12. Lojban names

First of all, there are two different kinds of things usually called ``names'' when talking about Lojban. The naming predicates of Section 2 are just ordinary predicates which are being used in a special sense. In addition, though, there is a class of Lojban words which are used only to name things: these can be recognized by the fact that they end in a consonant followed by a pause. Some examples:

12.1)    djan. meris. djein. .alis.
    John.  Mary.  Jane.  Alice.

Names of this kind have two basic uses in Lojban: when used in a vocative phrase (see Section 11) they indicate who the listener is or should be. When used with a descriptor of selma'o LA, namely ``la'', ``lai'', or ``la'i'', they form sumti which refer to the persons or things known by the name.

12.2)    la djonz. klama le zarci
    Jones goes to-the store.
    The Joneses go to-the store.

12.3)    lai djonz. klama le zarci
    The-mass-of Joneses go to-the store.
    The Joneses go to the store.

In Example 12.2, the significance is that all the persons (perhaps only one) I mean to refer to by the name ``djonz.'' are going to the store. In Example 12.3, the Joneses are massified, and only some part of them needs to be going. Of course, by ``djonz.'' I can mean whomever I want: that person need not use the name ``djonz.'' at all.

The sumti in Example 12.2 and Example 12.3 operate exactly like the similar uses of ``la'' and ``lai'' in Examples 2.5 and 3.6 respectively. The only difference is that these descriptors are followed by Lojban name-words. And in fact, the only difference between descriptors of selma'o LA (these three) and of selma'o LE (all the other descriptors) is that the former can be followed by name-words, whereas the latter cannot.

There are certain limitations on the form of name-words in Lojban. In particular, they cannot contain the letter-sequences (or sound-sequences) ``la'', ``lai'', or ``doi'' unless a consonant immediately precedes within the name. Reciprocally, every name not preceded by ``la'', ``lai'', ``la'i'', or ``doi'' must be preceded by a pause instead:

12.4)    coi .djan.
    Hello, John.

12.5) zo .djan. cmene mi
    The-word ``John'' is-the-name-of me.
    My name is John.

In Example 12.4 and Example 12.5, ``.djan.'' appears with a pause before it as well as after it, because the preceding word is not one of the four special cases. These rules force names to always be separable from the general word-stream.

Unless some other rule prevents it (such as the rule that ``zo'' is always followed by a single word, which is quoted), multiple names may appear wherever one name is permitted, each with its terminating pause:

12.6)    doi djan. pol. djonz.
        le bloti cu klama fi la niuport. niuz.
    John Paul Jones,
        the boat comes (to somewhere) from Newport News.

   English name        invalid Lojban name valid Lojban names

   Doyle           *doi,l          do'il or dai,l
    Lyra            *lairas         ly'iras
    Lottie (American pron.) *latis          LYtis. or lotis.

12.7)    lojban.
    Lojban

The implicit quantifier for name sumti of the form ``la'' followed by a name is ``su'o'', just as for ``la'' followed by a selbri.