They are also functionally different: cmavo are the structure words, corresponding to English words like ``and'', ``if'', ``the'' and ``to''; brivla are the content words, corresponding to English words like ``come'', ``red'', ``doctor'', and ``freely''; cmene are proper names, corresponding to English ``James'', ``Afghanistan'', and ``Pope John Paul II''.
V-form .a .e .i .o .u CV-form ba ce di fo gu VV-form .au .ei .ia .o'u .u'e CVV-form ki'a pei mi'o coi cu'u
In addition, there is the cmavo ``.y.'' (remember that ``y'' is not a V), which must have pauses before and after it.
.ia .ie .ii .io .iu .ua .ue .ui .uo .uu
In addition, cmavo can have the form ``Cy'', a consonant followed by the letter ``y''. These cmavo represent letters of the Lojban alphabet, and are discussed in detail in Chapter 17.
For example:
2.1) .iseci'i .i se ci'i 2.2) punaijecanai pu nai je ca nai 2.3) ki'e.u'e ki'e .u'e
2.4) ki'e'u'eis a single cmavo reserved for experimental purposes: it has four vowels.
2.5) cy.ibu.abu cy. .ibu .abu
Again the pauses are required (see Section 9); the pause after ``cy.'' merges with the pause before ``.ibu''.
2.6) .e'o ko ko kurji .E'o ko ko KURji
2.7) le re nanmucan be optionally pronounced
2.8) le RE. NANmusince there are no rules forcing stress on either of the first two words; the stress on ``re'', though, demands that a pause separate ``re'' from the following syllable ``nan'' to ensure that the stress on ``nan'' is properly heard as a stressed syllable. The alternative pronunciation
2.9) LE re NANmuis also valid; this would apply secondary stress (used for purposes of emphasis, contrast or sentence rhythm) to ``le'', comparable in rhythmical effect to the English phrase ``THE two men''. In Example 2.8, the secondary stress on ``re'' would be similar to that in the English phrase ``the TWO men''.
Both cmavo may also be left unstressed, thus:
2.10) le re NANmu
This would probably be the most common usage.
3) fu'ivla (literally ``copy-word''), the specialized words that are not Lojban primitives or natural compounds, and are therefore borrowed from other languages.
3.1) creka shirt 3.2) lijda religion 3.3) blanu blue 3.4) mamta mother 3.5) cukta book 3.6) patfu father 3.7) nanmu man 3.8) ninmu woman
A small number of gismu were formed differently; see Section 15 for a list.
5.1) skami pilnois the tanru which expresses the concept of ``computer user''.
5.2) barda blotirepresenting roughly the same concept as the English word ``ship''.
5.3) patfu mamtaand
5.4) mamta patfurespectively.
5.5) sampli
Such a brivla, built from the rafsi which represent its component words, is called a ``lujvo''. Another example, corresponding to the tanru of Example 5.2, would be:
5.6) bralo'i big-boat ship
The lujvo that can be built from the tanru ``mamta patfu'' in Example 5.4 is
5.7) mampa'uwhich refers specifically to the concept ``maternal grandfather''. The two gismu that constitute the tanru are represented in ``mampa'u'' by the rafsi ``mam-'' and ``-pa'u'', respectively; these two rafsi are then concatenated together to form ``mampa'u''.
5.8) soirsai sonci sanmi soldier meal field rations
Learning rafsi and the rules for assembling them into lujvo is clearly seen to be necessary for fully using the potential Lojban vocabulary.
Some examples of unreduced lujvo forms are:
6.1) mamtypatfu from ``mamta patfu'' ``mother father'' or ``maternal grandfather'' 6.2) lerfyliste from ``lerfu liste'' ``letter list'' or a ``list of letters'' (letters of the alphabet) 6.3) nancyprali from ``nanca prali'' ``year profit'' or ``annual profit'' 6.4) prunyplipe from ``pruni plipe'' ``elastic (springy) leap'' or ``spring'' (the verb)
6.5) vancysanmi from ``vanci sanmi'' ``evening meal'' or ``supper''
There are at most one CVC-form, one CCV-form, and one CVV-form rafsi per gismu. In fact, only a tiny handful of gismu have both a CCV-form and a CVV-form rafsi assigned, and still fewer have all three forms of short rafsi. However, gismu with both a CVC-form and another short rafsi are fairly common, partly because more possible CVC-form rafsi exist. Yet CVC-form rafsi, even though they are fairly easy to remember, cannot be used at the end of a lujvo (because lujvo must end in vowels), so justifying the assignment of an additional short rafsi to many gismu.
CVC 123 -sak- CVC 124 -sal- CVV 12'5 -sa'i- CVV 125 -sai- CCV 345 -kli- CCV 132 -ska-(The only actual short rafsi for ``sakli'' is ``-sal-''.)
For gismu of the form CCVCV, like ``blaci'', the only short rafsi forms that can exist are:
CVC 134 -bac- CVC 234 -lac CVV 13'5 -ba'i- CVV 135 -bai- CVV 23'5 -la'i- CVV 235 -lai- CCV 123 -bla-
6.6) cumfri from ``cumki lifri'' ``possible experience'' 6.7) klezba from ``klesi zbasu'' ``category make'' 6.8) kixta'a from ``krixa tavla'' ``cry-out talk'' 6.9) sniju'o from ``sinxa djuno'' ``sign know''
In addition, some of the unreduced forms in the previous example may be fully reduced to:
6.10) mampa'u from ``mamta patfu'' ``mother father'' or ``maternal grandfather'' 6.11) lerste from ``lerfu liste'' ``letter list'' or a ``list of letters''
An ``r-''hyphen or ``n''-hyphen is also required after the CVV-form rafsi of any lujvo of the form CVV-CVC/CV or CVV-CCVCV since it would otherwise fall apart into a CVV-form cmavo and a gismu. In any lujvo with more than two parts, a CVV-form rafsi in the initial position must always be followed by a hyphen. If the hyphen were to be omitted, the supposed lujvo could be broken into smaller words without the hyphen: because the CVV-form rafsi would be interpreted as a cmavo, and the remainder of the word as a valid lujvo that is one rafsi shorter.
6.12) bridi zei valsi
6.14) kulnr,farsi zei lolgai Farsi floor-cover Persian rug
6.15) na'e zei .a zei na'e zei by. livgyterbilma non-A, non-B liver-disease non-A, non-B hepatitis
6.16) .cerman. zei xarnykarce Sherman war-car Sherman tankExample 6.15 is particularly noteworthy because the phrase that would be produced by removing the ``zei''s from it doesn't end with a brivla, and in fact is not even grammatical. As written, the example is a tanru with two components, but by adding a ``zei'' between ``by.'' and ``livgyterbilma'' to produce
6.17) na'e zei .a zei na'e zei by. zei livgyterbilma non-A-non-B-hepatitisthe whole phrase would become a single lujvo. The longer lujvo of Example 6.17 may be preferable, because its place structure can be built from that of ``bilma'', whereas the place structure of a lujvo without a brivla must be constructed ad hoc.
7.1) me la'o ly. spaghetti .ly.is a predicate with the place structure ``x1 is a quantity of spaghetti''.
7.2) me la spagetis.
Here are a few examples:
7.3) spaghetti (from English or Italian) spageti (Lojbanize) cidj,r,spageti (prefix long rafsi) dja,r,spageti (prefix short rafsi)where ``cidj-'' is the 4-letter rafsi for ``cidja'', the Lojban gismu for ``food'', thus categorizing ``cidjrspageti'' as a kind of food. The form with the short rafsi happens to work, but such good fortune cannot be relied on: in any event, it means the same thing.
7.4) Acer (the scientific name of maple trees) acer (Lojbanize) xaceru (add initial consonant and final vowel) tric,r,xaceru (prefix rafsi) ric,r,xaceru (prefix short rafsi)
7.5) brie (from French) bri (Lojbanize) cirl,r,bri (prefix rafsi)where ``cirl-'' represents ``cirla'' (``cheese'').
7.6) cobra kobra (Lojbanize) sinc,r,kobra (prefix rafsi)where ``sinc-'' represents ``since'' (``snake'').
7.7) quark kuark (Lojbanize) kuarka (add final vowel) sask,r,kuarka (prefix rafsi)
Left uncontrolled, ``integrale'' almost certainly would eventually come to mean the same collection of loosely related concepts that English associates with ``integral'', with only the context to indicate (possibly) that the mathematical term is meant.
Here are some fu'ivla representing cultures and related things, shown with more than one rafsi prefix:
7.11) bang,r,kore,a Korean (the language) 7.12) kuln,r,kore,a Korean (the culture)
8.1) djim. Jim
8.2) djein. Jane
8.3) .arnold. Arnold
8.4) pit. Pete
8.5) katrinas. Katrina
8.6) kat,r,in. Catherine
8.7) katis. Cathy
8.8) keit. Kate
8.10) djandjonz.are both valid Lojbanizations of ``John Jones''.
8.12) sol. the Sun from the gismu ``solri'', meaning ``solar'', or actually ``pertaining to the Sun''
8.13) ralj. Chief (as a title) from the gismu ``ralju'', meaning ``principal''.
8.14) nol. Lord/Lady from the gismu ``nobli'', with rafsi ``nol'', meaning ``noble''.
English ``Mary'' meris. or meiris. English ``Smith'' smit. English ``Jones'' djonz. English ``John'' djan. or jan. (American) or djon. or jon. (British) English ``Alice'' .alis. English ``Elise'' .eLIS. English ``Johnson'' djansn. English ``William'' .uiliam. or .uil,iam. English ``Brown'' braun. English ``Charles'' tcarlz. French ``Charles'' carl. French ``De Gaulle'' dyGOL. German ``Heinrich'' xainrix. Spanish ``Joaquin'' xuaKIN. Russian ``Svetlana'' sfietlanys. Russian ``Khrushchev'' xrucTCOF. Hindi ``Krishna'' kricnas. Polish ``Lech Walesa'' lex. va,uensas. Spanish ``Don Quixote'' don. kicotes. or modern Spanish: don. kixotes. or Mexican dialect: don. ki'otes. Chinese ``Mao Zedong'' maudzydyn. Japanese ``Fujiko'' fudjikos. or fujikos.
Given a tanru which expresses an idea to be used frequently, it can be turned into a lujvo by following the lujvo-making algorithm which is given in Section 11.
In building a lujvo, the first step is to replace each gismu with a rafsi that uniquely represents that gismu. These rafsi are then attached together by fixed rules that allow the resulting compound to be recognized as a single word and to be analyzed in only one way.
There are three other complications; only one is serious.
Therefore, given a complicated tanru with grouping markers, abstraction markers, and other cmavo in it to make it syntactically unambiguous, the psychological basis of Zipf's Law may compel the lujvo-maker to drop some of the cmavo to make a shorter (technically incorrect) tanru, and then use that tanru to make the lujvo.
Given a tanru that is to be made into a lujvo:
Note that the ``tosmabru test'' implies that the algorithm will be more efficient if rafsi junctures are tested for required hyphens from right to left, instead of from left to right; when the test is required, it cannot be completed until hyphenation to the right has been determined.
The score is then:
12.1) zbasai zba + sai (1000 * 6) - (500 * 0) + (100 * 0) - (10 * 15) - 3 = 5847 12.2) nunynau nun + y + nau 32500 - (1000 * 7) + (500 * 0) - (100 * 1) + (10 * 13) + 3 = 6967 12.3) sairzbata'u sai + r + zba + ta'u 32500 - (1000 * 11) + (500 * 1) - (100 * 1) + (10 * 21) + 5 = 10385 12.4) zbazbasysarji zba + zbas + y + sarji 32500 - (1000 * 13) + (500 * 0) - (100 * 1) + (10 * 12) + 4 = 12976
The rafsi for ``gerku'' are:
The rafsi for ``zdani'' are:
Step 1 of the algorithm directs us to use ``-ger-'', ``-ge'u-'' and ``-gerk-'' as possible rafsi for ``gerku''; Step 2 directs us to use ``-zda-'' and ``-zdani'' as possible rafsi for ``zdani''. The six possible forms of the lujvo are then:
We must then insert appropriate hyphens in each case. The first two forms need no hyphenation: ``ge'' cannot fall off the front, because the following word would begin with ``rz'', which is not a permissible initial consonant pair. So the lujvo forms are ``gerzda'' and ``gerzdani''.
The third form, ``ge'u-zda'', needs no hyphen, because even though the first rafsi is CVV, the second one is CCV, so there is a consonant cluster in the first five letters. So ``ge'uzda'' is this form of the lujvo.
The fourth form, ``ge'u-zdani'', however, requires an ``r''-hyphen; otherwise, the ``ge'u-'' part would fall off as a cmavo. So this form of the lujvo is ``ge'urzdani''.
The last two forms require ``y''-hyphens, as all 4-letter rafsi do, and so are ``gerkyzda'' and ``gerkyzdani'' respectively.
The scoring algorithm is heavily weighted in favor of short lujvo, so we might expect that ``gerzda'' would win. Its L score is 6, its A score is 0, its H score is 0, its R score is 12, and its V score is 3, for a final score of 5878. The other forms have scores of 7917, 6367, 9506, 8008, and 10047 respectively. Consequently, this lujvo would probably appear in the dictionary in the form ``gerzda''.
The rafsi for ``bloti'' are ``-lot-'', ``-blo-'', and ``-lo'i-''; for ``klesi'' they are ``-kle-'' and ``-lei-''. Both these gismu are among the handful which have both CVV-form and CCV-form rafsi, so there is an unusual number of possibilities available for a two-part tanru:
lotkle blokle lo'ikle lotlei blolei lo'irlei
Only ``lo'irlei'' requires hyphenation (to avoid confusion with the cmavo sequence ``lo'i lei''). All six forms are valid versions of the lujvo, as are the six further forms using long rafsi; however, the scoring algorithm produces the following results:
lotkle 5878 blokle 5858 lo'ikle 6367 lotlei 5867 blolei 5847 lo'irlei 7456
So the form ``blolei'' is preferred, but only by a tiny margin over ``blokle''; the next two forms are only slightly worse; ``lo'ikle'' suffers because of its apostrophe, and ``lo'irlei'' because of having both apostrophe and hyphen.
loj-ban-gri loj-bau-gri loj-bang-gri logj-ban-gri logj-bau-gri logj-bang-gri loj-ban-girzu loj-bau-girzu loj-bang-girzu logj-ban-girzu logj-bau-girzu logj-bang-girzuand the 12 name possibilities are:
loj-ban-gir. loj-bau-gir. loj-bang-gir. logj-ban-gir. logj-bau-gir. logj-bang-gir. loj-ban-girz. loj-bau-girz. loj-bang-girz. logj-ban-girz. logj-bau-girz. logj-bang-girz.
After hyphenation, we have:
lojbangri lojbaugri lojbangygri logjybangri logjybaugri logjybangygri lojbangirzu lojbaugirzu lojbangygirzu logjybangirzu logjybaugirzu logjybangygirzu lojbangir. lojbaugir. lojbangygir. logjybangir. logjybaugir. logjybangygir. lojbangirz. lojbaugirz. lojbangygirz. logjybangirz. logjybaugirz. logjybangygirz.
The only fully reduced lujvo forms are ``lojbangri'' and ``lojbaugri'', of which the latter has a slightly lower score: 8827 versus 8796, respectively. However, for the name of the organization, we chose to make sure the name of the language was embedded in it, and to use the clearer long-form rafsi for ``girzu'', producing ``lojbangirz.''
nak-kem-cin-ctu nakykemcinctu nak-kem-cin-ctuca nakykemcinctuca nak-kem-cins-ctu nakykemcinsyctu nak-kem-cins-ctuca nakykemcinsyctuca nakn-kem-cin-ctu naknykemcinctu nakn-kem-cin-ctuca naknykemcinctuca nakn-kem-cins-ctu naknykemcinsyctu nakn-kem-cins-ctuca naknykemcinsyctuca
Of these forms, ``nakykemcinctu'' is the shortest and is preferred by the scoring algorithm. On the whole, however, it might be better to just make a lujvo for ``cinse ctuca'' (which would be ``cinctu'') since the sex of the teacher is rarely important. If there was a reason to specify ``male'', then the simpler tanru ``nakni cinctu'' (``male sexual-teacher'') would be appropriate. This tanru is actually shorter than the four-part lujvo, since the ``ke'' required for grouping need not be expressed.
Chinese 0.36 English 0.21 Hindi 0.16 Spanish 0.11 Russian 0.09 Arabic 0.07reflecting 1985 number-of-speakers data. A few gismu were made much later
Note that the stressed vowel of the gismu was considered sufficiently distinctive that two or more gismu may differ only in this vowel; as an extreme example, ``bradi'', ``bredi'', ``bridi'', and ``brodi'' (but fortunately not ``brudi'') are all existing gismu.
broda 1st assignable predicate brode 2nd assignable predicate brodi 3rd assignable predicate brodo 4th assignable predicate brodu 5th assignable predicate cmavo structure word (from ``cmalu valsi'') lojbo Lojbanic (from ``logji bangu'') lujvo compound word (from ``pluja valsi'') mekso Mathematical EXpression
It is important to understand that even though ``cmavo'', ``lojbo'', and ``lujvo'' were made up from parts of other gismu, they are now full-fledged gismu used in exactly the same way as all other gismu, both in grammar and in word formation.
Small metric prefixes (less than 1):
decti .1/deci centi .01/centi milti .001/milli mikri 1E-6/micro nanvi 1E-9/nano picti 1E-12/pico femti 1E-15/femto xatsi 1E-18/atto zepti 1E-21/zepto gocti 1E-24/yocto
Large metric prefixes (greater than 1):
dekto 10/deka xecto 100/hecto kilto 1000/kilo megdo 1E6/mega gigdo 1E9/giga terto 1E12/tera petso 1E15/peta xexso 1E18/exa zetro 1E21/zetta gotro 1E24/yotta
Other scientific or mathematical terms:
delno candela kelvo kelvin molro mole radno radian sinso sine stero steradian tanjo tangent xampo ampere
The gismu ``sinso'' and ``tanjo'' were only made non-algorithmically because they were identical (having been borrowed from a common source) in all the dictionaries that had translations. The other terms in this group are units in the international metric system; some metric units, however, were made by the ordinary process (usually because they are different in Chinese).
jungo Chinese (from ``Zhong1 guo2'') glico English xindo Hindi spano Spanish rusko Russian xrabo Arabic
Seven other widely spoken languages that were on the list of candidates for gismu-making, but weren't used:
bengo Bengali porto Portuguese baxso Bahasa Melayu/Bahasa Indonesia ponjo Japanese (from ``Nippon'') dotco German (from ``Deutsch'') fraso French (from ``Français'') xurdo Urdu(Urdu and Hindi began as the same language with different writing systems, but have now become somewhat different principally in borrowed vocabulary. Urdu-speakers were counted along with Hindi-speakers when weights were assigned for gismu-making purposes.)
bemro North American (from ``berti merko'') dzipo Antarctican (from ``cadzu cipni'') ketco South American (from ``Quechua'') friko African polno Polynesian/Oceanic ropno European xazdo Asiatic
latmo Latin/Roman srito Sanskrit xebro Hebrew/Israeli xelso Greek (from ``Hellas'')
budjo Buddhist dadjo Taoist muslo Islamic/Moslem xriso Christian
A few terms that cover multiple groups of the above:
jegvo Jehovist (Judeo-Christian-Moslem) semto Semitic slovo Slavic xispo Hispanic (New World Spanish)
16.1) tci'ile Chilean
16.2) tci'ile ke canre tutra Chilean type-of (sand territory) Chilean desertcould be represented by the lujvo
16.3) tci'ilykemcantutrawhich is an illegal word in standard Lojban, but a valid lujvo under this proposal. There would be no short rafsi or 5-letter rafsi assigned to any fu'ivla, so no fu'ivla could appear as the last element of a lujvo.
8.11) pav. the One from the cmavo ``pa'', with rafsi ``pav'', meaning ``one''
8.9) djan. djonz.
7.8) bang,r,blgaria Bulgarian (in language) 7.9) kuln,r,blgaria Bulgarian (in culture) 7.10) gugd,r,blgaria Bulgaria (the country)
6.13) xy. zei kantu X ray