8. Other modal connections

Like many Lojban grammatical constructions, sentence modal connection has both forethought and afterthought forms. (See Chapter 14 for a more detailed discussion of Lojban connectives.) Section 7 exemplifies only afterthought modal connection, illustrated here by:

8.1)  mi jgari lei djacu .iri'abo mi jgari le kabri
    I grasp the-mass-of water
        with-physical-cause I grasp the cup.
    Causing the mass of water to be grasped by me,
        I grasped the cup.
    I grasp the water because I grasp the cup.

To make forethought modal sentence connections in Lojban, place the modal plus ``gi'' before the first bridi, and ``gi'' between the two. No ``.i'' is used within the construct. The forethought equivalent of Example 8.1 is:

8.2)  ri'agi mi jgari le kabri
        gi mi jgari lei djacu
    With-physical-cause I grasp the cup,
        I grasp the-mass-of water.
    Because I grasp the cup, I grasp the water.

8.3)  seri'agi mi jgari lei djacu
        gi mi jgari le kabri
    With-physical-effect I grasp the-mass-of water,
        I grasp the cup.

In English, the sentence ``*Therefore I grasp the water, I grasp the cup'' is ungrammatical, because ``therefore'' is not grammatically equivalent to ``because''. In Lojban, ``seri'agi'' can be used just like ``ri'agi''.

When the two bridi joined by a modal connection have one or more elements (selbri or sumti or both) in common, there are various condensed forms that can be used in place of full modal sentence connection with both bridi completely stated.

When the bridi are the same except for a single sumti, as in Examples 8.1 through 8.3, then a sumti modal connection may be employed:

8.4)  mi jgari ri'agi le kabri gi lei djacu
    I grasp because the cup , the-mass-of water.

If the two connected bridi are different in more than one sumti, then a termset may be employed. Termsets are explained more fully in Chapter 14, but are essentially a mechanism for creating connections between multiple sumti simultaneously.

8.5)  mi dunda le cukta la djan.
        .imu'ibo la djan. dunda lei jdini mi
    I gave the book to John.
        Motivated-by John gave the-mass-of money to-me.
    I gave the book to John, because John gave money to me.

8.6)  nu'i mu'igi mi le cukta la djan.
        gi la djan. lei jdini mi nu'u dunda
    [start] because I, the book, John;
        John, the-mass-of money, me [end] gives.

Here there are three sumti in each half of the termset, because the two bridi share only their selbri.

There is no modal connection between selbri as such: bridi which differ only in the selbri can be modally connected using bridi-tail modal connection. The bridi-tail construct is more fully explained in Chapter 14, but essentially it consists of a selbri with optional sumti following it. Example 7.3 is suitable for bridi-tail connection, and could be shortened to:

8.7)  mi mu'igi viska le cukta gi lebna le cukta
    I, because saw the book, took the book.

Again, no straightforward English translation exists. It is even possible to shorten Example 8.7 further to:

8.8)  mi mu'igi viska gi lebna vau le cukta
    I because saw, therefore took, the book.

Since this is a chapter on rearranging sumti, it is worth pointing out that Example 8.8 can be further rearranged to:

8.9)  mi le cukta mu'igi viska gi lebna
    I, the book, because saw, therefore took

Finally, mathematical operands can be modally connected.

8.10)    li ny. du li vo
        .ini'ibo li ny. du li re su'i re
    the number n = the-number 4.
        Entailed-by the-number n = the-number 2 + 2.
    n = 4 because n = 2 + 2.

8.11)    li ny. du li
        ni'igi vei re su'i re [ve'o] gi vo
    the-number n = the-number
        because ( 2 + 2 ) therefore 4.
    n is 2 + 2, and is thus 4.

Note: Due to restrictions on the Lojban parsing algorithm, it is not possible to form modal connectives using the ``fi'o''-plus-selbri form of modal. Only the predefined modals of selma'o BAI can be compounded as shown in Sections 7 and 8.