Lojban grammar
Encyclopedia
Lojban
is a constructed
, human-speakable and (theoretically) machine-speakable language, based on predicate logic
. It is one of the latest languages, designed in 1987 with most of its grammar from Loglan
and some features from Láadan
. Most of its root words are derived from the 6 widely spoken natural languages, Arabic
, Chinese
, English
, Hindi, Russian
, and Spanish
. The characteristic regularity, unambiguity, and versatility of Lojban grammar owes much to the fact that its creation followed the development of scientific linguistics
and computer programming
, the fruits of which Esperanto
and Loglan could not have drawn on as their design principles. Its linguistic advantage can be summarized as follows: "Lojban moves beyond the restrictions of European grammar. It overtly incorporates linguistic universal
s, building in what is needed to support the expressivity of the whole variety of natural languages, including non-European ones."
s and 21 consonant
s exist in Lojban. The phoneme
s 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.
s (a kind of sound which consists of a vowel plus a glide
, always constituting a single syllable).
The combinations, , and , for instance, are all realized as the corresponding falling diphthongs. To force these sounds to be pronounced separately as monophthong
s, a comma can be put between them. Triphthong
s do not exist in Lojban.
s can be either rounded or unrounded
and the consonants can be either aspirated or unaspirated
, but not palatalized
in general. The voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ are usually aspirated
, but need not be. The affricates /d͡ʒ/ (the voiced postalveolar affricate
), /d͡z/ (the voiced alveolar affricate
), /tʃ/ (the voiceless postalveolar affricate
) and /t͡s/ (the voiceless alveolar affricate
) also occur in Lojban, but are each considered to be a combination of the appropriate phoneme
s in the language (being the realization of, , and , respectively). The rhotic sounds are all equally acceptable as an identical phoneme. , , , and may be syllabic.
s, 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 [ɪ], [ɨ], [ʊ] and [ʏ] (but not [y], which is the rounded counterpart of [i] and thus a valid realization of
Some Lojbanist extends this principle so as to claim that even an original orthography of the language is to be sought.
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). This section will be in accordance with that discernment.
.
Capitalization may be applied to mark a non-standard stressed syllable
as in cmene, 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 unpronouncible symbols.
writing of Lojban, insisting that:
Exemplary mappings between the Tengwar system and the Lojban sounds are provided as follows: http://vodka-pomme.net/projects/tengwar-for-lojban/lojteng#learn, http://www.catb.org/~esr/tengwar/lojban-tengwar.html.
Advocates of this include Eric S. Raymond
.
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 syllabary
indicating an open syllable except the "n" sound, requiring the practicer 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:
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/HAIKU.RXML
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/HAIKU2.RXML.
, adjective
, or adverb
in natural languages (although some modal cmavo too may have adverbial purposes). brivla may be identified by the following properties:
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.
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. The main source languages from which they were drawn are Arabic
, Chinese
, English
, Hindi, Russian
, and Spanish
. Here is further explanation of the nature of gismu by Cowan:
According to Robin Turner, 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. 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.
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.
The longest form, quoting a foreign word/phrase while preserving its original spelling with particular structure words.
This stage involves lojbanizing the sound and spelling of the word.
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.
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.
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:
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:
The unambiguity of Lojban morphology, according to John Woldemar Cowan, gives rise to "significant clues to the meaning and the origin of the word, even if you have never heard the word before". He further says: "The same principle allows you, when speaking or writing, to invent new brivla for new concepts 'on the fly'; yet it offers people that you are trying to communicate with a good chance to figure out your meaning. In this way, Lojban has a flexible vocabulary which can be expanded indefinitely."
Such standards, however, are to be attained with certain carefulness:
The computer-tested, unambiguous rules also include grammar for 'incomplete' sentences e.g. for narrative, quotational, or mathematical phrases.
Lojbanic expressions are modular; smaller constructs of words are assembled into larger phrases so that all incorporating pieces manifest as a possible grammatical unity. This mechanism allows for simplistic yet infinitely powerful phrasings; "a more complex phrase can be placed inside a simple structure, which in turn can be used in another instance of the complex phrase structure".
, a claim that some objects stand in some relationship, or that some single object has some property. bridi is the Lojban term for this type of unit. Just as a predication is formed by a predicate
and arguments in formal logic, bridi are formed by selbri and sumti in Lojban. A construct of selbri and sumti produces a claim that something stands in a specified relationship to something else or has a specified property.
Multiple bridi can be either sequenced across multiple sentences or compounded in one sentence:
A compound bridi can includes multiple tenses and sumti:
The implicit grammatical divisions can be made explicit by separator words such as cu and vau, which are often elidable but sometimes need to be present to avoid ambiguity:
The places of cu and vau in the previous examples can be rendered as follows:
The ordered sets of sumti assigned to every selbri are known as "place structures". They are explicitly defined in dictionaries or word lists.
Some lujvo formations usually operate on the place structure in predictable ways. The rafsi {gau}, for instance, inserts one place for the agent and pushes all others down one. Thus brivla can have indefinitely many places. This contrasts with the accusative alignment or ergative alignment that most languages have, in which there is a small number of named places (subject, direct object, indirect object) and all others are expressed by prepositions.
The typology
of Lojban is basically subject–verb–object, with subject–object–verb also common. However, it can practically be anything:
Such flexibility has to do with the language's intended capability to translate as many expressions of natural languages as possible, based on a unique positional case system. The meaning of the sentence mi prami do is determined by prami realizing, with its own predefined place structure, a specific semantic relation between mi and do; when the positional relation between mi and do changes, the meaning of the sentence changes too. As shown above, Lojban has particular devices to preserve such semantic structure of words while altering their order. Compare the followings:
se converts the x1 and x2 sumti place. fo tags the x4 place, and fi the x3. Such conversion and tagging is often used to emphasize particular sumti by bringing it forwards.
Here are some collations of natural languages and Lojban:
It is important to note that Lojban selbri is not a real equivalent of verb in natural languages. A selbri can be either a verb, a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Its function is determined syntactically, not morphologically. An analogy to natural language word orders by using such terms as "subject", "verb", and "object" cannot accurately describe the nature of Lojban bridi.
Descriptions have the most complicated syntax and usage. Closely interwoven with this kind are names.
Although le is quite close in meaning to English "the", it has particularly unique implications. In this example, le creates an argument which might occur in the x1 place of the belonging selbri zarci, namely a "market". le also specifies that the speaker 1) has one or more specific markets in mind (whether or not the listener knows which ones they are) and 2) is merely describing the things he/she has in mind as markets, without being committed to the truth of that description. Whereas English-speakers must differentiate between "the market" and "the markets", Lojban-speakers are not required to make such a choice (this rule does not mean that Lojban has no way of specifying the number of markets in such a case):
Since the construct le + selbri merely describes something or other which the speaker chooses to represent based on his/her observation, such an expression as follows is possible:
While le is specific, lo is not:
lo refers generally to one or more markets, without being specific about which. Unlike le zarci, lo zarci must refer to something which actually is a market (that is, which can appear in the x1 place of a truthful bridi whose selbri is zarci). lo nanmu cu ninmu is false as there are no objects in the real world which are both men and women.
la dissociates the subsequent selbri from its normal meaning, usually making a name (this usage should not be confused with the other usage before regular Lojbanized names). Like le descriptions, la descriptions are implicitly restricted to those the speaker has in mind:
All descriptions implicitly terminate with ku, which can almost always be omitted with no danger of ambiguity. The main exceptions are a) when relative clauses are involved and b) when a description immediately precedes the selbri (in which case using an explicit cu before the selbri makes the ku unnecessary). Other usages of ku include making a compound negator (naku) and terminating place-structure/tense/modal tags (puku, baiku).
in English. For instance:
The gismu nelci is being used as the selbri in this bridi. It is describing the relationship between the sumtis mi (I) and le gerku (the dog). The relationship is that of a liker and that which is liked. The roles in the relationship are determined by the sumti placements inherent in the word being used as the selbri. The cmavo se/te/ve/xe are used to swap the first sumti placement of the selbri with the second, third, fourth, and fifth sumti placement, respectively. This functionality allows for the flexibility in bridi. For instance, the gismu klama has the sumti of:
Thus:
Selbri can also be tanru, where the sumti placements are determined by the last brivla that is part of the tanru. For instance:
s: lo, le, la, li, and me'o; of which the first three inflect to show individual, mass, or set (though as far as the formal grammar is concerned, the inflected forms are separate words, not inflected forms).
The individual/mass distinction is similar to the distinction between mass noun
s and count noun
s, but things that are normally counted can be considered as a mass. The set articles consider the mathematical set of the referents.
The number and mathematical expression articles are used when talking about numbers and numerals or letters as themselves.
s.
There exist 16 possible different truth functions, the four fundamental ones of which are assigned four vowels in Lojban. These vowels are a component sound from which actual logical-connective cmavo are built up.
With the four vowels, the ability to negate either sentence, and the ability to exchange the sentences, as if their order had been reversed, Lojban can create all of the 16 possible truth functions except TTTT and FFFF (which are fairly useless anyway). In order to remain unambiguous, each place in the grammar of the language where logical connection is permitted has its appropriate set of connectives. If the connective suitable for sumti were used to connect selbri, ambiguity would result. Here are examples of connectives suitable for sumti:
Variations of these truth functions can be made as follows:
Connections between components other than sumti can be expressed as follows (note that their functions are in accordance with the assigned vowels):
Connections can be questioned:
Besides the logical connectives, there are several non-logical connectives. These do not change form depending on what they are connecting:
The ku is required by the LALR parser, but not by the PEG
parser, which however is not official yet.
when writing; in Lojban, such information are extensively expressible in words. And the meanings are to be understood separately from the main predicate.
They may be "scaled" by suffixes:
Combination is possible, and highly productive as well as creative:
Evidentials, derived from those of American Indian languages and the constructed language Láadan
, show how the speaker came to say the utterance, i.e. the source of the information or the idea:
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":
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:
Marking tenses is always optional in Lojban:
Where the tense information is not specified, the context resolves the interpretation.
Tense words are usually put right before the selbri:
They may be placed elsewhere with the additional terminator ku:
The terminator is used so that the tense word do not directly run into the following sumti and modify it. Compare the next sentences:
Tenses can be "layered up":
Tenses can be "sticky" by being set with ki, continuing in effect over more than a single bridi, until it is unset:
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:
The second pu is to be counted from the tense set by the last ki, so in effect it is equivalent to pupu.
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:
Lojban
See also discussed by Arthur Protin, Bob LeChevalier, Carl Burke, Doug Landauer, Guy Steele, Jack Waugh, Jeff Prothero, Jim Carter, and Robert Chassell, as well as , the concepts which "average English speakers won't recognize" because most of them "have no exact English counterpart".Like most...
is a constructed
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
, human-speakable and (theoretically) machine-speakable language, based on predicate logic
Predicate logic
In mathematical logic, predicate logic is the generic term for symbolic formal systems like first-order logic, second-order logic, many-sorted logic or infinitary logic. This formal system is distinguished from other systems in that its formulae contain variables which can be quantified...
. It is one of the latest languages, designed in 1987 with most of its grammar from Loglan
Loglan
Loglan is a constructed language originally designed for linguistic research, particularly for investigating the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis. The language was developed beginning in 1955 by Dr James Cooke Brown with the goal of making a language so different from natural languages that people learning...
and some features from Láadan
Láadan
Láadan is a constructed language created by Suzette Haden Elgin in 1982 to test the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis, specifically to determine if development of a language aimed at expressing the views of women would shape a culture; a subsidiary hypothesis was that Western natural languages may be better...
. Most of its root words are derived from the 6 widely spoken natural languages, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Hindi, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The characteristic regularity, unambiguity, and versatility of Lojban grammar owes much to the fact that its creation followed the development of scientific linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and computer programming
Computer programming
Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...
, the fruits of which Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
and Loglan could not have drawn on as their design principles. Its linguistic advantage can be summarized as follows: "Lojban moves beyond the restrictions of European grammar. It overtly incorporates linguistic universal
Linguistic universal
A linguistic universal is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages, potentially true for all of them. For example, All languages have nouns and verbs, or If a language is spoken, it has consonants and vowels. Research in this area of linguistics is closely tied to the study of...
s, building in what is needed to support the expressivity of the whole variety of natural languages, including non-European ones."
Phonology
6 vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s and 21 consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are , pronounced with the lips; , pronounced with the front of the tongue; , pronounced with the back of the tongue; , pronounced in the throat; and ,...
s exist in Lojban. The phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s 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
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
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
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
.
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
| Phoneme | Grapheme | Pronunciation example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| vowel Vowel In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some... s |
|||
| open vowel | a (ɑ) | a | as in father, not as in hat. |
| front mid vowel | ɛ (e) | e | as in bet, not as in beep |
| front close vowel Close front unrounded vowel The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .... |
i | i | as in machine, not as in igloo |
| back mid vowel | o (ɔ) | o | as in open, not as in opera |
| back close vowel Close back rounded vowel The close back rounded vowel, or high back rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is u.... |
u | u | as in moon, not as in cup |
| central mid vowel | ə | y | as in sofa, not as in yellow |
| fricatives | |||
| unvoiced labial fricative Voiceless labiodental fricative The voiceless labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .-Features:Features of the voiceless labiodental fricative:... |
f (ɸ) | f | as in fat |
| voiced labial fricative Voiced labiodental fricative The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is v.... |
v (β) | v | as in vast |
| unvoiced velar fricative Voiceless velar fricative The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English.... |
x | x | as in the Scottish loch, or the German Bach, or the Spanish José, or the Arabic Khaled |
| unvoiced glottal spirant Voiceless glottal fricative The voiceless glottal transition, commonly called a "fricative", is a type of sound used in some spoken languages which patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant phonologically, but often lacks the usual phonetic characteristics of a consonant... |
h | ' | |
| sibilants | |||
| unvoiced alveolar sibilant Voiceless alveolar fricative The voiceless alveolar sibilant is a common consonant sound in spoken languages. It is the sound in English words such as sea and pass, and is represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet as . It has a characteristic high-pitched, highly perceptible hissing sound... |
s | s | |
| voiced alveolar sibilant Voiced alveolar fricative The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described.... |
z | z | |
| unvoiced coronal sibilant Voiceless postalveolar fricative The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or voiceless domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages, including English... |
ʃ (ʂ) | c | as in shoe |
| voiced coronal sibilant Voiced postalveolar fricative The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or voiced domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some... |
ʒ (ʐ) | j | as in vision |
| stops Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
|||
| unvoiced bilabial stop Voiceless bilabial plosive The voiceless bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p... |
p | p | |
| voiced bilabial stop Voiced bilabial plosive The voiced bilabial plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial plosive occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the... |
b | b | |
| unvoiced alveolar stop Voiceless alveolar plosive The voiceless alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is t... |
t | t | |
| voiced alveolar stop Voiced alveolar plosive The voiced alveolar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar plosives is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is d.-Features:Features of the voiced... |
d | d | |
| unvoiced velar stop Voiceless velar plosive The voiceless velar stop or voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.... |
k | k | |
| voiced velar stop Voiced velar plosive The voiced velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is g. Strictly, the IPA symbol is the so-called "opentail G" , though the "looptail G" is... |
ɡ | g | |
| glottal stop | ʔ | . | |
| approximants Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
|||
| voiced labio-velar approximant | w | u- | |
| palatal approximant Palatal approximant The palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is '... |
j | i- | |
| voiced lateral approximant Alveolar lateral approximant The alveolar lateral approximant, also known as clear l, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral approximants is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is l.As a... |
l (l̩) | l | |
| nasals Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
|||
| voiced labial nasal Bilabial nasal The bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m... |
m (m̩) | m | |
| voiced alveolar nasal Alveolar nasal The alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in numerous spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar nasals is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n.... |
n (n̩, ŋ, ŋ̩̩) | n | |
| rhotic Rhotic consonant In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet... |
|||
| rhotic consonant Rhotic consonant In phonetics, rhotic consonants, also called tremulants or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek letter rho, including "R, r" from the Roman alphabet and "Р, p" from the Cyrillic alphabet... |
r (ɹ, ɾ, ʀ, r̩, ɹ̩, ɾ̩, ʀ̩) | r | |
Diphthongs
Lojban has 16 diphthongDiphthong
A diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
s (a kind of sound which consists of a vowel plus a glide
Semivowel
In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English or , that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.-Classification:...
, always constituting a single syllable).
The combinations
Monophthong
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation....
s, a comma can be put between them. Triphthong
Triphthong
In phonetics, a triphthong is a monosyllabic vowel combination involving a quick but smooth movement of the articulator from one vowel quality to another that passes over a third...
s do not exist in Lojban.
Allophones
The vowelVowel
In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! , where there is a constriction or closure at some...
s can be either rounded or unrounded
Roundedness
In phonetics, vowel roundedness refers to the amount of rounding in the lips during the articulation of a vowel. That is, it is vocalic labialization. When pronouncing a rounded vowel, the lips form a circular opening, while unrounded vowels are pronounced with the lips relaxed...
and the consonants can be either aspirated or unaspirated
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
, but not palatalized
Palatalization
In linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
in general. The voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k/ are usually aspirated
Aspiration (phonetics)
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...
, but need not be. The affricates /d͡ʒ/ (the voiced postalveolar affricate
Voiced postalveolar affricate
The voiced palato-alveolar affricate, also described as voiced domed postalveolar affricate, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ , and the equivalent X-SAMPA representation is ⟨dZ⟩...
), /d͡z/ (the voiced alveolar affricate
Voiced alveolar affricate
The voiced alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩ , and the equivalent X-SAMPA representation is ⟨dz⟩.-Features:...
), /tʃ/ (the voiceless postalveolar affricate
Voiceless postalveolar affricate
The voiceless palato-alveolar affricate or domed postalveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩...
) and /t͡s/ (the voiceless alveolar affricate
Voiceless alveolar affricate
The voiceless alveolar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet with ⟨⟩ or ⟨⟩ . The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in such languages as German, Cantonese, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Mandarin...
) also occur in Lojban, but are each considered to be a combination of the appropriate phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s in the language (being the realization of
Buffering of consonant clusters
For those who, given their native language background, may have trouble pronouncing (certain) consonant clusterConsonant cluster
In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....
s, 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 [ɪ], [ɨ], [ʊ] and [ʏ] (but not [y], which is the rounded counterpart of [i] and thus a valid realization of
Orthography
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:- 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 isomorphismIsomorphismIn abstract algebra, an isomorphism is a mapping between objects that shows a relationship between two properties or operations. If there exists an isomorphism between two structures, the two structures are said to be isomorphic. In a certain sense, isomorphic structures are...
, a representational system can be said to be an appropriate orthography of the language; - 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.
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). This section will be in accordance with that discernment.
Latin/Roman mode
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 charactersASCII
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is a character-encoding scheme based on the ordering of the English alphabet. ASCII codes represent text in computers, communications equipment, and other devices that use text...
.
Capitalization may be applied to mark a non-standard stressed syllable
Stress (linguistics)
In linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is sometimes also used with this sense.The stress placed...
as in cmene, 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
Punctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
are not mandatory; such notions as question or exclamation are expressed with words rather than unpronouncible symbols.
Cyrillic mode
This mode was conceived when the introductory Lojban brochure was translated into Russian. 23 lerfu а б в г д е ж з и к л м н о п р с т у ф х ш ъ plus 3 semi-lerfu ', . are used. The hard sign ъ is assigned to the open-mid vowel. Diphthongs are written as vowel pairs, as in the Roman mode.Tengwar mode
Kena argues for the TengwarTengwar
The Tengwar are an artificial script created by J. R. R. Tolkien. In his fictional universe of Middle-earth, the tengwar were invented by the Elf Fëanor, and used first to write the Elven tongues: Quenya, Telerin, and also Valarin. Later a great number of languages of Middle-earth were written...
writing of Lojban, insisting that:
- 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;
- 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: http://vodka-pomme.net/projects/tengwar-for-lojban/lojteng#learn, http://www.catb.org/~esr/tengwar/lojban-tengwar.html.
Advocates of this include Eric S. Raymond
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond , often referred to as ESR, is an American computer programmer, author and open source software advocate. After the 1997 publication of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Raymond was for a number of years frequently quoted as an unofficial spokesman for the open source movement...
.
Japanese mode
A Japanese hiraganaHiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
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 syllabary
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
indicating an open syllable except the "n" sound, requiring the practicer 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:
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/HAIKU.RXML
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de/HAIKU2.RXML.
Morphology
Lojban has 3 word-classes: brivla (predicate words), cmavo (structure words), and cmene (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.brivla (bridi valsi) "part of speech: content word"
brivla carry the content (semantic information) of an expression, which means their function may be roughly analogous to common noun, verbVerb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
, adjective
Adjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
, or adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
in natural languages (although some modal cmavo too may have adverbial purposes). brivla may be identified by the following properties:
- Have more than one syllable
- Are penultimately stressed
- Have a consonant cluster (at least two adjacent consonants) 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"
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. The main source languages from which they were drawn are Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Hindi, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Here is further explanation of the nature of gismu by Cowan:
According to Robin Turner, 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. 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"
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"
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
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
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
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
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
It is possible to absorb a fu'ivla into a lujvo, with principles varying among Lojbanists. Notable proponents are Pierre Abbat and Jorge Llambías. 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 (Llambías)
- gurnrtefi + nanba
gurnrtefynanba (Abbat)
gurnrtefi'ynanba (Llambías)
- mikri + enri
miky'enri (Abbat)
miky'enri (Llambías)
tanru "part of speech: content word: phrasal bridi, binary metaphor"
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 semanticscmavo "part of speech: structure word"
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
cmene "part of speech: name word"
cmene stand for things (including people) in descriptions or in direct address (cf. proper nouns). Mostly they can be in any form as long as they end in a consonant. The practice by which names in natural languages are modified to be used in Lojban is known as "lojbanization".- la bionses.nolz., (a possible realization of the name "Beyoncé Knowles")
rafsi "affix, suffix, prefix, combining-form, word fragment"
A special fragmentary form of gismu and cmavo, from which a new word may be created, is called rafsi. brivla such as lujvo or fu'ivla are usually derived from them (this, in turn, means that lujvo and fu'ivla have no rafsi form of their own). rafsi cannot by themselves function as an individual word; they need to be in a combined form to be used.- solri (original gismu): sol, solr, solri (assigned rafsi): solxrula (derivative lujvo)
- ke (original cmavo): kem (assigned rafsi): selkemcpadji (derivative lujvo)
- sam, pli (component rafsi, from skami and pilno respectively): sampli (derivative lujvo)
The unambiguity of Lojban morphology, according to John Woldemar Cowan, gives rise to "significant clues to the meaning and the origin of the word, even if you have never heard the word before". He further says: "The same principle allows you, when speaking or writing, to invent new brivla for new concepts 'on the fly'; yet it offers people that you are trying to communicate with a good chance to figure out your meaning. In this way, Lojban has a flexible vocabulary which can be expanded indefinitely."
Syntax and semantics
According to What Is Lojban?, the language's grammatical structures are "defined by a set of rules that have been tested to be unambiguous using computers", which is called the "machine grammar". Hence the characteristics of the standard syntactic (not semantic) constructs in Lojban:- each word has exactly one grammatical interpretation;
- the words relate grammatically to each other in exactly one way.
Such standards, however, are to be attained with certain carefulness:
The computer-tested, unambiguous rules also include grammar for 'incomplete' sentences e.g. for narrative, quotational, or mathematical phrases.
Lojbanic expressions are modular; smaller constructs of words are assembled into larger phrases so that all incorporating pieces manifest as a possible grammatical unity. This mechanism allows for simplistic yet infinitely powerful phrasings; "a more complex phrase can be placed inside a simple structure, which in turn can be used in another instance of the complex phrase structure".
bridi "predication: claims and allegations"
Being derived from predicate logic, the basic unit of Lojban expression is predicationPredicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
, a claim that some objects stand in some relationship, or that some single object has some property. bridi is the Lojban term for this type of unit. Just as a predication is formed by a predicate
Predicate (grammar)
There are two competing notions of the predicate in theories of grammar. Traditional grammar tends to view a predicate as one of two main parts of a sentence, the other being the subject, which the predicate modifies. The other understanding of predicates is inspired from work in predicate calculus...
and arguments in formal logic, bridi are formed by selbri and sumti in Lojban. A construct of selbri and sumti produces a claim that something stands in a specified relationship to something else or has a specified property.
- do | viska | mi
(Two sumti and one selbri, making up one bridi, claiming that a relation viska exists between do and mi. The selbri needs not be literally between sumti. The example can also be rendered as do mi viska. A more detailed discussion on Lojban word order below.)
Multiple bridi can be either sequenced across multiple sentences or compounded in one sentence:
- do | melbi | .i | do | xendo
(Two sentences, each consisting of one sumti and one selbri. .i separates sentences.)
- do | melbi | .ije | do | xendo
(This sentence is syntactically identical to the last one but differs in meaning. .ije may be spelled as .i je.)
- do | melbi | gi'e | xendo
(One sentence, consisting of one sumti and two selbri. gi'e separates bridi as well as compounding them.)
- do | melbi | gi'e | xendo | .iki'ubo | mi | nelci | do
(Two sentences, one of which includes compound bridi. While .i simply marks a division of sentences, ki'u together with bo adds that there is a particular logical connection between the first and second sentence. .iki'ubo may be spelled as .i ki'u bo.)
A compound bridi can includes multiple tenses and sumti:
- mi | puze'u gunka | gi'e | ca tatpi
- mi | ca'o klama | ta | ti | le karce | gi'e | ba tavla | do | la lojban.
The implicit grammatical divisions can be made explicit by separator words such as cu and vau, which are often elidable but sometimes need to be present to avoid ambiguity:
- le nixli cu melbi
(This instance shows that the left-hand gismu is sumti and the right-hand gismu is selbri. Without cu the two gismu would be grammatically undistinguishable.)
- mi dunda le cukta gi'e lebna lo rupnu vau do
(vau indicates that the two bridi, dunda le cukta and lebna lo rupnu, sharing the same first sumti mi, together terminate at that position, enabling them to have the subsequent do as their mutual second sumti. Compare it with its longer equivalent: mi dunda le cukta do .ije mi lebna lo rupnu do.)
The places of cu and vau in the previous examples can be rendered as follows:
- do (cu) viska le nixli (vau)
- do (cu) melbi (vau) .i do (cu) xendo (vau)
- do (cu) melbi (vau) gi'e xendo (vau) (vau)
(The last vau marks the mutual termination of the two bridi.)
- do (cu) melbi (vau) gi'e xendo (vau) (vau) .i do (cu) xendo (vau)
The ordered sets of sumti assigned to every selbri are known as "place structures". They are explicitly defined in dictionaries or word lists.
- mi | tavla | do | la lojban. | le glibau
(Two sumti mi and do are fitting into the place structure of the selbri tavla, which is "x1 talks/speaks to x2 about subject x3 in language x4".)
Some lujvo formations usually operate on the place structure in predictable ways. The rafsi {gau}, for instance, inserts one place for the agent and pushes all others down one. Thus brivla can have indefinitely many places. This contrasts with the accusative alignment or ergative alignment that most languages have, in which there is a small number of named places (subject, direct object, indirect object) and all others are expressed by prepositions.
The typology
Linguistic typology
Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...
of Lojban is basically subject–verb–object, with subject–object–verb also common. However, it can practically be anything:
- mi | prami | do (SVO)
- mi | do | prami (SOV)
- do | se prami | mi (OVS)
- do | mi | se prami (OSV)
- prami | fa mi | do (VSO)
- prami | fe do | fa mi (VOS)
Such flexibility has to do with the language's intended capability to translate as many expressions of natural languages as possible, based on a unique positional case system. The meaning of the sentence mi prami do is determined by prami realizing, with its own predefined place structure, a specific semantic relation between mi and do; when the positional relation between mi and do changes, the meaning of the sentence changes too. As shown above, Lojban has particular devices to preserve such semantic structure of words while altering their order. Compare the followings:
- mi | tavla | do | la lojban. | le glibau ( 1 | selbri | 2 | 3 | 4 )
"x1 (mi) talks/speaks to x2 (do) about subject x3 (la lojban.) in language x4 (le glibau)"
- do | se tavla | mi | fo le glibau | fi la lojban. ( 2 | selbri | 1 | 4 | 3 )
"x2 (do) is talked/spoken to by x1 (mi) in language x4 (le glibau) about subject x3 (la lojban.)"
se converts the x1 and x2 sumti place. fo tags the x4 place, and fi the x3. Such conversion and tagging is often used to emphasize particular sumti by bringing it forwards.
Here are some collations of natural languages and Lojban:
- Labhraíonn Mícheál Gaeilge le Cáit (VSO - IrishIrish languageIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
)
speaks | Mícheál | Irish | with Cáit
tavla fa la mixal. fo la sicko'o fe la kat.
speaks | Mícheál | in Irish | to/with Cáit
- Mamaky boky ny mpianatra (VOS - MalagasyMalagasy languageMalagasy is the national language of Madagascar, a member of the Austronesian family of languages. Most people in Madagascar speak it as a first language as do some people of Malagasy descent elsewhere.-History:...
)
reads | book | the student
tcidu lo cukta fa le tadni
reads | a book | the student
- Âi ba, wa mo. (OSV - XavanteXavante languageThe Xavante language is a Ge language spoken by the Xavante people in about 170 villages in the area surrounding Eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil. The Xavante language is unusual in its phonology, its object–subject–verb word order, and its use of honorary and endearment terms in its...
)
to the-river | I | go
fe le rirxe fa mi klama
to the river | I | go
- Ihtébani o'ílaci yawi-pó=ra (OVS - GuarijioGuarijio languageHuarijio is an Uto-Aztecan language of the states of Chihuahua and Sonora in northwestern Mexico...
)
Esteban house-at | dance-[passive].[future]=[reportative]
ti'e bu'u le zdani be la esteban ba nu dansu
[I hear!] at the house of Esteban | [future] event-of dance
- 僕がこれを作ったんだよ。 (SOV - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
)
I | this | made-[assertive-calling]
mi ti pu zbasu vau je'uju'i
I | this | [past] make [bridi-terminator] [truth-attention]
It is important to note that Lojban selbri is not a real equivalent of verb in natural languages. A selbri can be either a verb, a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. Its function is determined syntactically, not morphologically. An analogy to natural language word orders by using such terms as "subject", "verb", and "object" cannot accurately describe the nature of Lojban bridi.
sumti "predication: argument"
There are five kinds of simple sumti:- descriptions, which usually begin with a descriptor such as le;
- pro-sumti, the Lojban analogue of pronouns, such as mi;
- names, which usually begin with la, such as la lojban.;
- quotations, which begin with lu/lo'u/zo/zoi;
- pure numbers, which usually begin with li.
Descriptions have the most complicated syntax and usage. Closely interwoven with this kind are names.
description
Basic descriptions in Lojban consist of two units, LE/LA descriptors and a selbri:- le zarci
Although le is quite close in meaning to English "the", it has particularly unique implications. In this example, le creates an argument which might occur in the x1 place of the belonging selbri zarci, namely a "market". le also specifies that the speaker 1) has one or more specific markets in mind (whether or not the listener knows which ones they are) and 2) is merely describing the things he/she has in mind as markets, without being committed to the truth of that description. Whereas English-speakers must differentiate between "the market" and "the markets", Lojban-speakers are not required to make such a choice (this rule does not mean that Lojban has no way of specifying the number of markets in such a case):
- le zarci cu barda
The market is big. / The markets are big.
Since the construct le + selbri merely describes something or other which the speaker chooses to represent based on his/her observation, such an expression as follows is possible:
- le nanmu cu ninmu
one-or-more-specific-things-which-I-describe as "men" are women
While le is specific, lo is not:
- lo zarci cu barda
one-or-more-of-all-the-things-which-really are-markets is/are-big
A market is big. / Some markets are big.
lo refers generally to one or more markets, without being specific about which. Unlike le zarci, lo zarci must refer to something which actually is a market (that is, which can appear in the x1 place of a truthful bridi whose selbri is zarci). lo nanmu cu ninmu is false as there are no objects in the real world which are both men and women.
la dissociates the subsequent selbri from its normal meaning, usually making a name (this usage should not be confused with the other usage before regular Lojbanized names). Like le descriptions, la descriptions are implicitly restricted to those the speaker has in mind:
- la cribe pu finti le lisri
the-one-named "bear" [past] creates the story.
Bear wrote the story.
All descriptions implicitly terminate with ku, which can almost always be omitted with no danger of ambiguity. The main exceptions are a) when relative clauses are involved and b) when a description immediately precedes the selbri (in which case using an explicit cu before the selbri makes the ku unnecessary). Other usages of ku include making a compound negator (naku) and terminating place-structure/tense/modal tags (puku, baiku).
selbri "predication: logical predicate"
The selbri is the logical predicate of a bridi. This is not to be confused with the meaning of predicate in terms of the English Language, but as a logical predicate. Whereas a predicate in English contains everything that the subject is doing, a logical predicate is simply the relation between all involved parties. In this context, the selbri is roughly the equivalent of a verbVerb
A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...
in English. For instance:
- mi nelci le gerku
- I like the dog. / I like the dogs.
The gismu nelci is being used as the selbri in this bridi. It is describing the relationship between the sumtis mi (I) and le gerku (the dog). The relationship is that of a liker and that which is liked. The roles in the relationship are determined by the sumti placements inherent in the word being used as the selbri. The cmavo se/te/ve/xe are used to swap the first sumti placement of the selbri with the second, third, fourth, and fifth sumti placement, respectively. This functionality allows for the flexibility in bridi. For instance, the gismu klama has the sumti of:
- x1: One which goes
- x2: The destination of a goer
- x3: The source of a goer
- x4: The route taken by a goer
- x5: The vehicle used by a goer
Thus:
- 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.
Selbri can also be tanru, where the sumti placements are determined by the last brivla that is part of the tanru. For instance:
- 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.
tanru "part of speech: content word: phrasal bridi, binary metaphor"
Multiple brivla may be linked up together so as to more specifically conceptualize the intended meaning. The tanru in lo skami pilno "computer user(s)", the modifying brivla skami narrows the sense of the modified brivla pilno to form a more specific concept (in which case the modifier may resemble English adverbs or adjectives). Without skami, lo pilno will just mean "user". Other examples:- 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.")
articles
There are five articleArticle (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
s: lo, le, la, li, and me'o; of which the first three inflect to show individual, mass, or set (though as far as the formal grammar is concerned, the inflected forms are separate words, not inflected forms).
| Individual | Mass | Set | Typical | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indefinite | lo | loi | lo'i | lo'e |
| Definite | le | lei | le'i | le'e |
| Name | la | lai | la'i | - |
| Number | li | - | - | - |
| Mathematical expression | me'o | - | - | - |
The individual/mass distinction is similar to the distinction between mass noun
Mass noun
In linguistics, a mass noun is a noun that refers to some entity as an undifferentiated unit rather than as something with discrete subsets. Non-count nouns are best identified by their syntactic properties, and especially in contrast with count nouns. The semantics of mass nouns are highly...
s and count noun
Count noun
In linguistics, a count noun is a common noun that can be modified by a numeral and that occurs in both singular and plural form, as well as co-occurring with quantificational determiners like every, each, several, etc. A mass noun has none of these properties...
s, but things that are normally counted can be considered as a mass. The set articles consider the mathematical set of the referents.
- lo'i jurme bene'i mi cu bramau lo'i mi mivysle ("The set of bacteria inside me is bigger than the set of my cells." With loi this would be false, as the bacteria, though more in number, have less mass.)
- lo mi kerfa cu jdari .iku'i loi mi kerfa cu ranti ("My hairs are hard, but my hair is soft.")
The number and mathematical expression articles are used when talking about numbers and numerals or letters as themselves.
- bi jgena ("eight knots")
- lo me li bi jgena ("an eight knot", whatever that is; perhaps it has eight loops)
- lo me me'o bi jgena ("a figure-eight knot")
connectives
As befits a logical language, there is a large assortment of conjunctionConjunction
Conjunction can refer to:* Conjunction , an astronomical phenomenon* Astrological aspect, an aspect in horoscopic astrology* Conjunction , a part of speech** Conjunctive mood , same as subjunctive mood...
s.
There exist 16 possible different truth functions, the four fundamental ones of which are assigned four vowels in Lojban. These vowels are a component sound from which actual logical-connective cmavo are built up.
| A | FIRST is true and/or SECOND is true (TTTF) |
| E | FIRST is true and SECOND is true (TFFF) |
| O | FIRST is true if and only if SECOND is true (TFFT) |
| U | FIRST is true whether or not SECOND is true (TTFF) |
With the four vowels, the ability to negate either sentence, and the ability to exchange the sentences, as if their order had been reversed, Lojban can create all of the 16 possible truth functions except TTTT and FFFF (which are fairly useless anyway). In order to remain unambiguous, each place in the grammar of the language where logical connection is permitted has its appropriate set of connectives. If the connective suitable for sumti were used to connect selbri, ambiguity would result. Here are examples of connectives suitable for sumti:
- 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
Parsing expression grammar
A parsing expression grammar, or PEG, is a type of analytic formal grammar, i.e. it describes a formal language in terms of a set of rules for recognizing strings in the language...
parser, which however is not official yet.
attitudinals
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 punctuationPunctuation
Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...
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 Láadan
Láadan
Láadan is a constructed language created by Suzette Haden Elgin in 1982 to test the Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis, specifically to determine if development of a language aimed at expressing the views of women would shape a culture; a subsidiary hypothesis was that Western natural languages may be better...
, 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
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
Lojban has 63 unique tense wordsTense
Tense may refer to:*Grammatical tense, a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs...
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
Lojban has a formal grammarFormal grammar
A formal grammar is a set of formation rules for strings in a formal language. The rules describe how to form strings from the language's alphabet that are valid according to the language's syntax...
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.