Lojban grammar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lojban is a constructed language based on predicate logic. It was created by the Logical Language
Group between 1987 and 1997. Lojban is designed to be spoken by humans, but is also theoretically
computer-speakable. The majority of its grammar is borrowed from the first "logical
language," Loglan, and some of its features come from Ladan. Most of Lojban's root words derive
from the six most widely spoken natural languages, Arabic, Chinese,English, Hindi, Russian,
and Spanish. The characteristic regularity, unambiguity, and versatility of Lojban grammar owes
much to scientific linguistics and computer programmingresources that were unavailable to the
designers of earlier languages. Lojban's advantage over Esperanto and other auxlangs was
summarized as follows: "Lojban moves beyond the restrictions of European grammar. It overtly
incorporates linguistic universals, building in what is needed to support the expressivity of the whole
variety of natural languages, including non-European ones."
[1]

Contents
[hide]
1 Phonology
o 1.1 Basic sounds
o 1.2 Diphthongs
o 1.3 Allophones
o 1.4 Buffering of consonant clusters
2 Orthography
o 2.1 Latin/Roman mode
o 2.2 Cyrillic mode
o 2.3 Tengwar mode
o 2.4 Japanese mode
3 Morphology
o 3.1 brivla (bridi valsi) "part of speech: content word"
3.1.1 gismu "part of speech: content word: root word"
3.1.2 lujvo "part of speech: content word: compound word"
3.1.3 fu'ivla (fukpi valsi) "part of speech: content word: loan word, borrowed word"
3.1.3.1 Stage 1 fu'ivla
3.1.3.2 Stage 2 fu'ivla
3.1.3.3 Stage 3 fu'ivla
3.1.3.4 Stage 4 fu'ivla
3.1.4 lujvo + fu'ivla
3.1.5 tanru "part of speech: content word: phrasal bridi, binary metaphor"
o 3.2 cmavo "part of speech: structure word"
o 3.3 cmevla "part of speech: name word"
o 3.4 rafsi "affix, suffix, prefix, combining-form, word fragment"
4 Syntax and semantics
o 4.1 bridi "predication: claims and allegations"
o 4.2 sumti "predication: argument"
4.2.1 description
o 4.3 selbri "predication: logical predicate"
o 4.4 tanru "part of speech: content word: phrasal bridi, binary metaphor"
o 4.5 cmavo
4.5.1 articles
4.5.2 connectives
4.5.3 attitudinals
4.5.4 prepositions
4.5.5 tenses
4.5.6 grammatical nonsense
5 Notes
Phonology[edit]
6 vowels and 21 consonants exist in Lojban. The phonemes are to be commensurate
with graphemes, which means Lojban is to have 27 letters (lerfu) corresponding to each piece of
sound in the language. Lojbanic graphemes can vary in mode; this article employs the Latin
alphabet version, which is currently in the most common usage (see Orthography for more detail).
The phonemes, on the other hand, are defined solely by International Phonetic Alphabet.
The tables below show typical realizations of sounds and the Latin alphabets in Lojban. In all cases
except the rhotic consonant the first phoneme represents the preferred pronunciation, while the rest
are the permitted variants intended to cover dissimilitude in pronunciation by speakers of different
linguistic backgrounds.
Basic sounds[edit]

Phoneme Grapheme Pronunciation example
vowels
open vowel a () a as in father, not as in hat
front mid vowel (e) e as in bet, not as in beep
front close vowel i i as in machine, not as in ink
back mid vowel o () o as in open, not as in opera
back close vowel u u as in moon, not as in cup
central mid vowel y as in sofa, not as in yellow
fricatives
unvoiced labial
fricative
f () f as in fan
voiced labial fricative v () v as in van
unvoiced velar fricative x x
as in the Scottish loch, the German Bach, the
Spanish J os, or the Arabic Khaled
unvoiced glottal spirant h ' as in hat
sibilants
unvoiced alveolar
sibilant
s s as in sing
voiced alveolar sibilant z z as in zero
unvoiced coronal
sibilant
() c as in shoe
voiced coronal sibilant () j as in vision
stops
unvoiced bilabial stop p p as in pip
voiced bilabial stop b b as in bib
unvoiced alveolar stop t t as in tap
voiced alveolar stop d d as in dance
unvoiced velar stop k k as in kink
voiced velar stop g as in girl, not as in gel
glottal stop . as in uh-oh
approximants
voiced labio-velar
approximant
w u- as in winter
palatal approximant j i- as in you
voiced lateral
approximant
( ) l as in luck
nasals
voiced labial nasal ( ) m as in minimum
voiced alveolar nasal (

) n as in noon
rhotic
rhotic consonant
(
)
r
as in red; or as in Spanish pero or perro, or
French rendez-vous
Diphthongs[edit]
Lojban has 16 diphthongs (a kind of sound which consists of a vowel plus a glide, always
constituting a single syllable). The combinations <ai>, <au>, <ei> and <oi>, for instance, are all
realized as the corresponding falling diphthongs. To force these sounds to be pronounced
separately as monophthongs, a comma can be put between them. Triphthongs do not exist in
Lojban.
Allophones[edit]
The vowels can be either rounded or unrounded. The consonants can be either aspirated or
unaspirated, although the voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ are usually aspirated to some degree. In
general, consonants are notpalatalized. The affricates /

/, /

/, /

/, and /

/ occur in Lojban.
(Respectively, these are the sounds highlighted in the English words jar, chair, fads, and cats.)
However, each is considered to be a combination of an appropriate stop and fricative phoneme: the
sequences <dj>, <tc>, <dz> and <ts>, respectively. The rhotic sounds are all equally acceptable as
an identical phoneme. <l>, <m>, <n>, and <r> may be syllabic.
[2]

Buffering of consonant clusters[edit]
For those who, given their native language background, may have trouble pronouncing
(certain) consonant clusters, there is the option of inserting buffer vowels between them, as long as
they differ sufficiently from the phonological vowels and are pronounced as short as possible.
Possible choices include [], [], [] and [] (but not [y], which is the rounded counterpart of [i] and
thus a valid realization of <i>). The resulting added syllables are completely ignored by the grammar,
including for the purposes of stress determination.
Orthography[edit]
Lojban may be written in different orthography systems as long as it meets the required regularities
and unambiguities. Some of the reasons for such elasticity would be as follows:
1. Lojban is rather defined by the phonemes (spoken form of words), therefore, as long as they
are correctly rendered so as to maintain the Lojbanic audio-visual isomorphism, a
representational system can be said to be an appropriate orthography of the language;
2. Lojban is meant to be as culturally neutral as possible, so it is never crucial or fundamental to
claim that some particular orthography of some particular languages (e.g. the Latin
alphabet) should be the dominant mode.
Some Lojbanist extends this principle so as to claim that even an original orthography of the
language is to be sought.
[3]

Note: It is suggested that the Lojban term lerfu be used instead of the English so that confusion
with letter, the kind one writes to someone, is avoided (James Cooke Brown's version was letteral by
analogy with numeral).
[4]
This section will be in accordance with that discernment.
Latin/Roman mode[edit]
Lojban's Latin alphabet consists of 23 lerfu a b c d e f g i j k l m n o p r s t u v x y z plus 3 semi-lerfu '
, . . They are intentionally ordered in accordance with that of ASCII characters.
Capitalization may be applied to mark a non-standard stressed syllable as in cmevla, but they are
not considered separate lerfu. Whether a single vowel or the entire syllable is capitalized is a matter
of preference; for example, the name "Josephine" can be rendered as
either DJOzefin. or djOzefin. (without the capitalization, the ordinary rules of Lojban stress will cause
the 'ze' syllable to be stressed instead).
Punctuation marks are not mandatory; such notions as question or exclamation are expressed with
words rather than unpronounceable symbols.
[5]

Cyrillic mode[edit]
This mode was conceived when the introductory Lojban brochure was translated into Russian. 23
lerfu plus 3 semi-lerfu ', . are used. The hard sign is
assigned to the open-mid vowel. Diphthongs are written as vowel pairs, as in the Roman mode.
[6]

Tengwar mode[edit]
Kena
[7]
argues for the Tengwar writing of Lojban, insisting that:
1. the Latin alphabet is too strongly related to western civilizations, and thus probably
introduces some kind of cultural bias in Lojban. Lojban wants to be both logical and
culturally neutral, the Tengwar already are;
2. the Tengwar system inherently contains some main Lojban morphology rules, making Lojban
easier to learn when it is written with Tengwar.
Exemplary mappings between the Tengwar system and the Lojban sounds are provided as
follows: [1], [2].
Advocates of this include Eric S. Raymond.
Japanese mode[edit]
A Japanese hiragana version of Lojban orthography has been proposed, in which case more than 80
lerfu may by used. This mode is not without certain technical issues since the hiragana (and
katakana too) are always syllabic, indicating an open syllable (with the exception of the final "n"
sound), requiring some special attention when representing the Lojbanic consonant clusters.
Experimental transcription rules are given by Fa-Kuan's website. Examples of Lojban haiku
compositions in the orthography can be found at following links: [3] [4].
Morphology[edit]

This section
requires expansion.(August 2007)
Lojban has 3 word-classes: brivla (predicate words), cmavo (structure words), and cmevla (name
words). Each of them has uniquely identifying properties, so that one can unambiguously recognize
which word is of which part of speech in a string of the language. They may be further divided in
sub-classes (discussed respectively below). There also exists a special form called rafsi assigned to
some of the brivla and cmavo.
[8][9]

brivla (bridi valsi) "part of speech: content word"[edit]
brivla carry the content (semantic information) of an expression, which means their function may be
roughly analogous to common noun, verb, adjective, or adverb in natural languages
[10]
(although
some modal cmavo too may have adverbial purposes
[11]
). brivla may be identified by the following
properties:
[12]

Have more than one syllable
Are penultimately stressed
Have a consonant cluster (at least two adjacent consonants) in the first 5 lerfu including the
second consonant
Start with a consonant (except some fu'ivla), end with a vowel
Such a word like lobypei will still be considered as a brivla because the special gluing
vowel y between b and p is to be ignored and therefore a consonant cluster (b-p) assumes its
existence within it.
Unlike its natlang counterparts mentioned earlier, brivla do not inflect for tense, person, or number.
Brivla's sub-classes are as follows, with some examples.
gismu "part of speech: content word: root word"[edit]
The simplest brivla which constitute the lexical base of the language is called gismu. They are
invariably five-letter, which distinguishes it from the other types of brivla, and are in a form of either
CVCCV or CCVCV (C stands for a consonant and V for a vowel). Being two syllables means that the
general rule of gismu to be stressed penultimately will always cause the first syllable to be stressed.
viska (CVCCV)
prami (CCVCV)
They have been chosen or added as root words because they a) represent concepts that
are very familiar and basic, b) represent concepts the usage of which is equally frequent
among different languages, c) would be helpful in constructing more complex words, or d)
represent fundamental grammatical concepts of Lojban like cmavo and gismu.
[13]
The main
source languages from which they were drawn are Arabic, Chinese, English, Hindi, Russian,
andSpanish. Here is further explanation of the nature of gismu by Cowan:
The gismu do not represent any sort of systematic partitioning of semantic space. Some
gismu may be superfluous, or appear for historical reasons: the gismu list was being
collected for almost 35 years and was only weeded out once. Instead, the intention is that
the gismu blanket semantic space: they make it possible to talk about the entire range of
human concerns. [...] For a given concept, words in the six languages that represent that
concept were written in Lojban phonetics. Then a gismu was selected to maximize the
recognizability of the Lojban word for speakers of the six languages by weighting the
inclusion of the sounds drawn from each language by the number of speakers of that
language.

The Complete Lojban Language: 4.4
According to Robin Turner,
[14]
the creation was done by computer.
Approximately 1350 gismu exist, which is a relatively small number when compared to
that of English words ranging from 450,000 up to 1,000,000.
[15]
Theoretically, by learning
only these root words, as well as their fragmental forms and some major structure words
(cmavo), one will be able to communicate effectively in Lojban. A list of picturable
gismu with images is available on the Lojban Wikipedia.
lujvo "part of speech: content word: compound word"[edit]
The compound form of brivla is called lujvo.
pazvau (panzi + vasru)
bavlamdei (balvi + lamji + djedi)
seljgi (se + jgira)
fu'ivla (fukpi valsi) "part of speech: content word: loan word,
borrowed word"[edit]
A borrowed-word type of brivla. They usually refer to things that are culture-
specific or to kinds of plants or animals, concepts which cannot be easily
expressed as mere modifying-modified combinations of Lojban's internal
root words.
fu'ivla can be subdivided into four types according to the extent to which
they are modified, namely Stage 1, 2, 3, and 4 fu'ivla.
Stage 1 fu'ivla[edit]
The longest form, quoting a foreign word/phrase while preserving its original
spelling with particular structure words.
me la'o ly. spaghetti ly.
(la'o indicates that a non-lojbanic text follows. ly. are delimiters of that foreign text.
And me turns the whole sequence into a selbri so that the word/phrase can form a bridi with
its given place structure. In this example, "x1 is a quantity of spaghetti" is a possible place
structure.)
It should be noted that a "hybrid" stage sometimes is enlisted. In
this case, it would take the above sentence but Lojbanize
"spaghetti" to be phonetic to a (native) Lojban without changing the
ending. Therefore, stage "1.5" fu'ivla for "spaghetti" is "me la'o
ly. spageti ly."
Stage 2 fu'ivla[edit]
This stage involves lojbanizing the sound and spelling of the word.
me la .spagetis.
(me is still needed since la spagetis. cannot by itself work as a brivla.)
Stage 3 fu'ivla[edit]
At this stage a borrowed word is fully turned into a single brivla,
having its own place structure. Since no brivla may have more than
one meaning, it is often the case that they are attached by a rafsi
(with a hyphen like "-r-", "-n-", or "-l-") categorizing or limiting the
semantic scope of the word (such are called "rafsi classifier").
Again they always start with a consonant and end with a vowel.
cidjrspageti (using longer rafsi: cidj + r + "spaghetti")
djarspageti (using shorter rafsi: dja + r + "spaghetti")
zgikrtekno (zgike + "techno")
runrxorigami (rutni + "origami")
Stage 4 fu'ivla[edit]
These are the borrowings which are so common or
so important that have become as short as
possible, having no rafsi classifier. Unlike other
brivla, they may begin with a vowel (preceded by a
pause mark separating it from the previous word).
Also the word must not be of a form that one can
remove all the initial vowels (and apostrophes) and
have a valid word.
skalduna ("Basque" from "euskaldun")
frangula ("buckthorn" from a species name)
vombatu ("wombat")
.alba'aka ("basil" from Spanish)
lujvo + fu'ivla[edit]
It is possible to absorb a fu'ivla
into a lujvo, with principles varying
among Lojbanists. Notable
proponents are Pierre Abbat and
Jorge Llambas. Here are some
comparisons of their methods
drawn from the Lojban mailing list
(as of July 2007):
me'andi + skari
me'andyska (Abbat)
me'andi'yska (Llambas)
gurnrtefi + nanba
gurnrtefynanba (Abbat)
gurnrtefi'ynanba (Llambas)
mikri + enri
miky'enri (Abbat)
miky'enri (Llambas)
tanru "part of
speech: content
word: phrasal bridi,
binary
metaphor"[edit]
A group of two or
more brivla (possibly
with associated
cmavo) is
called tanru. They are
always divisible into
parts without any
morphological
breakage; they are a
mere sequence of
multiple gismu or
lujvo or fu'ivla rather
than a single
distinctive
morphological
unit. See also: Syntax
and semantics
cmavo "part of
speech:
structure
word"[edit]
Lojban structure
words, cmavo, are
recognized by
following properties:
may be a single
syllable
never contain a
consonant cluster
of any type,
whether or not y
is counted
end in a vowel
need not be
penultimately
stressed, though
they often are if
they have more
than one syllable
And they display one
of the following letter
patterns: V, VV, V'V,
CV, CVV, CV'V. The
form generally does
not indicate anything
about its grammatical
function.
cmavo can be
sequenced without
spaces and without
any change to its
meaning:
pa re ci (123) = pareci (123)
se pi'o (using ...) = sepi'o (using ...)
As far as the
stress rules
of Lojban are
concerned,
such
compound
cmavo are
still separate
words, so
penultimate
stress
(e.g. paREci)
is not
obligatory.
Some cmavo
have rafsi,
which may
help
converting
tanru into
lujvo:
ve detri --> veldetri
se ke cpacu djica --> selkemcpadji
cme
vla
"par
t of
spe
ech:
nam
e
wor
d"[e
dit]
cmev
la are
mostl
y
used
for
name
s of
thing
s
(inclu
ding
peopl
e) in
descr
iption
s or
in
direct
addr
ess
(cf. p
roper
noun
s).
They
can
be in
any
form
as
long
as
they
end
in a
cons
onant
. The
practi
ce by
whic
h
name
s in
natur
al
langu
ages
are
modif
ied to
be
used
in
Lojba
n is
know
n as
"lojba
nizati
on".
la .bionses.nolz., (a possible realization of the name "Beyonc Knowles")
r
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ke (original cmavo): kem (assigned rafsi): selkemcpadji (derivative lujvo)
sam, pli (component rafsi, from skami and pilno respectively): sampli (derivative lujvo)
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[
1
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Labhraonn Mchel Gaeilge le Cit (VSO - Irish)
speaks | Mchel | Irish | with Cit
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speaks | Mchel | in Irish | to/with Cit
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reads | book | the student
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reads | a book | the student
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to the river | I | go
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ti'e bu'u le zdani be la .esteban. ba nu dansu
[I hear!] at the house of Esteban | [future] event-of dance
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mi ti pu zbasu vau je'uju'i
I | this | [past] make [bridi-terminator] [truth-attention]
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The market is big. / The markets are big.
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one-or-more-specific-things-which-I-describe as "men" are women
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A market is big. / Some markets are big.
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n
e

o
r

m
o
r
e

m
a
r
k
e
t
s
,

w
i
t
h
o
u
t

b
e
i
n
g

s
p
e
c
i
f
i
c

a
b
o
u
t

w
h
i
c
h
.

U
n
l
i
k
e

l
e

z
a
r
c
i
,

l
o

z
a
r
c
i

m
u
s
t

r
e
f
e
r

t
o

s
o
m
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t
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i
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w
h
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c
h

a
c
t
u
a
l
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y

i
s

a

m
a
r
k
e
t

(
t
h
a
t

i
s
,

w
h
i
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c
a
n

a
p
p
e
a
r

i
n

t
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x
1

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a
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a

t
r
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t
h
f
u
l

b
r
i
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i

w
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s
e
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b
r
i

i
s
z
a
r
c
i
)
.

l
e

m
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r
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i

c
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m
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i
s

f
a
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a
r
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n
o

o
b
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e
c
t
s

i
n

t
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e

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e
a
l

w
o
r
l
d

w
h
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a
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b
o
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h

d
e
a
d

a
n
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a
l
i
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.
l
a

d
i
s
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s

t
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s
u
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t

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f
r
o
m

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s

n
o
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m
a
l

m
e
a
n
i
n
g
,

u
s
u
a
l
l
y

m
a
k
i
n
g

a

n
a
m
e

(
t
h
i
s

u
s
a
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e

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h
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u
l
d

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t

b
e

c
o
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f
u
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d

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t
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r

u
s
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r
e
g
u
l
a
r

L
o
j
b
a
n
i
z
e
d

n
a
m
e
s
)
.

L
i
k
e

l
e

d
e
s
c
r
i
p
t
i
o
n
s
,

l
a

d
e
s
c
r
i
p
t
i
o
n
s

a
r
e

i
m
p
l
i
c
i
t
l
y

r
e
s
t
r
i
c
t
e
d

t
o

t
h
o
s
e

t
h
e

s
p
e
a
k
e
r

h
a
s

i
n

m
i
n
d
:
la cribe pu finti le lisri
the-one-named "bear" [past] creates the story.
Bear wrote the story.
A
l
l

d
e
s
c
r
i
p
t
i
o
n
s

i
m
p
l
i
c
i
t
l
y

t
e
r
m
i
n
a
t
e

w
i
t
h

k
u
,

w
h
i
c
h

c
a
n

a
l
m
o
s
t

a
l
w
a
y
s

b
e

o
m
i
t
t
e
d

w
i
t
h

n
o

d
a
n
g
e
r

o
f

a
m
b
i
g
u
i
t
y
.

T
h
e

m
a
i
n

e
x
c
e
p
t
i
o
n
s

a
r
e

a
)

w
h
e
n

r
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

c
l
a
u
s
e
s

a
r
e

i
n
v
o
l
v
e
d

a
n
d

b
)

w
h
e
n

a

d
e
s
c
r
i
p
t
i
o
n

i
m
m
e
d
i
a
t
e
l
y

p
r
e
c
e
d
e
s

t
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i

(
i
n

w
h
i
c
h

c
a
s
e

u
s
i
n
g

a
n

e
x
p
l
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c
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t

c
u

b
e
f
o
r
e

t
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i

m
a
k
e
s

t
h
e

k
u

u
n
n
e
c
e
s
s
a
r
y
)
.

O
t
h
e
r

u
s
a
g
e
s

o
f

k
u

i
n
c
l
u
d
e

m
a
k
i
n
g

a

c
o
m
p
o
u
n
d

n
e
g
a
t
o
r

(
n
a
k
u
)

a
n
d

t
e
r
m
i
n
a
t
i
n
g

p
l
a
c
e
-
s
t
r
u
c
t
u
r
e
/
t
e
n
s
e
/
m
o
d
a
l

t
a
g
s

(
p
u
k
u
,

b
a
i
k
u
)
.
s
e
l
b
r
i

"
p
r
e
d
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
:

l
o
g
i
c
a
l

p
r
e
d
i
c
a
t
e
"
[
e
d
i
t
]
T
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i

i
s

t
h
e

l
o
g
i
c
a
l

p
r
e
d
i
c
a
t
e

o
f

a

b
r
i
d
i
.

T
h
i
s

i
s

n
o
t

t
o

b
e

c
o
n
f
u
s
e
d

w
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t
h

t
h
e

m
e
a
n
i
n
g

o
f

p
r
e
d
i
c
a
t
e

i
n

t
e
r
m
s

o
f

t
h
e

E
n
g
l
i
s
h

L
a
n
g
u
a
g
e
,

b
u
t

a
s

a

l
o
g
i
c
a
l

p
r
e
d
i
c
a
t
e
.

W
h
e
r
e
a
s

a

p
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e
d
i
c
a
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e

i
n

E
n
g
l
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s
h

c
o
n
t
a
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n
s

e
v
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r
y
t
h
i
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g

t
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a
t

t
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e

s
u
b
j
e
c
t

i
s

d
o
i
n
g
,

a

l
o
g
i
c
a
l

p
r
e
d
i
c
a
t
e

i
s

s
i
m
p
l
y

t
h
e

r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n

b
e
t
w
e
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n

a
l
l

i
n
v
o
l
v
e
d

p
a
r
t
i
e
s
.

I
n

t
h
i
s

c
o
n
t
e
x
t
,

t
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i

i
s

r
o
u
g
h
l
y

t
h
e

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q
u
i
v
a
l
e
n
t

o
f

a

v
e
r
b

i
n

E
n
g
l
i
s
h
.

F
o
r

i
n
s
t
a
n
c
e
:
mi nelci le gerku
I like the dog. / I like the dogs.
T
h
e

g
i
s
m
u

n
e
l
c
i

i
s

b
e
i
n
g

u
s
e
d

a
s

t
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i

i
n

t
h
i
s

b
r
i
d
i
.

I
t

i
s

d
e
s
c
r
i
b
i
n
g

t
h
e

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e
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
h
i
p

b
e
t
w
e
e
n

t
h
e

s
u
m
t
i
s

m
i

(
I
)

a
n
d

l
e

g
e
r
k
u

(
t
h
e

d
o
g
)
.

T
h
e

r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
h
i
p

i
s

t
h
a
t

o
f

a

l
i
k
e
r

a
n
d

t
h
a
t

w
h
i
c
h

i
s

l
i
k
e
d
.

T
h
e

r
o
l
e
s

i
n

t
h
e

r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n
s
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p

a
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m
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d

b
y

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s
u
m
t
i

p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
s

i
n
h
e
r
e
n
t

i
n

t
h
e

w
o
r
d

b
e
i
n
g

u
s
e
d

a
s

t
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i
.

T
h
e

c
m
a
v
o

s
e
/
t
e
/
v
e
/
x
e

a
r
e

u
s
e
d

t
o

s
w
a
p

t
h
e

f
i
r
s
t

s
u
m
t
i

p
l
a
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e
m
e
n
t

o
f

t
h
e

s
e
l
b
r
i

w
i
t
h

t
h
e

s
e
c
o
n
d
,

t
h
i
r
d
,

f
o
u
r
t
h
,

a
n
d

f
i
f
t
h

s
u
m
t
i

p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
,

r
e
s
p
e
c
t
i
v
e
l
y
.

T
h
i
s

f
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
a
l
i
t
y

a
l
l
o
w
s

f
o
r

t
h
e

f
l
e
x
i
b
i
l
i
t
y

i
n

b
r
i
d
i
.

F
o
r

i
n
s
t
a
n
c
e
,

t
h
e

g
i
s
m
u

k
l
a
m
a

h
a
s

t
h
e

s
u
m
t
i

o
f
:
x
1
:

O
n
e

w
h
i
c
h

g
o
e
s
x
2
:

T
h
e

d
e
s
t
i
n
a
t
i
o
n

o
f

a

g
o
e
r
x
3
:

T
h
e

s
o
u
r
c
e

o
f

a

g
o
e
r
x
4
:

T
h
e

r
o
u
t
e

t
a
k
e
n

b
y

a

g
o
e
r
x
5
:

T
h
e

v
e
h
i
c
l
e

u
s
e
d

b
y

a

g
o
e
r
T
h
u
s
:
ti klama ta
x1 = ti
x2 = ta
This goes to that.
ti se klama ta
x2 = ti
x1 = ta
This is the destination of that.
ti te klama ta
x3 = ti
x2 = ta
This is the source of something that goes to that.
ti ve klama ta
x4 = ti
x2 = ta
This is the route of something that goes to that.
ti xe klama ta
x5 = ti
x2 = ta
This is the vehicle of something that goes to that.
S
e
l
b
r
i

c
a
n

a
l
s
o

b
e

t
a
n
r
u
,

w
h
e
r
e

t
h
e

s
u
m
t
i

p
l
a
c
e
m
e
n
t
s

a
r
e

d
e
t
e
r
m
i
n
e
d

b
y

t
h
e

l
a
s
t

b
r
i
v
l
a

t
h
a
t

i
s

p
a
r
t

o
f

t
h
e

t
a
n
r
u
.

F
o
r

i
n
s
t
a
n
c
e
:
mi gleki klama ta
I am a happy-goer that is going to that.
mi klama gleki ta
I am a going-happy-thing that is happy about that.
t
a
n
r
u

"
p
a
r
t

o
f

s
p
e
e
c
h
:

c
o
n
t
e
n
t

w
o
r
d
:

p
h
r
a
s
a
l

b
r
i
d
i
,

b
i
n
a
r
y

m
e
t
a
p
h
o
r
"
[
e
d
i
t
]

This section
requires expansion.(August 2007)
M
u
l
t
i
p
l
e

b
r
i
v
l
a

m
a
y

b
e

l
i
n
k
e
d

u
p

t
o
g
e
t
h
e
r

s
o

a
s

t
o

m
o
r
e

s
p
e
c
i
f
i
c
a
l
l
y

c
o
n
c
e
p
t
u
a
l
i
z
e

t
h
e

i
n
t
e
n
d
e
d

m
e
a
n
i
n
g
.

T
h
e

t
a
n
r
u

i
n

l
o

s
k
a
m
i

p
i
l
n
o

"
c
o
m
p
u
t
e
r

u
s
e
r
(
s
)
"
,

t
h
e

m
o
d
i
f
y
i
n
g

b
r
i
v
l
a

s
k
a
m
i

n
a
r
r
o
w
s

t
h
e

s
e
n
s
e

o
f

t
h
e

m
o
d
i
f
i
e
d

b
r
i
v
l
a

p
i
l
n
o

t
o

f
o
r
m

a

m
o
r
e

s
p
e
c
i
f
i
c

c
o
n
c
e
p
t

(
i
n

w
h
i
c
h

c
a
s
e

t
h
e

m
o
d
i
f
i
e
r

m
a
y

r
e
s
e
m
b
l
e

E
n
g
l
i
s
h

a
d
v
e
r
b
s

o
r

a
d
j
e
c
t
i
v
e
s
)
.

W
i
t
h
o
u
t

s
k
a
m
i
,

l
o

p
i
l
n
o

w
i
l
l

j
u
s
t

m
e
a
n

"
u
s
e
r
"
.

O
t
h
e
r

e
x
a
m
p
l
e
s
:
ti mutce xajmi ("This is very funny.")
do melbi se kanla ("You have beautiful eye(s).")
.ue.oi le mabla bebna cu zvati ti ("Oh my gosh the damn idiot is here.")
c
m
a
v
o
[
e
d
i
t
]
P
a
r
t

o
f

s
p
e
e
c
h
:

s
t
r
u
c
t
u
r
e

w
o
r
d
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
s
[
e
d
i
t
]
T
h
e
r
e

a
r
e

f
i
v
e

a
r
t
i
c
l
e
s
:

l
o
,

l
e
,

l
a
,

l
i
,

a
n
d

m
e
'
o
;

o
f

w
h
i
c
h

t
h
e

f
i
r
s
t

t
h
r
e
e

i
n
f
l
e
c
t

t
o

s
h
o
w

i
n
d
i
v
i
d
u
a
l
,

m
a
s
s
,

o
r

s
e
t

(
t
h
o
u
g
h

a
s

f
a
r

a
s

t
h
e

f
o
r
m
a
l

g
r
a
m
m
a
r

i
s

c
o
n
c
e
r
n
e
d
,

t
h
e

i
n
f
l
e
c
t
e
d

f
o
r
m
s

a
r
e

s
e
p
a
r
a
t
e

w
o
r
d
s
,

n
o
t

i
n
f
l
e
c
t
e
d

f
o
r
m
s
)
.

Ind
ivi
du
al
M
a
ss
S
e
t
T
yp
ic
al
Inde
finit
e
lo
lo
i
l
o
'i
lo'
e
Defi
nite
le
le
i
l
e
'i
le'
e
Nam
e
la
la
i
l
a
'i
-
Num
ber
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lo mi kerfa cu jdari .iku'i loi mi kerfa cu ranti ("My hairs are hard, but my hair is soft.")
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bi jgena ("eight knots")
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lo me me'o bi jgena ("a figure-eight knot")
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la .djekl. .a la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll and/or Hyde is/are here.
la .djekl. .e la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll and Hyde is here.
la .djekl. .o la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll if-and-only-if Hyde is here.
la .djekl. .u la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll whether-or-not Hyde is here.
Variations of these truth functions can be made as follows:
la .djekl. na.a la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll only-if Hyde is here.
la .djekl. .enai la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll and-not Hyde is here.
la .djekl. .onai la .xaid. zvati ti
Jekyll either/or Hyde is here.
la .djekl. se.u la .xaid. zvati ti
Regardless of Jekyll, Hyde is here.
Connections between components other than sumti can be expressed as follows (note that their functions are in accordance with the assigned vowels):
la .djekl. tavla .ija la .xaid. tavla (between sentences)
Jekyll speaks. And/or Hyde speaks.
la .djekl. mikce la xaid. gi'e nanmu (between bridi)
Jekyll is a doctor of Hyde and is a man.
la .djekl. sipna je cadzu (between gismu)
Jekyll sleeps-and-walks."
Connections can be questioned:
la .djekl. ji la .xaid. tavla
Jekyll [what?] Hyde speaks.
Does Jekyll or Hyde speak?
la .djekl. sipna je'i cadzu
Jekyll sleeps [what?] walks.
Does Jekyll sleep or walk?
Besides the logical connectives, there are several non-logical connectives. These do not change form depending on what they are connecting:
lo lanme [ku] fa'u lo guzme cu danlu fa'u spati
Sheep and melons are animals and plants, respectively.
la .treid. ku'a la .traian. midju la .carlyt.
Trade intersect Tryon is the center of Charlotte.
lo rukygu'e cu xazdo joi ropno
Russia is Asian together with European.
The ku is required by the LALR parser, but not by the PEG parser, which however is not official yet.
attitudinals[edit]
Attitudinals are a set of cmavo which allow the speakers to express their emotional state or source of knowledge, or the present stage of discourse. In natural languages, attitudes are usually expressed by the tone of voice when speaking, and (very imperfectly) by punctuation when writing; in Lojban, such information are extensively expressible in words. And the meanings are to be
understood separately from the main predicate.
.iu (love)
.ui (happy)
They may be "scaled" by suffixes:
.uinai (happy-not = unhappy)
.uicai (happy-intense = very very happy)
.uicu'i (happy-neutral)
Combination is possible, and highly productive as well as creative:
.uinaicai (happy-not-intense)
.iu.uinai (love-happy-not = I am unhappily in love)
Evidentials, derived from those of American Indian languages and the constructed language Ladan, show how the speaker came to say the utterance, i.e. the source of the information or the idea:
ti'e la .uengas cu zergau
[I hear!] Wenga is-a-crime-doer.
I hear that Wenga is a crook.
ba'acu'i le tuple be mi cu se cortu
[I experience!] The leg of me is-the-locus-of-pain.
My leg hurts.
pe'i la .kartagos. .ei se daspo
[I opine!] Carthage [obligation] is-destroyed.
In my opinion, Carthage should be destroyed.
prepositions[edit]
There are two kinds of prepositions (sumtcita, which refers to adpositions in general) in Lojban: tense markers and proper prepositions. The syntactic difference is that a proper preposition can be converted with se, whereas a tense marker cannot. All proper prepositions (except the vague one do'e) are formed from a brivla and mark their object
semantically as being in a place of that brivla. Thus the following are equivalent:
mi pilno lo me'andi lo nu skagau lei kerfa
I use henna to color the hair.
mi skagau lei kerfa sepi'o lo me'andi
I color the hair with henna.
Prepositions (including tense markers) can also be placed in .i ... bo to make sentence conjunctions. With most prepositions this makes no sense, but ki'u, ja'e, mu'i and ni'i are often used this way to express various kinds of "because" and "therefore":
la .djan. cpacu le pamoi se jinga .iki'ubo ri jinga
John got the first prize because he won.
tenses[edit]

This section
requires expansion.(August 2007)
Lojban has 63 unique tense words to express various aspects of both space and time as well as event (such a system is unusual among other languages in that it deals with spatial and temporal aspects in the same term). They can be roughly subdivided as follows:
intervals: pu, ca, ba, bu'u, ri'u, ni'a ...
modifiers: ze'i, zi, ve'i, vi ...
contours: co'a, pu'o, de'a ...
converters: fe'e, roi, mo'i ...
Marking tenses is always optional in Lojban:
mi klama le zarci (default: no temporal tense)
I went/have-gone/go/am-going/will-go/continually-go-to the-market.
mi ba'o klama le zarci
I have-gone-to the-market.
mi capu'o klama le zarci
I am-about-going-to the-market.
Where the tense information is not specified, the context resolves the interpretation.
Tense words are usually put right before the selbri:
mi [cu] pu klama le zarci (cu is the implicit separator between the first sumti mi and the
selbri klama.)
They may be placed elsewhere with the additional terminator ku:
pu ku mi [cu] klama le zarci
mi [cu] klama pu ku le zarci
mi [cu] klama le zarci pu [ku] (ku is elidable at the end of the bridi)
The terminator is used so that the tense word do not directly run into the following sumti and modify it. Compare the next sentences:
baku le nunsalci cu cfari
[At some point in the future] the festival will start.
ba le nunsalci cu cfari
After the festival, [something unspecified] will start.
Tenses can be "layered up":
mi pu klama le zdani .i le zdani pupu se daspo
I [past] go-to the house. The house [past][past] be-destroyed.
I went to the house. The house had been destroyed.
Tenses can be "sticky" by being set with ki, continuing in effect over more than a single bridi, until it is unset:
mi puki fengu binxo .i le nixli cu klaku cfari .i mi ki xenru
I [past]-[set this tense] angry-kind-of become. The girl crying-kind-of start. I [set this tense]
regret.
(Earlier) I got angry. The girl started crying. (Now) I regret.
The second ki resets the tense to the implicit default time from the speaker's point of view, which is "now" (this means that ki may be used as a tense word by itself).
Using ki, equivalents of the previous layering tenses can be produced:
mi puki klama le zdani .i le zdani pu se daspo
The second pu is to be counted from the tense set by the last ki, so in effect it is equivalent to pupu.
grammatical nonsense[edit]
Lojban has a formal grammar which does not proscribe all the strings of words that a human would consider ungrammatical. One can say things like "*Either he and I will go". Some of these grammatical, but nonsensical, constructions are:
Converting a conjunction other than u with se, or converting any conjunction with te, ve,
or xe.
ko'a te.u mi klama le briju se.a le ckule
He (whether-or-not-3) I go to the office (or, arguments exchanged) the school.
Using ra'o with a member of selma'o go'a that does not take an antecedent.
le gerku cu du ra'o le mlatu
The dog is (update pronouns) the cat.
Using kau after a word that's not a question word, in a clause not abstracted with du'u.
mi pilno le skami kau
I am using the computer (indirect question).
Using a term that is not a sumti where only a sumti makes sense.
mi viska le gerku pe na ku
I saw the dog of not.
Joining two sentences with bi'i.
mi viska le xrula .ibi'i do klama le ckule
Between I see the flower and you go to school.