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| '''NOTE:'''This lesson is somewhat out-dated but still valuable as an | | I'd like to point you to a new conlang going after the Esperanto model (with at least one Lojban feature :) - do you discover it?) --[[jbocre: .aulun.|.aulun.]] |
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| introduction to the basic concepts of Lojban.
| | [http://anzwers.org/free/ulango/] |
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| Copyright, 1991, by the Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane,
| | International Language Created by Chinese |
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| Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA Phone (703) 385-0273 lojban@lojban.org
| | by David Curtis |
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| All rights reserved. Permission to copy granted subject to your
| | It was in December 2002, in England, having campaigned for Esperanto for almost thirty years, that I first read, on Internet, that Mondlango had been launched in China. Its two main features strongly attracted me: it was based upon English and Esperanto; and it had no diacritical marks. English is obviously the most popular international language, but it is very difficult to learn. Esperanto is relatively easy to learn, but is largely ignored by the international community. Esperanto is hampered by its diacritical marks, whereas English has none and is therefore easily typed for e-mail. |
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| verification that this is the latest version of this document, that
| | I was also attracted by another factor. China has the world's biggest population, and Esperanto-enthusiasts have always yearned for the development of Esperanto to reach the stage of critical mass, whereby a situation suddenly changes because of pressure. The teaching of English in China is a very expensive drain upon the resources of the Chinese government to improve the lives of its citizens: yet there seemed, until last year, no alternative. I was the only member from Britain at the First Asian Esperanto Congress, held in August, 1996, in Shanghai. Because of the many discussions I had there with Asians from many different countries, I learned that there was a great desire to be free from linguistic imperialism in the form of the necessity to learn English. As Esperanto-speakers, my fellow-members of the Congress and I hoped that the Zamenhof's aim, of providing the world with a neutral second language, would soon be achieved. |
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| your distribution be for the promotion of Lojban, that there is no
| | Since that Congress, "El Popola Cxinio", the world's most popular Esperanto magazine, has ceased publication, and Monato is in difficulties. Whatever popularity Esperanto has enjoyed is now on the wane. In Europe, even the looming problem of communication between the 25 countries of the European Union does not offer Esperanto-speakers any hope. In a personal letter to me, published in "Heroldo" last December, Neil Kinnock, the European Commissioner responsible for language-diversity, declined to accept that Esperanto should be taught in the schools of member-states. To me, such teaching would obviously solve the problem of communication, but there is no likelihood of it happening. |
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| charge for the product, and that this copyright notice is included
| | So, when I read that Mondlango had been launched in China, I could see that there was a real possibility of reaching Zamenhof's great goal, though not entirely because of his admirable invention. The power of American wealth and the former British Empire could be overcome if huge numbers of Chinese learned the new language and insisted upon using it internationally.Back to top |
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| intact in the copy.
| | ---- |
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| * {ALINK(aname=>intro)}Introduction{ALINK}
| | I think I know what Lojban feature it is. :) Mondlango/Ulango looks nice, but I disagree with Curtis' analysis -- requiring an auxlang to reach "critical mass" to be useful misses the whole point of Zamenhof's exercise, which is to let a language dominate through its own excellence, rather than through any sort of pressure. Also, I found a [http://omniglot.com/language/01042003.htm ilarious take] on the EU language situation. -- [[User:tk1@]] |
| * {ALINK(aname=>predicate)}The concept of the predicate{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>placestr)}Place structures{ALINK}
| | ''Note: This article is a spoof intended for your amusement. As far as I'm aware, none of the people mentioned have expressed these particular views and the organisations featured do not exist.'' :-) |
| * {ALINK(aname=>pronunciation)}Pronunciation{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>singlewds)}Single words that can act as '' sumti''{ALINK}
| | Too nice to be true! Blair's (and the French politician's) statement sounded quite realistic - I didn't expect anything else :) |
| * {ALINK(aname=>ellipsis)}Ellipsis{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>variant)}Variant forms of the '' bridi''{ALINK}
| | IMHO, it's astonishing this auxlang being invented by an Asian, given the fact that Mondlango is composed by Latin (French), English, German, and a bit of Greek! I guess - as a European - I could learn this tongue within a couple of weeks (the vocabulary is obvious, the grammar straightforward), but also the 'masses' in the People's Republic? --[[jbocre: .aulun.|.aulun.]] |
| * {ALINK(aname=>switching)}''sumti'' switching{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>selbrimod)}''selbri'' modification{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>selbriconv)}Converting a ''selbri'' to a ''sumti''{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>marking)}Marking the ''selbri''{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>names)}Names{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>vocatives)}Vocatives and imperatives{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>greetings)}Greetings{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>attitudinals)}Attitudinals{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>yesorno)}Yes or no questions{ALINK}
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| * {ALINK(aname=>other)}Other terms{ALINK}
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| * [[jbocre: Lojban Mini-Lesson Exercises|Lojban Mini-Lesson Exercises]]
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| === {ANAME()}intro{ANAME}Introduction ===
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| This is the 16 September 1991 draft of the Lojban Mini-Lesson, an
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| introduction to the language that is intended to give readers a
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| basic idea as to how Lojban looks and sounds, and how it differs
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| from English and other languages. For those familiar with it, this
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| corresponds to the first of the Esperanto Postal Course lessons,
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| except that thus far, this is the only lesson, and it covers a bit
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| more of the language in one unit.
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| This mini-lesson is expected to
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| become a mainstay of our introductory package for Lojban. At this
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| posting we already have people committed to translate this into
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| Esperanto and Swedish, and other language versions are expected to
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| follow.
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| We are interested in comments on the readability and
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| understandability of this material. We especially want people to go
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| through it, and then to try the exercises at the end, so we can
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| determine whether the lesson teaches the material and whether the
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| exercises are appropriate and within the capability of the student. We
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| want responses from both active Lojbanists and people who have not seen
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| any of our material before.
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| We are interested in more than just
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| corrections of typos—we want to know what you understood, and what
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| needs more explanation. LLG will commit to providing individual
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| responses to all questions generated from this draft circulation, and
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| will provide an commented answer key to anyone who returns a completed
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| response (please allow a little time for these responses—we have no
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| idea how much volume is to be generated). For our benefit, if you do
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| the exercises. please let us know whether you did them as you went
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| along, or after reading the entire lesson text, and also give us a rough
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| idea how much time the entire lesson took.
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| Of course this may cause
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| reviewers to become more interested in learning Lojban, and we certainly
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| would not object to that. Contact LLG at the address above for more
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| information.
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| ('''Note:''' There are exercises at the end of the lesson for each
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| section. You may do these exercises as you go along, or wait until you
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| complete the entire lesson.)
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| === {ANAME()}predicate{ANAME}1. The concept of the predicate ===
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| Let us consider John and Sam and three statements about them:
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| <pre>
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| "John is the father of Sam"
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| "John hugs Sam"
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| and
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| "John is taller than Sam"
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| </pre>
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| These all describe relationships between John and Sam. However, in
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| English, we
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| use a noun to describe a static relationship (1), a verb to describe an
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| active relationship (2) and an adjective to describe an attributive
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| relationship (3). In Lojban we make no such grammatical distinctions;
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| these three sentences, when expressed in Lojban, are grammatically
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| identical. The same part of speech is used to represent the
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| relationship. In formal logic this whole structure is called a
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| predicate; in Lojban it is called a "''bridi''", and
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| the central part of speech is the "''selbri''".
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| Logicians refer to the things thus related as
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| arguments, while Lojbanists call them "''sumti''".
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| These Lojban terms will be used for the rest of the lesson.
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| <pre>
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| ''bridi'' (predicate)
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| </pre>
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| ~pp~
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| '''''''''''''''''''''|'''''''''''''''''''''_
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| John is the uncle of Sam
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| |''''''| |'''''''''''''''''''''_| |'''_|
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| ~/pp~
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| <pre>
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| ''sumti'' ''selbri'' ''sumti'' (argument)
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| </pre>
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| === {ANAME()}placestr{ANAME}2. Place structures ===
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| In a relationship, there are a definite number of things being
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| related. In English, for example, "give" has three places: the donor,
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| the recipient and the gift. For example:
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| -+John gives Sam the book.+- and -+Sam gives John the book.+-
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| mean two different things because the relative positions of
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| "John" and "Sam" have been switched.
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| Further, -+The book gives John Sam.+- seems
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| strange to us merely because the places are being filled by unorthodox
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| arguments. The relationship expressed by "give" has not changed.
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| In Lojban, a given ''selbri'' has a specified
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| number of arguments. The simplest ''selbri'' consists of a single root word, called a "''gismu''", and
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| the definition in a ''gismu'' word-list gives the place structure | |
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| explicitly. The primary task of constructing a Lojban sentence, after
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| choosing the relationship itself, is deciding what you will use to fill
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| in the ''sumti'' places.
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| === {ANAME()}pronunciation{ANAME}3. Pronunciation ===
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| Lojban has six recognized vowels: "a", "e", "i", "o", "u" and "y".
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| The first five are the pure Romance vowels: "a" as in "father", "e" as
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| in "let", "i" as in "machine", "o" as in "dome" and "u" as in "flute".
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| "y" is pronounced as the sound called "schwa"; that is, as the
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| unstressed "a" as in "about" or "around".
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| Twelve consonants in Lojban
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| are pronounced more or less as their counterparts are in English: "b",
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| "d", "f", "k", "l", "m", "n", "p", "r", "t", "v" and "z". The "c", on
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| the other hand is pronounced as the "sh" in "hush", while "j" is its
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| 'voiced' counterpart, the sound of the "s" in "pleasure". "g" is always
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| hard as it is in "gift", never as in "giant". "s" is as in "sell", never
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| as in "rose". The sound of "x" is not found in English; it is like
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| 'breathing through' a "k". It is found as "ch" in Scottish "loch", as
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| Spanish "j", and as "ch" in some dialects of German. It gets easier to
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| say as you practice it. "r" can be trilled, but doesn't have to be.
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| Lojban also has three 'semi-letters': the period, the comma and the
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| apostrophe. The period represents a glottal stop or a pause; it is a
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| required stoppage of the flow of air in the speech stream. The
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| apostrophe sounds just like the English letter "h". Unlike a regular
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| consonant, it is not found at the beginning or end of a word, nor is it
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| found adjacent to a consonant; it is only found between two vowels. The
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| comma has no sound associated with it, and is used to separate syllables
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| that might ordinarily run together. It is only found inside names taken
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| from other languages (it helps preserve the original sound of a
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| name).
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| Stress falls on the next to the last syllable of all words,
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| except if that vowel is 'y', which is never stressed; in such words the
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| third-to-last syllable is stressed. If a word only has one syllable,
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| then that syllable is not stressed.
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| === {ANAME()}singlewds{ANAME}4. Single words that can act as ''sumti'' ===
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| Some words can be used singly to fill in a ''sumti'' place. ''mi'' I, me, we, us, the speaker (and maybe others,
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| unspecified)&mdash;Lojban words (unless explicitly quantified, i.e.
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| labeled with a number), do not
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| distinguish between singular and plural forms. ''do'' you, you all,
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| thou, the person(s) addressed by the speaker ''ti'' this thing, this person, this place (usually indicated by a gesture) ''ta'' that thing,
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| that person, that place ''tu'' that yonder
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| thing, that yonder person, that yonder place ''zo'e'' something, it's not important that you know
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| what ("''zo'e''" is used as a place filler) ''da'' something, I haven't determined what ("''da''" is the 'existential variable'
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| of logic) ''ma'' what?, fill in this blank ("''ma''" is used for
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| asking some kinds of questions) Let's look at a simple Lojban ''bridi''. The place
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| structure of the ''gismu'' "''tavla''" is -+ '''x{SUB()}1{SUB}''' talks to '''x{SUB()}2{SUB}''' about '''x{SUB()}3{SUB}''' in language '''x{SUB()}4{SUB}''' +- This ''bridi'' will
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| then have the form -+ '''x{SUB()}1{SUB}''' ''tavla'' '''x{SUB()}2{SUB}''' '''x{SUB()}3{SUB}''' '''x{SUB()}4{SUB}''' +-
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| For example:
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| ''mi tavla do zo'e zo'e'' means I talk to you about something in some language.
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| ''do tavla mi ta zo'e'' means You talk to me about that thing in a
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| language.
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| ''mi tavla zo'e tu ti'' means I talk to someone about that thing
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| yonder in this language.
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| ''ta tavla ma mi zo'e'' means That person talks to who(?) about me in
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| some language. or Who is that
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| person talking to about me?
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| === {ANAME()}ellipsis{ANAME}5. Ellipsis ===
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| There are many words in Lojban that do not need to be written or
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| spoken aloud for them to operate. For example, when "''zo'e''" is left off of the end of the ''bridi'', it is understood that the ''sumti'' place still exists, and is filled with some
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| unstated ''sumti''. This process is called
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| ellipsis. Trailing "''zo'e''"s are almost always
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| ellipsized.
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| ''mi tavla do'' means I talk to you.
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| ''do tavla mi'' means You talk to me.
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| ''da tavla ta'' means Someone talks to that person.
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| ''do tavla zo'e'' mi means You are talking about me.
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| ''zo'e tavla mi do'' means Someone talks to me about you.
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| === {ANAME()}variant{ANAME}6. Variant forms of the ''bridi'' ===
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| Thus far you have seen one ''sumti'' before the ''selbri'' with any
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| remaining ''sumti'' coming afterward. In fact, the ''selbri'' may come after
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| any number of the ''sumti'' without changing the
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| meaning of the ''bridi'' (but not before all of
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| them). So: -+''mi tavla do ti'' I talk to you about this. ''mi do tavla ti'' I, to you, talk about this. and ''mi do ti tavla'' I, to you, about this, talk. +- all represent the
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| same relationship. The important thing is that the order of the ''sumti'' has not changed. These variations similarly
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| apply to ''selbri'' with
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| different numbers of ''sumti''.
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| === {ANAME()}switching{ANAME}7. ''sumti'' switching ===
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| For one reason or another you may want to change the order, placing
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| one particular ''sumti'' at the front of the ''bridi''. The operator "''se''",
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| placed before the last word of the ''selbri'', will
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| switch the meanings of
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| the first and second ''sumti'' places. So -+''mi tavla do ti'' I talk to you about this. +-
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| has the same meaning as -+''do se tavla mi ti'' You are talked to by me about this. +- The operator
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| "''te''",
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| used in the same place, switches the meanings of the first and the third
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| ''sumti'' places. -+''mi tavla do ti'' I talk to you about this. +- has the same meaning
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| as -+''ti te tavla do mi'' This is talked about to you by me. +- Note that only the first and third
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| ''sumti'' have switched places; the second ''sumti'' has remained in the second place.
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| The operators "''ve''" and "''xe''" switch the first and fourth ''sumti'' places, and the first and fifth ''sumti'' places, respectively.
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| More than
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| one of these operators may be used on a given ''selbri'' at one time, and in
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| such a case they are evaluated from left to right. However, in practice
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| they are used one at a time, as there are better tools for complex
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| manipulation of the ''sumti'' places.
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| === {ANAME()}selbrimod{ANAME}8. ''selbri'' modification ===
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| When two ''gismu'' are adjacent the first one
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| modifies the second, and the ''selbri'' takes its
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| place structure from the rightmost word. For
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| example, "''sutra''" means "'''x{SUB()}1{SUB}''' is fast at doing
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| '''x{SUB()}2{SUB}'''"; "''sutra tavla''"
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| means "'''x{SUB()}1{SUB}''' talks fast to '''x{SUB()}2{SUB}''' about '''x{SUB()}3{SUB}''' in language '''x{SUB()}4{SUB}'''".
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| Specifically, the meaning of the first place of the first word is what
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| modifies the next word: "''sutra tavla''" means
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| "'''x{SUB()}1{SUB}''' is a fast-thing type of talker to '''x{SUB()}2{SUB}''' about '''x{SUB()}3{SUB}''' in
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| language '''x{SUB()}4{SUB}'''".
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| When three or
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| more ''gismu'' are in a row, the first modifies the second, and that
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| combined meaning modifies the third, and that combined meaning modifies
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| the fourth, and so on. For example, "''sutra tavla cutci''" means "'''x{SUB()}1{SUB}'''
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| is a fast-talker type of shoe (for '''x{SUB()}2{SUB}''' of material '''x{SUB()}3{SUB}''')". That is,
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| it is a shoe that is worn by a fast talker rather than a shoe that is
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| fast and is also worn by a talker.
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| === {ANAME()}selbriconv{ANAME}9. Converting a ''selbri'' to a ''sumti'' ===
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| Often we wish to talk about things other than the speaker, the
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| listener and things we can point to. Let's say I want to talk about a
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| talker other than "''mi''". What I want to talk
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| about would naturally fit into the first place of "''tavla''". Lojban, it turns out, has an operator
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| that pulls this first place out of a ''selbri'' and
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| converts it to a ''sumti''. "''le
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| tavla''" refers to "the talker", and may be
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| used as a ''sumti''.
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| (Note
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| that the double underline in examples marks the ''selbri'', while each
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| single underline marks a ''sumti''. This notation
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| is only for clarifying the sentence structure and is not a part of the
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| language.)
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| ~pp~
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| mi tavla do le tavla
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| -- ===== -- --------
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| means
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| I talk to you about the talker | |
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| ~/pp~
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| Similarly
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| "''le sutra tavla''" is "the fast talker", and "''le sutra te tavla''"
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| is "the fast subject of talk" or "the subject of fast
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| talk". (Which of these
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| related meanings is understood will depend on the context in which the
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| expression is used. The most plausible interpretation within the
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| context will generally be assumed by a listener to be the intended one.)
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| === {ANAME()}marking{ANAME}10. Marking the ''selbri'' ===
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| There is a problem when we want to say "the fast one is talking";
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| "''le sutra tavla''" means "the fast talker", not
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| "the fast one is talking". To solve this problem we mark the ''selbri'' with the word "''cu''".
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| The word "''cu''" has no meaning, and stands only to
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| mark the beginning of the ''selbri'' within the ''bridi'', separating it from a previous
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| ''sumti''. It comes before any other operator, such
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| as "''se''" or "''te''". So:
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| ~pp~
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| le sutra tavla means the fast talker
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| --------------
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| le sutra cu tavla means The fast one is talking.
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| -------- =====
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| le sutra se tavla means The fast talked-to one.
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| -----------------
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| le sutra cu se tavla means The fast one is talked to.
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| -------- ========
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| ~/pp~
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| "''cu''" is always assumed to be in front of the ''selbri''. It may be elided
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| (left out) if this will not alter the grammar of the sentence, as in "''mi cu | |
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| tavla do''".
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| === {ANAME()}names{ANAME}11. Names ===
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| All words in Lojban end in vowels except for names. Names end in a
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| consonant followed by a pause or glottal stop, either of which is
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| represented by a period. Note that all grammatical punctuation in
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| Lojban is spoken and represented by words rather than symbols. Names
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| are 'Lojbanized' by conforming them to Lojban spelling and providing a
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| final consonant if there isn't one; this consonant is typically "s" or
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| "n" for English names, but any Lojban consonant may be used.
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| Remember that a comma without spaces around it in the middle of a name can be
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| used to separate syllables that would ordinarily be run together in
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| Lojban.
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| To convert a Lojbanized name into a ''sumti'',
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| use the article "''la''". "''la
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| djan.''" is "the one called John". For obvious reasons, the
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| letter sequence "''la''" may not occur inside any
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| name. Likewise, "''doi''" may not appear in a name,
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| for reasons that will be obvious in the following
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| section. (If a name would use either of these two sound patterns, it
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| must be changed, perhaps to use "''ly''" or "''le''", "''do'i''" or "''dei''" instead.)
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| === {ANAME()}vocatives{ANAME}12. Vocatives and imperatives ===
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| You may call someone's attention to the fact that you are
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| addressing them by using "''doi''" followed by their
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| name. The phrase "''doi djan.''" means "Oh, John,
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| I'm talking to you". It also has the effect of
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| setting the value of "''do''"; "''do''" now refers to "John" until it is changed
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| in some way in the conversation.
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| If you say "''do tavla''", it means "you
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| are talking". For the imperative in Lojban, the word "''ko''" is
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| substituted for "do". The phrase "''ko tavla''"
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| instructs the listener to do whatever is necessary to make "''do tavla''"
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| true. For example:
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| ~pp~
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| ko tavla means Talk.
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| -- =====
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| ko sutra means Be fast.
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| -- =====
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| mi tavla ko means Be talked to by me.
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| -- ===== --
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| or Let me talk to you.
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| ~/pp~
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| "''ko''" can fill any appropriate ''sumti'' place, and can be used as often as
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| is appropriate for the ''selbri'': "''ko kurji ko''" and "''ko ko kurji''" both
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| mean "You take care of you" and "Be taken care of by you", or to put it
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| colloquially, "Take care of yourself".
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| === {ANAME()}greetings{ANAME}13. Greetings ===
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| In all natural languages, greeting words are idiomatic. In Lojban
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| "''coi''" means "hello" and "''co'o''" means "good-bye". Either word may stand
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| alone, they may follow one another, or either may be followed by a pause
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| and a name.
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| <pre>
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| ''coi. djan.'' means Hello, John.
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| ''co'o. djan.'' means Good-bye, John.
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| </pre>
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| === {ANAME()}attitudinals{ANAME}14. Attitudinals ===
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| Different cultures express emotions and attitudes with a variety of
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| intonations and gestures that are not included in the written language.
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| Some of these are available in some languages as ejaculations (i.e.
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| Aha!, Oh no!, Ouch!, Aahh!, etc.), but they vary greatly from culture to
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| culture. Lojban has a part of speech known as an 'attitudinal' which
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| specifically covers this type of commentary on spoken statements. They
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| are both written and spoken, but require no specific intonation or
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| gestures. Grammatically they are very simple: one or more attitudinals
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| at the beginning of a ''bridi'' apply to the entire
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| ''bridi''; anywhere else in the ''bridi'' they apply to the word immediately to the
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| left.
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| Some attitudinals are:
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| ~pp~
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| Lojban English attitude Ejaculations and other English used
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| ''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''_
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| .a'o hope hopefully, I hope
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| .e'o request, petition, please!, get it done!
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| command (with rank)
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| .iu love, endearment,
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| affection
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| .oi complaint, discomfort Oy!, Ouch!
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| .ua discovery Eureka!
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| .ui happy, cheerful Whee!
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| .uu pity, compassion Aww! </pre>
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| ~/pp~
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| Attitudinals represent scales of emotion,
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| and there are some indicators available to show where on the scale you
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| are:
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| ~pp~
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| cai intense or absolute .iucai intense love
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| extreme feeling
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| sai strong feeling .iusai strong love
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| ru'e weak or mild feeling .iuru'e mild love
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| cu'i indifference .iucu'i "no love lost"
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| nai single word negator .iunai hate, enmity
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| naicai intense opposite .iunaicai intense hate
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| naisai strong opposite .iunaisai strong hatred
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| nairu'e mild or weak opposite .iunairu'e mild hatred
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| ~/pp~
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| Intensity indicators may stand on their own, indicating intensity of
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| emotion while leaving the emotion unspecified, or they may be used to
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| modify another attitudinal, but they will only modify the word
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| immediately to the left. Thus "''.a'o.uu''"
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| expresses hope mixed with pity, but "''.a'o.uucai''" expresses "hope mixed
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| with intense pity", not "intense hope mixed with intense pity". (Note
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| that, unlike in a ''selbri'', attitudinals do not
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| modify each other in any strict order, but are mixed. If multiple
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| emotions are indicated, the one that the speaker wants most to express
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| usually comes first.)
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| === {ANAME()}yesorno{ANAME}15. Yes or no questions ===
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| All yes or no questions in English may be reformulated to begin "Is
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| it true that ...". In Lojban we have a word that asks precisely that
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| question in precisely the same way. "''xu''" placed
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| in front of a ''bridi'' asks whether that ''bridi'' is true as stated. "''xu''", however, is
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| technically an attitudinal and can go almost anywhere in the ''bridi'', in which case it asks the same question but
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| emphasizes the word immediately
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| to the left of it. So
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| ~pp~
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| xu do tavla mi means Is it true that you are talking to me?
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| -- ===== -- | |
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| do xu tavla mi means Are you the one talking to me?
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| -- ===== --
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| do tavla xu mi means Talking to me? Is that what you're doing?
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| -- ===== --
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| do tavla mi xu means Is it me you are talking to?
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| -- ===== --
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| ~/pp~
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| An affirmative answer may be given by simply restating the ''bridi''. Lojban has a shorthand for doing this with
| |
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| the word "''go'i''". This word stands for the whole
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| ''bridi'' and assumes the values represented by the
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| ''sumti'' are unchanged unless you specifically
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| replace them. Instead of a negative answer, the ''bridi'' may be restated in such a way as to make it
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| true. If this can be done by substituting ''sumti'', it may be done with "''go'i''" as well.
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| <pre>
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| | |
| question: ''xu do kanro'' Are you healthy?
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| answer: ''mi kanro'' I am healthy.
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| or: ''go'i'' I am healthy. ("''do''" to the
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| questioner is "''mi''" to the
| |
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| respondent)
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| or: ''le tavla cu kanro'' The talker is healthy.
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| or: ''le tavla cu go'i'' The talker is healthy.
| |
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| </pre>
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| A general negative answer may be given by "''na go'i''". "''na''" may be placed before any ''selbri'' (but after the "''cu''").
| |
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| It is equivalent to stating "It is not true that ..." before the ''bridi''. It does not imply that anything else is true
| |
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| or untrue, only that that specific ''bridi'' is not
| |
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| true.
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| | |
| === {ANAME()}other{ANAME}16. Other terms ===
| |
| | |
| All ''gismu'' have combining-forms associated with
| |
| | |
| them which may be combined into compounds called "''lujvo''". All ''gismu'' have at least one
| |
| | |
| combining-form associated with them and may have as many as four, not
| |
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| counting the full form of the word, which may only appear at the end of
| |
| | |
| a lujvo. The short combining-forms or affixes are called "''rafsi''". A
| |
| | |
| ''lujvo'' may act in any way like a ''gismu'' within a ''bridi''. Any
| |
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| word that can behave in this way is called a "''brivla''"; that is, a ''brivla'' is any word
| |
| | |
| that can stand alone in a ''selbri'' or can modify
| |
| | |
| another ''brivla''.
| |
| | |
| When
| |
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| two or more ''brivla'' are strung together in a ''selbri'' or a ''sumti'', the
| |
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| combination is called a "''tanru''". A ''tanru'' may also have "''se''"-type
| |
| | |
| operators as well as ''brivla'' in it, as well as
| |
| | |
| some other features not yet covered.
| |
| | |
| The little words that are not ''brivla'', and
| |
| | |
| usually indicate grammatical structure are called "''cmavo''". The ''cmavo'' also
| |
| | |
| include the attitudinals and short ''sumti'' like
| |
| | |
| "''mi''" and "''do''".
| |