PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN OLD VERSION. The current version is linked from The Complete Lojban Language.
Previous
What about Chinese characters? 		As Easy As A-B-C? The Lojban Letteral System And Its Uses
The Lojban Reference Grammar 		Next
References to lerfu

9. lerfu words as pro-sumti

So far, lerfu words have only appeared in Lojban text when spelling out words. There are several other grammatical uses of lerfu words within Lojban. In each case, a single lerfu word or more than one may be used. Therefore, the term ``lerfu string'' is introduced: it is short for ``sequence of one or more lerfu words''.

A lerfu string may be used as a pro-sumti (a sumti which refers to some previous sumti), just like the pro-sumti ``ko'a'', ``ko'e'', and so on:

9.1)  .abu prami by.
    A loves B

In Example 9.1, ``.abu'' and ``by.'' represent specific sumti, but which sumti they represent must be inferred from context.

Alternatively, lerfu strings may be assigned by ``goi'', the regular pro-sumti assignment cmavo:

9.2)  le gerku goi gy. cu xekri .i gy. klama le zdani
    The dog, or G, is black.  G goes to the house.
There is a special rule that sometimes makes lerfu strings more advantageous than the regular pro-sumti cmavo. If no assignment can be found for a lerfu string (especially a single lerfu word), it can be assumed to refer to the most recent sumti whose name or description begins in Lojban with that lerfu. So Example 9.2 can be rephrased: 
9.3)  le gerku cu xekri. .i gy. klama le zdani
    The dog is black.  G goes to the house.
(A less literal English translation would use ``D'' for ``dog'' instead.)

Here is an example using two names and longer lerfu strings:

9.4)  la stivn. mark. djonz. merko
        .i la .aleksandr. paliitc. kuzNIETsyf. rusko
        .i symyjy. tavla .abupyky. bau la lojban.
    Steven Mark Jones is-American.
        Alexander Pavlovitch Kuznetsov is-Russian.
        SMJ talks-to APK in Lojban.

Perhaps Alexander's name should be given as ``ru'o.abupyky'' instead.

What about

9.5)  .abu dunda by. cy.
    A gives B C
Does this mean that A gives B to C? No. ``by. cy.'' is a single lerfu string, although written as two words, and represents a single pro-sumti. The true interpretation is that A gives BC to someone unspecified. To solve this problem, we need to introduce the elidable terminator ``boi'' (of selma'o BOI). This cmavo is used to terminate lerfu strings and also strings of numerals; it is required when two of these appear in a row, as here. (The other reason to use ``boi'' is to attach a free modifier --- subscript, parenthesis, or what have you --- to a lerfu string.) The correct version is: 

9.6)  .abu [boi] dunda by. boi cy. [boi]
    A gives B to C
where the two occurrences of ``boi'' in brackets are elidable, but the remaining occurrence is not. Likewise: 
9.7)  xy. boi ro [boi] prenu cu prami
    X all persons loves.
    X loves everybody.
requires the first ``boi'' to separate the lerfu string ``xy.'' from the digit string ``ro''.
Previous
What about Chinese characters? 		As Easy As A-B-C? The Lojban Letteral System And Its Uses
The Lojban Reference Grammar 		Next
References to lerfu