7. fu'ivla

There are four stages of borrowing in Lojban, as words become more and more modified (but shorter and easier to use). Stage 1 is the use of a foreign name quoted with the cmavo ``la'o'' (explained in full in Chapter 19):

7.1)  me la'o ly. spaghetti .ly.

Stage 2 involves changing the foreign name to a Lojbanized name, as explained in Section 8:

7.2)  me la spagetis.

One of these expedients is often quite sufficient when you need a word quickly in conversation. (This can make it easier to get by when you do not yet have full command of the Lojban vocabulary, provided you are talking to someone who will recognize the borrowing.)

Where a little more universality is desired, the word to be borrowed must be Lojbanized into one of several permitted forms. A rafsi is then usually attached to the beginning of the Lojbanized form, using a hyphen to ensure that the resulting word doesn't fall apart.

The rafsi categorizes or limits the meaning of the fu'ivla; otherwise a word having several different jargon meanings in other languages would require the word-inventor to choose which meaning should be assigned to the fu'ivla, since fu'ivla (like other brivla) are not permitted to have more than one definition. Such a Stage 3 borrowing is the most common kind of fu'ivla.

Finally, Stage 4 fu'ivla do not have any rafsi classifier, and are used where a fu'ivla has become so common or so important that it must be made as short as possible. (See Section 16 for a proposal concerning Stage 4 fu'ivla.)

The form of a fu'ivla reliably distinguishes it from both the gismu and the cmavo. Like cultural gismu, fu'ivla are generally based on a word from a single non-Lojban language. The word is ``borrowed'' (actually ``copied'', hence the Lojban tanru ``fukpi valsi'') from the other language and Lojbanized --- the phonemes are converted to their closest Lojban equivalent and modifications are made as necessary to make the word a legitimate Lojban fu'ivla-form word. All fu'ivla:

1)

must contain a consonant cluster in the first five letters of the word; if this consonant cluster is at the beginning, it must either be a permissible initial consonant pair, or a longer cluster such that each pair of adjacent consonants in the cluster is a permissible initial consonant pair: ``spraile'' is acceptable, but not ``ktraile'' or ``trkaile'';

2)

must end in one or more vowels;

3)

must not be gismu or lujvo, or any combination of cmavo, gismu, and lujvo; furthermore, a fu'ivla with a CV cmavo joined to the front of it must not have the form of a lujvo (the so-called ``slinku'i test'');

4)

cannot contain ``y'', although they may contain syllabic pronunciations of Lojban consonants;

5)

like other brivla, are stressed on the penultimate syllable.

This is a fairly liberal definition and allows quite a lot of possibilities within ``fu'ivla space''. Stage 3 fu'ivla can be made easily on the fly, as lujvo can, because the procedure for forming them always guarantees a word that cannot violate any of the rules. Stage 4 fu'ivla require running tests that are not simple to characterize or perform, and should be made only after deliberation and by someone knowledgeable about all the considerations that apply.

Here is a simple and reliable procedure for making a non-Lojban word into a valid Stage 3 fu'ivla:

1)

Eliminate all double consonants and silent letters.

2)

Convert all sounds to their closest Lojban equivalents. Lojban ``y'', however, may not be used in any fu'ivla.

3)

If the last letter is not a vowel, modify the ending so that the word ends in a vowel, either by removing a final consonant or by adding a suggestively chosen final vowel.

4)

If the first letter is not a consonant, modify the beginning so that the word begins with a consonant, either by removing an initial vowel or adding a suggestively chosen initial consonant.

5)

Prefix the result of steps 1-5 with a 4-letter rafsi that categorizes the fu'ivla into a ``topic area''. It is only safe to use a 4-letter rafsi; short rafsi sometimes produce invalid fu'ivla. Hyphenate the rafsi to the rest of the fu'ivla with an ``r''-hyphen; if that would produce a double ``r'', use an ``n''-hyphen instead; if the rafsi ends in ``r'' and the rest of the fu'ivla begins with ``n'' (or vice versa) use an ``l''-hyphen. (This is the only use of ``l''-hyphen in Lojban.)

Alternatively, if a CVC-form short rafsi is available it can be used instead of the long rafsi.

6)

Remember that the stress necessarily appears on the penultimate (next-to-the-last) syllable.

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)

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)

7.6)  cobra
    kobra (Lojbanize)
    sinc,r,kobra (prefix rafsi)

7.7)  quark
    kuark (Lojbanize)
    kuarka (add final vowel)
    sask,r,kuarka (prefix rafsi)

The use of the prefix helps distinguish among the many possible meanings of the borrowed word, depending on the field. As it happens, ``spageti'' and ``kuarka'' are valid Stage 4 fu'ivla, but ``xaceru'' looks like a compound cmavo, and ``kobra'' like a gismu.

For another example, ``integral'' has a specific meaning to a mathematician. But the Lojban fu'ivla ``integrale'', which is a valid Stage 4 fu'ivla, does not convey that mathematical sense to a non-mathematical listener, even one with an English-speaking background; its source --- the English word ``integral'' --- has various other specialized meanings in other fields.

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.

The prefix method would render the mathematical concept as ``cmacrntegrale'', if the ``i'' of ``integrale'' is removed, or something like ``cmacrnintegrale'', if a new consonant is added to the beginning; ``cmac-'' is the rafsi for ``cmaci'' (``mathematics''). The architectural sense of ``integral'' might be conveyed with ``djinrnintegrale'' or ``tarmrnintegrale'', where ``dinju'' and ``tarmi'' mean ``building'' and ``form'' respectively.

Here are some fu'ivla representing cultures and related things, shown with more than one rafsi prefix:

7.8)  bang,r,blgaria
    Bulgarian (in language)

7.9)   kuln,r,blgaria
    Bulgarian (in culture)

7.10) gugd,r,blgaria
    Bulgaria (the country)

7.11)    bang,r,kore,a
    Korean (the language)

7.12) kuln,r,kore,a
    Korean (the culture)