau

12.10. Eliding SE rafsi from tertau

12.11. Eliding KE and KEhE rafsi from lujvo

12.12. Abstract lujvo

12.13. Implicit-abstraction lujvo

12.14. Anomalous lujvo

12.15. Comparatives and superlatives

12.16. Notes on gismu place structures

13. Oooh! Arrgh! Ugh! Yecch! Attitudinal and emotional indicators

13.1. What are attitudinal indicators?

13.2. Pure emotion indicators

13.3. Propositional attitude indicators

13.4. Attitudes as scales

13.5. The space of emotions

13.6. Emotional categories

13.7. Attitudinal modifiers

13.8. Compound indicators

13.9. The uses of indicators

13.10. Attitude questions; empathy; attitude contours

13.11. Evidentials

13.12. Discursives

13.13. Miscellaneous indicators

13.14. Vocative scales

13.15. A sample dialogue

13.16. Tentative conclusion

14. If wishes were horses: the Lojban connective system

14.1. Logical connection and truth tables

14.2. The four basic vowels

14.3. The six types of logical connectives

14.4. Logical connection of bridi

14.5. Forethought bridi connection

14.6. sumti connection

14.7. More than two propositions

14.8. Grouping of afterthought connectives

14.9. Compound bridi

14.10. Multiple compound bridi

14.11. Termset logical connection

14.12. Logical connection within tanru

14.13. Truth questions and connective questions

14.14. Non-logical connectives

14.15. More about non-logical connectives

14.16. Interval connectives and forethought non-logical connection

14.17. Logical and non-logical connectives within mekso

14.18. Tenses, modals, and logical connection

14.19. Abstractor connection and connection within abstractions

14.20. Constructs and appropriate connectives

14.21. Truth functions and corresponding logical connectives

14.22. Rules for making logical and non-logical connectives

14.23. Locations of other tables

15. “No” problems: on Lojban negation

15.1. Introductory

15.2. bridi negation

15.3. Scalar negation

15.4. selbri and tanru negation

15.5. Expressing scales in selbri negation

15.6. sumti negation

15.7. Negation of minor grammatical constructs

15.8. Truth questions

15.9. Affirmations

15.10. Metalinguistic negation forms

15.11. Summary – are all possible questions about negation now answered?

16. “Who did you pass on the road? Nobody”: Lojban and logic

16.1. What's wrong with this picture?

16.2. Existential claims, prenexes, and variables

16.3. Universal claims

16.4. Restricted claims: da poi

16.5. Dropping the prenex

16.6. Variables with generalized quantifiers

16.7. Grouping of quantifiers

16.8. The problem of “any”

16.9. Negation boundaries

16.10. bridi negation and logical connectives

16.11. Using naku outside a prenex

16.12. Logical connectives and DeMorgan's law

16.13. selbri variables

16.14. A few notes on variables

16.15. Conclusion

17. As easy as A-B-C? The Lojban letteral system and its uses

17.1. What's a letteral, anyway?

17.2. A to Z in Lojban, plus one

17.3. Upper and lower cases

17.4. The universal bu

17.5. Alien alphabets

17.6. Accent marks and compound lerfu words

17.7. Punctuation marks

17.8. What about Chinese characters?

17.9. lerfu words as pro-sumti

17.10. References to lerfu

17.11. Mathematical uses of lerfu strings

17.12. Acronyms

17.13. Computerized character codes

17.14. List of all auxiliary lerfu-word cmavo

17.15. Proposed lerfu words – introduction

17.16. Proposed lerfu words for the Greek alphabet

17.17. Proposed lerfu words for the Cyrillic alphabet

17.18. Proposed lerfu words for the Hebrew alphabet

17.19. Proposed lerfu words for some accent marks and multiple letters

17.20. Proposed lerfu words for radio communication

18. lojbau mekso: mathematical expressions in Lojban

18.1. Introductory

18.2. Lojban numbers

18.3. Signs and numerical punctuation

18.4. Special numbers

18.5. Simple infix expressions and equations

18.6. Forethought operators (Polish notation, functions)

18.7. Other useful selbri for mekso bridi

18.8. Indefinite numbers

18.9. Approximation and inexact numbers

18.10. Non-decimal and compound bases

18.11. Special mekso selbri

18.12. Number questions

18.13. Subscripts

18.14. Infix operators revisited

18.15. Vectors and matrices

18.16. Reverse Polish notation

18.17. Logical and non-logical connectives within mekso

18.18. Using Lojban resources within mekso

18.19. Other uses of mekso

18.20. Explicit operator precedence

18.21. Miscellany

18.22. Four score and seven: a mekso problem

18.23. mekso selma'o summary

18.24. Complete table of VUhU cmavo, with operand structures

18.25. Complete table of PA cmavo: digits, punctuation, and other numbers

18.26. Table of MOI cmavo, with associated rafsi and place structures

19. Putting it all together: notes on the structure of Lojban texts

19.1. Introductory

19.2. Sentences: I

19.3. Paragraphs: NIhO

19.4. Topic-comment sentences: ZOhU

19.5. Questions and answers

19.6. Subscripts: XI

19.7. Utterance ordinals: MAI

19.8. Attitude scope markers: FUhE/FUhO

19.9. Quotations: LU, LIhU, LOhU, LEhU

19.10. More on quotations: ZO, ZOI

19.11. Contrastive emphasis: BAhE

19.12. Parenthesis and metalinguistic commentary: TO, TOI, SEI

19.13. Erasure: SI, SA, SU

19.14. Hesitation: Y

19.15. No more to say: FAhO

19.16. List of cmavo interactions

19.17. List of elidable terminators

20. A catalogue of selma'o

20.1. A catalogue of selma'o

21. Formal grammars

21.1. EBNF grammar of Lojban

Chrestomathy

1. The North Wind and the Sun

2. Terry, the Tiger, visits the big city

3. There will come soft rains

4. Alice in Wonderland

5. Kubla Khan

Lojban Words Glossary

Lojban Words Index

General Index