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Réponse possible: ~~grey,grey: ''zo pu cmavo ma'oi ba''~~
- !!Lojban Lessons - Lesson nineteen (numbers)<br />When learning a language, one of the things which are usually taught very early on is how to count. This really makes little sense, because it's not necessary to know numbers if you don't know how to speak about those things to which they apply. This is partly the reason why I have left it for lesson number nineteen. The other reason is that while the numbers themselves are easy to learn, how they apply to sumti can get very confusing indeed. That, however, we will save for a later lesson.<br />Before learning the words themselves, you should know that numbers do not have any internal grammar. This means that any row of number words (henceforth referred to as a "number string") are treated identically to any other number string to the Lojban grammar, even if the string makes no sense. Therefore, one can never answer unambiguously whether a number construct makes sense or not. There are, however, intended ways of using the number words, and confusion will probably result if you deviate from the standard.<br />Learning all the number words of Lojban are way beyond the scope of this lesson, so you will only be introduced to what is normally used in text. The wide range of Lojban mathematical cmavo are called ''mekso'' (Lojban for "mathematical expression"), and is widely disregarded because of its complexity and questionable advantage over so-called bridi math.<br />Let's begin with the ordinary Lojban numbers, from zero to nine:<br />||zero|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine
+ !!Leons de lojban - leon dix-neuf (les nombres)<br />Souvent, lorsqu'on apprend une langue, une des premires choses qu'on voit c'est comment compter. Ce qui est plutt trange, puisqu'il ne sert rien de connatre les nombres si on ne sait pas parler de ce quoi ils s'appliquent. C'est une premire raison pour laquelle ils arrivent si tard. L'autre raison est que, si les nombres en eux-mmes sont faciles apprendre, la faon de les appliquer aux sumti n'est pas vidente. Mais nous verrons cela dans une leon future.<br />Avant toutes choses, vous devez savoir que les nombres n'ont pas de grammaire interne. Cela signifie que toutes les suites de nombres ont le mme statut pour la grammaire lojban, mme une suite qui n'a aucun sens. De ce fait, il y a toujours une ambigut pour savoir si une suite de nombre a du sens ou pas. Quoi qu'il en soit il y a des faons prvue d'utiliser les nombres et en dvier peu tre problmatique. <br />Apprendre tous les nombres lojbans irait bien au del du but de cette leon, qui se contentera de vous prsenter ce qui est normalement utilis dans les textes. La grande famille des cmavo mathmatiques sont appels mekso (lojban pour expression mathmatique), et sont largement inusits du fait de leurs complexit et du caractre douteux de leur avantage sur ce qu'on appelle les bridi mathmatiques.<br /><br />Commenons avec les nombres lojban les plus ordinaires, de zro neuf:<br />||zro|un|deux|trois|quatre|cinq|six|sept|huit|neuf
no|pa|re|ci|vo|mu|xa|ze|bi|so||
- Notice how the vowels are alternating (with the exception of ''no''), and how no consonant is used for two digits.<br />In order to express numbers higher than nine, the numbers are just strung together:<br />''vo mu ci'' four hundred and fifty three (453)<br />''pa no no no no'' ten thousand (10 000)<br />There is also a question-digit, which is used like other fill-in-the-blank question words. It's ''xo''. The answer to such a question may be just the relevant digit(s) by itself, or they can be numerical constructs, as shown later.<br />''ci xo xo xo'' "Three thousand and how many?" (3???)<br />__''xo''__ question digit use like any other digit to ask for the correct digit.<br />The experimental word ''xo'e'' is sometimes used to mean an unspecified, elliptical digit. Its definition is not official, though.<br />''ci xo'e xo'e xo'e'' Three thousand and something<br />__''xo'e''__ elliptical digit.<br />Since all number strings are treated grammatically the same, one might also answer several digits to one ''xo'e''
+ On peut remarquer le schma de voyelle a-e-i-o-u (sauf pour no) et qu'il n'y a pas deux fois la mme consonne pour deux chiffres diffrents.<br />Pour les nombres plus grands que neuf, on aligne les chiffres comme dans une numration de position:<br />''vo mu ci'' quatre cent cinquante-trois (453)<br />''pa no no no no'' dix mille (10 000)
- Furthermore, there is also a set of hexadecimal digits A through F. By default, Lojban operates in base 10, but when using hexadecimal digits, it can be safely assumed that you use base sixteen:
+ Il y a aussi un cmavo, xo, pour demander Quel nombre ?. La rponse une telle question peut-tre juste le nombre correspondant, ou bien une construction numrique, comme nous le verrons plus loin.<br />''ci xo xo xo'' Trois mille combien ? (3???)<br />__''xo''__ question Quel nombre/chiffre ? peut-tre utilis comme un chiffre pour demander quel est le chiffre correct.<br /><br />Le mot exprimental ''xo'e'' est parfois utilis pour signifi un chiffre non explicit. Il n'est toutes fois pas officiel.<br />''ci xo'e xo'e xo'e'' Trois mille quelque chose.<br />__''xo'e''__ chiffre/nombre elliptique<br />Comme toutes les chanes de nombres ont le mme statut grammatical, ''xo'e'' peut aussi bien reprsenter un chiffre que plusieurs.<br /><br />Ensuite il y a les chiffres hexadcimaux de A F. Par dfaut le lojban fonctionne en base 10, mais quand on rencontre les chiffres hexadcimaux, on peut supposer qu'on travaille en base seize:
||dau|fei|gai|jau|rei|xei |vai|
10(A)|11(B)|12(C)|13(D)|14(E)|14(E)|15(F)||
- Yes, I know there are two words for E. The official one is ''rei'' (all three-letter cmavo beginning with x is experimental). ''xei'' was invented to avoid confusion with ''re''.<br />The base can be explicitly stated using ''ju'u'': Any number before ''ju'u'' the number being spoken of, any number after is the base of the number:<br />''dau so fei no ju'u pa re'' A9B0 in base 12 (notice here that base 12 is always in decimal. It is possible to permanently change the base you speak in, but since it has never been used in practice, it has not been standardized how one should do it)<br />Fractions are also useful to learn how to express. They are usually expressed via a decimal point, ''pi''.<br />__''pi''__ Decimal point (or point in whichever base you are talking in)<br />''pa re pi re mu'' twelve point two five (12.25). <br />Like in mathematics, when no number string is placed before or after ''pi'', zero is assumed. <br />Related to this, the number separator ''pi'e'' is used to separate numbers, either to separate digits when speaking in a base larger than sixteen, or when a decimal point is not applicable, for instance, when talking about time in hours, minutes, seconds:<br />''pa so pi'e re mu pi'e no ju'u re ze'' Nineteen, twenty-five, zero in base 27 (JP0 base 27)<br />''re re pi'e vo bi'' twenty-two, fourty eight (22:48)
+ Oui il y a deux mots pour E. ''rei'' est le mot officiel (Tous les cmavo de trois lettres commenant par x sont exprimentaux). ''xei'' a t propos pour viter la confusion avec ''re''.
- There is also a range of number words which are not mathematically exact but rather subjective or relative. The behaviors of these words are almost exactly like the behavior of digits, except they cannot be combined to make bigger numbers the way digits can:
+ On peut spcifier la base numrique avec ''ju'u''. On utilise ''ju'u'' entre le nombre dont on veut spcifier la base et la base elle-mme exprime en base 10.<br />"dau so fei no ju'u pa re'' A9B0 en base 12<br /><br />Et maintenant les fractions. Elles sont habituellement exprimes l'aide d'une virgule dcimal : ''pi''.<br />__''pi''__ virgule dcimale (ou virgule de la base dans laquelle vous tes)<br />''pa re pi re mu'' douze virgule vingt-cinq (12,25).<br />S'il n'y a pas de nombre avant ou aprs la virgule on suppose que cela vaut pour zro.<br />A ct de ''pi'' il y a le sparateur de nombre ''pi'e'', soit pour sparer les chiffre dans une base suprieure seize, soit dans un systme de numration sans virgule, par exemple pour exprimer le temps en heures, minutes, secondes. <br />''pa so pi'e re mu pi'e no ju'u ze re'' dix-neuf, vingt-cinq, zro en base vingt-sept (JP0 en base 27).<br />''re re pi'e vo bi'' vingt-deux, quarante huit (22:48)<br /><br />Il y a aussi des nombres qui ne sont pas mathmatiques, mais plutt subjectifs ou relatifs. Leur comportement est presque exactement le mme que celui des prcdent, sauf qu'il ne peuvent se combiner pour faire des nombres plus grands.
|| ro|so'a|so'e|so'i|so'o|so'u|
- all|almost all|most|many|some|few||<br />When combined with any of the digits, these words are assumed to give a second verdict about the size of the number:<br />''mu bi so'i sai'' Fifty eight, which is really many.<br />They should therefore not be placed in the middle of a number string. When placed after ''pi'', they are assumed to convey the size of a fraction:<br />''pi so'u'' a small part of it<br />''pi so'o'' some of it <br />''pi so'i'' a large part of it <br />''pi so'e'' most of it<br />''pi so'a'' almost all of it
+ tous|presque tous|la plupart|beaucoup|certains|peu||<br />Quand ils sont combins avec les nombres prcdents, ils donnent un second verdict propos de la taille du nombre:<br />''mu bi so'i sai'' Cinquante-huit, ce qui est vraiment beaucoup.<br />Ils ne doivent donc pas tre placs au milieu d'une chane de nombres.<br />Placs aprs ''pi'' ils signifient la taille d'une fraction:<br />''pi so'u'' une petite partie de<br />''pi so'o'' une certaine quantit de<br />''pi so'i'' une grande partie de<br />''pi so'e'' la plupart de<br />''pi so'a'' presque tout de
- These are some hightly subjective numbers - they work just like the previous ones.
+ Ensuite il y a des nombres trs subjectifs - qui fonctionnent exactement comme les prcdents.
||du'e|mo'a|rau
- too many|too few|enough||<br />The following five are context-based numbers these work like the previous ones, with the exception that they take the next number in order to assign them meaning:
+ trop|pas assez|assez||<br />Les cinq suivants dpendent du contexte ils fonctionnent comme les prcdents, sauf qu'ils prennent en compte le nombre suivant dans leur signification:
||da'a|su'e|su'o|za'u|me'i
- all except n |At most n|At least n|more than n|less than n||<br />If no number string follow them, one is assumed.<br />''so'i pa re da'a mu'' Many, which is twelve, which is all but five.<br />The two last number words you should know have slightly more complicated grammar:<br />__''ji'i''__ - number rounding or number approximation<br />When ''ji'i'' is placed before a number, the entire number is approximated:<br />''ji'i ze za'u rau ju'o'' "About seventy, which is more than enough, certainly<br />Placed in the middle of the number, only the following digits are non-exact. At the end of a number, it signifies that the number has been rounded off. <br />__''ki'o''__ Number comma - separates digits within one string; Thousands.<br />It is not incidential that ''ki'o'' sounds like kilo. At its simplest, ''ki'o'' is used to separate three digits at a time in large numbers, much like commas are used in English:<br />''pa ki'o so so so ki'o bi xa ze'' 1,999,867<br />If less than three digits are put before a ''ki'o'', the digits are assumed to be the least significant ones, and zeros are assumed to fill in the rest:<br />''vo ki'o ci bi ki'o pa ki'o ki'o'' 4,038,001,000,000<br />''ki'o'' is used similarly after a decimal point.
+ tout sauf n|au plus n|au moins n|plus que n|moins que n|| O n est le nombre suivant. S'il n'y en a pas la valeur par dfaut est un.<br />''so'i pa re da'a mu'' beaucoup, douze ce qui est tous sauf cinq.
- That concludes the common Lojban numbers themselves. How they apply to sumti is a science in itself, and we leave that for lesson twenty-two. Now we focus on how these numbers can be used in a bridi.<br />A string of number words by themselves are grammatical, since they can act as an answer to a ''xo''-type of question. In this case, however, they cannot be considered part of any bridi. In general, if numbers fill part of a bridi, they do so in one of two forms: Pure numbers and quantifiers. We will return to quantifiers in a later lesson. For now, we will look at pure numbers.<br />A pure number is any row of number words prefixed with ''li''. This makes a sumti directly from the number, and refers to the mathematical concept of, for instance, the number six. Its fa'orma'o is ''lo'o''<br />__''li''__ convert number/mekso-expression to sumti.<br />__''lo'o''__ fa'orma'o: end convert number/mekso-expression to sumti.<br />These pure sumti are usually what fills the x2 of brivla such as ''mitre'' or ''cacra''<br />__''mitre''__ x1 is x2 metres in dimension x3 by standard x4<br />__''cacra''__ x1 is x2 hours in duration (default 1) by standard x3
+ Les deux derniers nombres ont une grammaire un peu plus complexe:<br />__''ji'i''__ approximation numrique<br />Quand ''ji'i'' est plac avant un nombre, le nombre entier est une approximation:<br />''ji'i ze za'u rau ju'o'' Environ sept ce qui est plus qu'assez, certainement.<br />Si ''ji'i'' est plac au milieu d'un nombre, seul les chiffres qui le suivent sont approximatifs. A la fin d'un nombre, il signifie que le nombre a t arrondi.<br />__''ki'o''__ sparateur de paquet de nombres. Milliers.<br />Ce n'est pas par hasard que ''ki'o'' ressemble au prfixe kilo. ''ki'o'' est d'abord utilis pour sparer les paquets de trois chiffres dans les grands nombres:<br />''pa ki'o so so so ki'o bi xa ze'' 1 999 867<br />Si moins de trois chiffres sont placs avant ''ki'o'', les chiffres prsents sont ceux de plus faibles poids et les trous sont combls par des zros:<br />''vo ki'o ci bi ki'o pa ki'o ki'o'' 4 038 001 000 000<br />''ki'o'' s'utilise de la mme faon aprs une virgule.
- Try to translate the following:<br />''le ta nu cinjikca cu cacra li ci ji'i u'i nai''<br />Answer: ~~grey,grey: *sigh* That flirting has been going on for around three hours. ~~<br />How do you count to three in Lojban?<br />Answer: ~~grey,grey: ''li pa li re li ci'' ~~
+ Et c'est tout pour les nombres lojban. Comment ils s'appliquent aux sumti est un gros morceau qu'on laisse pour la leon vingt-deux. Maintenant nous allons voir comment on les utilise dans un bridi. Un nombre est grammaticalement correct en lui-mme puisqu'il peut-tre la rponse une question de type ''xo''. Mais dans ce cas ils ne font partie d'aucun bridi. En gnral, quand un nombre s'intgre dans un bridi il a deux formes possibles : nombre pur ou quantit. Par exemple: 42 est un nombre qui a une histoire intressante et 42 chemins parcourir, a fait beaucoup. On garde les quantits pour une prochaine leon, pour l'instant intressons nous aux nombres purs.<br />Un nombre pur est prfix par ''li''. ''li'' transforme un nombre en sumti et fait rfrence l'entit mathmatiques.<br />__''li''__ converti un nombre/une mekso en sumti<br />__''lo'o''__ fa'orma'o: termine un sumti commenc par ''li''.<br />C'est gnralement ce genre de sumti qui remplit le x2 de brivla comme ''mitre'' ou ''cacra''.<br />__''mitre''__ x1mesure x2 mtres en dimension x3 selon le standard x4<br />__''cacra''__ x1 dure x2 heures (une par dfaut) selon le standard x3
- The last thing we'll go through in this lesson is the words of the selma'o MAI and those of MOI.<br />MAI only contains two words, ''mai'' and ''mo'o''. Both of these convert any number string to an ordinal, which has the grammar of attitudinals. Ordinals are used to divide a text into numbered segments, like chapters or parts. The only difference between ''mai'' and ''mo'o'' is that ''mo'o'' quantifies larger subdivisions of text, allowing you to divide a text on two different levels, for example enumerating chapters with ''mo'o'' and sections with ''mai''. Notice that these as well as the MOI take any number string directly, without any need for ''li''.<br />__''mai''__: Lower-order ordinal marker: Convert number to ordinal<br />__''mo'o''__: Higher order ordinal marker: Convert number to ordinal.
+ Essayer de traduire ceci:<br />''le ta nu cinjikca cu cacra li ci ji'i u'i nai''<br />Rponse: ~~grey,grey: grmpf, a fait dans les trois heures que ce flirt dure. ~~<br />Comment compte-t-on jusqu' trois en lojban ?<br />Rponse: ~~grey,grey: ''li pa li re li ci''~~
- There are five MOI, and they all convert any number string to selbri. We'll take them one at a time:<br />__''moi''__ - Convert number n to selbri: x1 is the n'th member of set x2 by order x3<br />Example: ''la lutcimin ci moi lo'i ninmu pendo be mi le su'u lo clani zmadu cu lidne lo clani mleca'' Lui-Chi Min is third among my female friends by the order: The more tall ones precedes the less tall ones.<br />(When specifying a sequence, it is widely understood that if a ''ka''-abstraction (lesson twenty-nine) is used as a sumti, the members of the set are ordered from the one with most of the property to the one with less of the property, so the x3 of the following sentence could have been shortened to ''lo ka clani'')<br />__''lidne''__ x1 is before x2 in sequence x3<br />__''clani''__ x1 is long in dimension x2 by standard x3<br />__''zmadu''__ x1 exceeds x2 in property/aspect x3 by amount x4<br />__''mleca''__ x1 is less than/is less characterized than x2 by property/aspect x3 by amount x4
+ Pour finir cette leon nous allons voir les selma'o MAI et MOI.<br />MAI ne contient que deux mots, ''mai'' et ''mo'o''. Les deux transforment un nombre en un ordinal qui obit aux mmes rgles que les attitudinaux. Les ordinaux sont utiliss pour diviser un texte en segments numrots, comme des chapitres et des parties. La seule diffrence entre ''mai'' et ''mo'o'' est que ''mo'o'' s'applique de plus grande subdivisions, permettant deux niveaux de dcoupage du texte, par exemple en chapitres numrs avec ''mo'o'' et sections avec ''mai''. Remarque : comme avec MOI les nombres sont utiliss directement sans ''li''.<br />__''mai''__ Converti un nombre en ordinal. Echelle infrieure.<br />__''mo'o''__ Converti un nombre en ordinal. Echelle suprieure.
- __''mei''__ - Convert number n to selbri: x1 is the mass formed from the set x2, which has the n members of x3<br />Notice here that x3 are supposed to be individuals, x2 a set and x1 a mass.<br />What would ''mi ci mei'' mean? <br />Anwer: ~~grey,grey:We are group of three.~~
+ Il y a cinq cmavo dans la selma'o MOI, et tous transforment n'importe quel nombre en selbri.<br />__''moi''__ transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est n-ime membre de l'ensemble x2 selon l'ordre x3.<br />Exemple: ''la lutcimin ci moi lo'i ninmu pendo be mi le su'u lo clani zmadu cu lidne lo clani mleca'' Lui-Chi Min est la troisime de mes amies selon l'ordre: Les plus grandes prcdent les moins grandes.<br />Remarque: quand on spcifie une squence, il est gnralement admis que si une abstraction introduite par ''ka'' (leon vingt-neuf) est utilise comme sumti, les membres sont ordonns de celui avec la plus grande valeur dans cette proprit celui avec la moins grande valeur. Donc le x3 de la phrase prcdente peut ce raccourcir en ''lo ka clani''.<br />__''lidne''__ x1 est avant x2 dans la squence x3<br />__''clani''__ x1 est long en dimension x2 selon la norme x3<br />__''zmadu''__ x1 est plus grand que x2 selon la proprit x3, de la quantit x4<br />__''mleca''__ x1 est plus petit que x2 selon la proprit x3, de la quantit x4
- __''si'e''__ - Convert number n to selbri: x1 is n times x2<br />Example: ''le vi plise cu me'i pi pa si'e lei mi cidja be ze'a lo djedi'' This apple here is less than one tenth of my food for one day<br />Please note that the definition of ''si'e'' when looked up will tell you that it's "x1 is an nth of x2", instead of "x1 is n times x2". But people only use it as I have defined it, so the definition in the dictionaries will probably change.
+ __''mei''__ transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est une masse extraite de l'ensemble x2, ayant les n lments x3<br />Remarque: x3 est suppos tre des individus, x2 un ensemble et x1 une masse.<br />Que signifie ''mi ci mei'' ?<br />Rponse: ~~grey,grey: Nous sommes un groupe de trois.~~
- __''cu'o''__ - Convert number n to selbri: x1 has n probability of occurring under conditions x2<br />Example: ''lo nu mi mrobi'o cu pa cu'o lo nu mi denpa ri'' An event of me dying has probability 1 under the conditions: I wait for it = Me dying is completely certain if I wait long enough.<br />__''denpa''__ x1 waits for x2, being in state x3 until resuming/doing x4<br />__''va'e''__ - Convert number n to selbri: x1 is at the n'th position on the scale x2<br />Example: ''li pa no cu ro va'e la torinon'' 10 is the highest value on the Torino-scale
+ __''si'e''__ transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est n fois x2.<br />Exemple: ''le vi plise cu me'i pi pa si'e lei mi cidja be ze'a lo djedi'' Cette pomme, l, reprsente moins d'un dixime de ma nourriture pour une journe.<br />Remarque: la dfinition officiel de ''si'e'' est x1 est un n-ime de x2 au lieu de x1 est n fois x2. Mais tout le monde utilise cette dfinition alternative, la dfinition du dictionnaire va donc probablement changer.
+ __''cu'o''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 a la probabilité n sous les conditions x2
+ Exemple: ''lo nu mi mrobi'o cu pa cu'o lo nu mi denpa ri'' – « L'événement que je meurs a une probabilité 1 sous la condition: j'attends que ça arrive » = « Il est certain que je vais mourir si j'attends assez longtemps ».
+ __''denpa''__ – x1 attends x2, en l'état x3 avant de continuer x4.
+ __''va'e''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est en n-ième position sur l'échelle x2.
+ Exemple: ''li pa no cu ro va'e la torinon'' – « 10 est en dernière position sur l'échelle de Turin » ou « 10 est le maximum sur l'échelle de Turin »
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty (bo, ke, co and more cuteness)
Say you're an important American buyer of computers. How do you express this? For constructs like these, tanru are ideal: ''mi vajni merko skami te vecnu''. No wait, that's not right. Tanru are grouped from left to right, so this tanru is understood: ((''vajni merko'') ''skami'') ''te vecnu'', a buyer of computers for important Americans. You can't change the order of the selbri to get a useful tanru. Neither can this be solved with logical connectives, which you will first learn about later anyway. The only way to make a fitting tanru is to force the selbri to group differently.
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{BOX(title="Travail en cours")}Cette page est une traduction en cours de ((wavelessonscontinuedp2)) en français. La majeure partie de la page est encore en anglais. Au fur et à mesure de la traduction, cette note sera mise à jour pour indiquer l'état d'avancement des leçons.
État actuel : leçon dix-sept et dix-huit traduites. Nécessitent une validation par des lojbanistes confirmés.
{BOX}
!Lojban Wave Lessons Continued (part two):
!!!Made by la klaku with help from various lojbanists. Based on the work of la .kribacr. Spring 2013.
This is the second installment of the Wave Lessons Continued. If you didn't catch the first part, or want to go back for some reason, just click ((wavelessonscontinued|on these four words.)). You can also go to the third part by clicking ((wavelessonscontinuedp2|this link)), if you feel like doing that.
!!Leçons de lojban - Leçon dix-sept (De petits mots assortis)
Et après ce troisième chapitre vous en savez un bout sur les sumti lojbans. Après une longue période d'apprentissage rigoureux et systématique, quoi de mieux que cette leçon dans laquelle je parle de mots que je n'ai pas pu, ou pas voulu introduire plus tôt ? Voici donc quelques petits mots très utiles :
Les cmavo suivants sont des mots elliptiques. Je crois que le premier ne vous est pas inconnu.
__''zo'e''__ - sumti elliptique
__''co'e''__ - selbri elliptique
__''do'e''__ - sumtcita elliptique
__''ju'a''__ - attitudinal d'évidence elliptique
__''do'i''__ - variable de parole elliptique
__''ge'e''__ - attitudinal elliptique
Tous agissent grammaticalement comme un cmavo du type qu'ils représentent, mais ils ne contiennent aucune information et peuvent être très pratiques si vous êtes paresseux et n'avez pas besoin de spécifier quoi que ce soit. Il y a toute fois quelques détails à éclaircir:
''zo'e'' doit faire référence à quelque chose qui a une valeur non nulle. "Aucune voiture" ou "rien" par exemple ont une valeur nulle ou pas de valeur et ne peuvent donc être remplacé par ''zo'e''. Ceci, parce que sinon n'importe quel selbri pourrait être identique à sa négation, si l'un des sumti était remplacé par un ''zo'e'' n'ayant aucune valeur.
''ge'e'' ne signifie pas que vous ne ressentez aucune émotion, mais que vous ne ressentez rien qui mérite d'être mentionné sur le moment. C'est la même chose que "ça va". ''ge'e pei'' demande une émotion elliptique et est une bonne traduction pour "Comment ça va ?".
''co'e'' est pratique quand on a besoin d'un selbri dans une construction pour des raisons grammaticalles, comme dans la définition de ''tu'a'' dans la leçon précédente.
''ju'a'' ne change pas la valeur de vérité ou l'appréhension subjective du bridi, rien de ce genre. En fait il ne fait essentiellement rien. Quoi qu'il en soit, ''ju'a pei'', "Sur quoi te bases-tu pour dire ça" est bien utile.
''do'i'' est vraiment utile. Très souvent quand on se référence à une parole ou une conversation avec des mots comme "ça" ou "c' " , on veut ''do'i''.
Si on attache plus de sumti à un selbri qu'il n'a d'emplacement, le dernier sumti a un sumtcita implicite ''do'e'' devant lui.
Ensuite il y a le mot ''zi'o'' avec lequel on peut remplir un emplacement pour sumti, pour le supprimer d'un selbri. ''lo melbi be zi'o'' par exemple, est simplement "Quelque chose de beau", et n'inclut pas le x2 habituel de ''melbi'', qui est l'observateur qui juge de la beauté de quelque chose. Ca peut donc vouloir dire quelque chose comme "Objectivement beau". Cela ne signifie pas que rien ne remplit l'emplacement qui est supprimer, mais que l'emplacement lui-même n'existe plus pour le selbri.Utiliser ''zi'o'' avec un sumtcita donne des résultats étranges. Formellement, chacun devrait annuler l'autre. En pratique, ce sera probablement compris comme un moyen explicite d'indiquer que le sumtcita ne s'applique pas comme dans : ''mi darxi do mu'i zi'o'' - "Je t'ai frappé, avec ou sans raison".
Puis il y a le mot ''jai''. C'est un de ces petits mots sympas, difficile à appréhender, mais simple à manipuler une fois qu'on les connait. Il a deux fonction similaires mais distinctes. Les deux concerne la transformation de selbri, comme ''se''.
__''jai''__ transformation de selbri : transforme un sumtcita ou une abstraction non spécifiée en x1. Utiliser avec ''fai''
__''fai''__ marqueur de place d'un sumti. Fonctionne comme ''fa''. A utiliser avec ''jai''
La première utilisation grammaticale qu'on peut en faire est ''jai {sumtcita} {selbri}''. Cela change les emplacements du selbri, de telle façon que l'emplacement du sumtcita devient le x1 du selbri, et l'ancien x1 du selbri est supprimé et seulement accessible en utilisant ''fai'', qui fonctionne comme ''fa''. On peut le voir avec cet exemple:
__''gau''__ - sumtcita (pour ''gasnu'') "le bridi est à propos/avec l'agent actif {sumti}"
''do jai gau jundi ti fai mi''. - "Tu portes ceci à mon attention". Le nouveau selbri ''jai gau jundi'', a la structure "x1 attire l'attention sur x2". x1 et x2 sont remplis par ''do'' et ''ti''. ''fai'' est alors le marqueur de place de l'ancien x1, celui qui faisait attention, et est rempli avec ''mi''. Ce mot peut-être vraiment pratique et a de nombreuses utilisations. Un bon exemple est les sumti descriptifs. On peut, par exemple faire référence à "la méthode de l'action volontaire" par ''lo jai ta'i zukte''.
__''ta'i''__: sumtcita (dérivé de ''tadji'') "bridi est accomplit par la méthode {sumti}"
Pouvez-vous déduire la phrase lojbane classique ''do jai gau mo'' signifie ?
Réponse: ~~grey,grey:“Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?”~~
L'autre fonction de jai est plus facile à expliquer. Il transforme simplement le selbri de façon que le sumti en x1 reçoive un ''tu'a'' devant lui (''ko'a jai broda'' __=__ ''tu'a ko'a broda''). En d'autres termes, ''jai'' transforme le selbri en construisant une abstraction elliptique à partir du sumti en x1, et en remplissant ensuite x1 avec l'abstraction au lieu du sumti. De nouveau, l'emplacement x1 original est accessible avec ''fai''.
Un utilisateur très actif du canal IRC lojban dit souvent ''le gerku pe do jai se stidi mi'', pour utiliser un exemple quelconque de sumti en x1. Que dit-il ?
__''stidi''__: "x1 suggère x2 à x3"
Réponse: ~~grey,grey:“Je suggère (quelque chose à propos de) ton chien”~~
Jusqu'ici vous avez appris à transformer les bridi en selbri, les selbri en sumti et les selbri en bridi vu que les selbri sont en eux-même des bridi. Il manque une dernière fonction pour transformer les sumti en selbri. C'est le rôle du mot ''me''. Il transforme un sumti en un selbri avec la structure "x1 est spécifque à {sumti} dans l'aspect/la propriété x2".
__''me''__: transforme un sumti en selbri. x1 est specifique à SUMTI dans l'aspect/la propriété x2".
Et pour finir 3 mots pour corriger une erreur dans son discours… Ou 3 mots lojban pour formaliser le baffouillement.
__''si''__ - suppression: Efface uniquement le dernier mot.
__''sa''__ - suppression: Efface jusqu'au prochain cmavo exprimé.
__''su''__ - suppression: Efface le discours en entier.
La fonction de ces mots est évidente: Ils effacent les mots qui n'auraient jamais du être dit. Ils ne fonctionne pas à l'intérieur de certaines citations (Toutes sauf ''lu…li'u''), sinon ils seraient impossible de citer ces mots. Plusieurs ''si'' à la chaîne effacent plusieurs mots (1 mot effacé pour chaque ''si'').
!!Leçons de lojban - leçon dix-huit (citations)
Une des propriétés importantes voulues dans la conception du lojban est l'isomorphisme audio-visuel. Cela signifie que tout ce qui est exprimé à l'écrit doit l'être aussi à l'oral et vice versa. En conséquence toutes les marques de ponctuations doivent être prononcées. Le lojban a donc une grande quantité de mots servant à la citation d'autres mots. Tous ces mots-guillemets transforme un énoncé en sumti. Commençons par les plus simples:
__''lu''__ Mot-guillemet: Commence une citation grammaticalement correcte
__''li'u''__ Mot-guillemet: Finit une citation grammaticalement correcte
L'énoncé à l'intérieur de la construction ''lu…li'u'' doit être grammaticalement correct pris isolément. Cette construction peut servir à citer tous les mots lojban à quelques exceptions prêt, la plus évidente étant ''li'u''.
Essayer de traduire la phrase suivante. Prenez votre temps.
''mi stidi lo drata be tu'a lu ko jai gau mo li'u''
__''drata''__ x1 est différent de x2 selon la norme x3
Réponse: ~~grey,grey:« Je suggère quelque chose d'autre que quelque chose à propos de ''ko jai gau mo''. »~~
Les mots-guillemets suivants servent pour les énoncés grammaticalement incorrects. C'est parfois utile quand on veut extraire un morceau d'une phrase, comme dans: « Est-ce que « gi'e » est un sumtcita ? »
__''lo'u''__ Mot-guillemet: Commence une citation grammaticalement incorrecte mais constituée de vocabulaire lojban.
__''le'u''__ Mot-guillemet: Finit une citation grammaticalement incorrecte mais constituée de vocabulaire lojban.
L'énoncé à l'intérieur de la structure ''lo'u…le'u'' doit appartenir au vocabulaire lojban, mais n'est pas nécessairement correct du point de vue de la grammaire. Essayez de traduire l'exemple précédent (avec ''gi'e'') en lojban.
Réponse: ~~grey,grey:''xu lo'u gi'e le'u lojbo sumtcita''~~
Cette structure peut-être utilisée pour citer tous les mots lojban à l'exception de ''le'u''. Mais ce n'est pas encore suffisant. Si nous voulons pouvoir dire en lojban « est-ce que ''do mo'' est une traduction correcte de « ça va ? » », nous avons besoin d'un nouveau mot : ''zoi''. Remarque: ''do mo'' a une signification plus large que « ça va ? », la traduction n'est donc qu'approximative…
Le premier cmavo qui suit ''zoi'' sert de guillemet ouvrant et de guillemet fermant à une citation quelconque.
Quand on utilise ''zoi'', on choisit n'importe quel mot lojban morphologiquement correct (appelé le délimiteur), qui sert alors de guillemet ouvrant. Une fois l'énoncé cité fini, on réutilise le même mot pour servir de guillemet fermant. De cette façon on peut citer tout sauf le délimiteur, ce qui ne pose pas de problème puisqu'on choisit le délimiteur qu'on veut. Selon l'usage c'est souvent ''zoi'' lui-même qui sert de délimiteur, ou une lettre qui rappelle la langue de l'énoncé cité. Par exemple : « J'aimais le Fantôme de l'Opéra » devient ''mi pu nelci la'e zoi zoi. le Fantôme de l'Opéra .zoi''. Deux choses à remarquer: D'abord on a besoin de ''la'e'' car ce n'est pas l'énoncé que j'apprécie, mais ce à quoi il fait référence. Ensuite, entre le délimiteur et la citation, il y a des pauses, qu'on peut représenter par des points. Cette pause est nécessaire pour identifier correctement le délimiteur.
Essayez maintenant de traduire: Est-ce que ''do mo'' est une traduction correcte de « ça va ? »
__''drani''__ x1 est adéquat dans l'aspect x2 dans la situation x3 d'après la norme x4
Réponse: ~~grey,grey:''xu lu do mo li'u drani xe fanva zoi fy. Ca va ? .fy''. Ici le délimiteur ''fy'' est choisi pour rappeler le gismu ''fraso'' signifiant français.~~
''la'o'' fonctionne exactement comme ''zoi'', mais transforme la citation en un nom. On a besoin d'un cmavo spécifique car normalement seuls les selbri et les cmevla peuvent être des noms, pas les énoncés.
__''la'o''__ fonctionne comme ''zoi'', mais transforme la citation en en nom.
Le derniers des mots-guillemets est ''zo''. ''zo'' transforme en citation le mot lojban qui le suit, quel qu'il soit. C'est assez pratique.
__''zo''__ transforme le prochain mot lojban en citation.
Exemple: ''zo zo zo'o plixau'' = « ''zo'' est utile, héhé »
__''zo'o''__ attitudinal discursif :pour rire.
__''plixau''__ x1 est utile pour x2 pour le but x3
Les lojbanistes ont trouvé utile de rajouter quatre mots-guillemets supplémentaires. Ils sont tous expérimentaux et la grammaire formelle ne les reconnait pas. Néanmoins, ils sont souvent utilisés et c'est une bonne chose que de pouvoir les reconnaitre. Le plus fréquent est :
__''zo'oi''__ transforme en citation le prochain mot uniquement. Le prochain est identifié par une pause dans le discours ou un espace à l'écrit.
Exemple: ''ri pu cusku zo'oi Toh! .u'i'' « Ha ha, il a dit « Toh! » »
Il est très facile à utiliser. Attention tout de même, les bots de grammaire considérerons la phrase comme incorrecte car ''zo'oi'' n'appartient pas à la grammaire officielle.
Analogue à ''zo'oi'' et ''la'o'', ''la'oi'' fonctionne comme ''zo'oi'' mais transforme le mot cité en nom propre.
__''la'oi''__ Cite le prochain mot uniquement et le transforme en nom propre. Le prochain mot est identifié par une pause dans le discours ou un espace à l'écrit.
Comment diriez-vous : « Mon nom français est « Safi » » ?
__''fraso''__ x1 appartient à la culture français dans l'aspect x2
__''cmene''__ x1 est le nom de x2 utilisé par x3
Réponse: ~~grey,grey:''mi fraso se cmene la'oi Safi''. Remarquez que ''se'' est nécessaire. Nous ne voulons certainement pas dire que nous sommes un nom ! ''u'i''~~
Le troisième mot-guillemet expérimental, ''ra'oi'', cite le rafsi suivant. Comme les rafsi ne sont pas des mots, ils sont habituellement cités en utilisant ''zoi''. Mais plusieurs rafsi sont aussi des cmavo. Pour éviter la possible confusion, ''ra'oi'' fait toujours référence au rafsi, et est incorrect devant n'importe quel texte qui n'est pas un rafsi.
Que signifie ''ra'oi zu'e rafsi zo zukte .iku'i zo'oi zu'e sumtcita'' ?
__''ku'i''__ attitudinal discursif: indique que ce qui suit contraste avec ce qui précède.
__''rafsi''__ x1 est un affixe de x2 de forme x3 dans la langue x4
Réponse:~~grey,grey:« Le rafsi ''zu'e'' est un rafsi pour ''zukte''. Alors que ''zu'e'' est un sumtcita. »~~
Et pour finir le très utile ''ma'oi''.''ma'oi'' cite n'importe quel cmavo, mais traite la citation comme un nom pour la classe à laquelle appartient le cmavo (selma'o). Par exemple, ''ba'o'' appartient à la classe appelée ZAhO, donc ''ma'oi ba'o'' est un nom lojban non officiel pour ''ZAhO''.
Essayez de dire que ''pu'' et ''ba'' sont dans la même selma'o !
Réponse possible: ~~grey,grey: ''zo pu cmavo ma'oi ba''~~
!!Leçons de lojban - leçon dix-neuf (les nombres)
Souvent, lorsqu'on apprend une langue, une des premières choses qu'on voit c'est comment compter. Ce qui est plutôt étrange, puisqu'il ne sert à rien de connaître les nombres si on ne sait pas parler de ce à quoi ils s'appliquent. C'est une première raison pour laquelle ils arrivent si tard. L'autre raison est que, si les nombres en eux-mêmes sont faciles à apprendre, la façon de les appliquer aux sumti n'est pas évidente. Mais nous verrons cela dans une leçon future.
Avant toutes choses, vous devez savoir que les nombres n'ont pas de grammaire interne. Cela signifie que toutes les suites de nombres ont le même statut pour la grammaire lojban, même une suite qui n'a aucun sens. De ce fait, il y a toujours une ambiguïté pour savoir si une suite de nombre a du sens ou pas. Quoi qu'il en soit il y a des façons prévue d'utiliser les nombres et en dévier peu être problématique.
Apprendre tous les nombres lojbans irait bien au delà du but de cette leçon, qui se contentera de vous présenter ce qui est normalement utilisé dans les textes. La grande famille des cmavo mathématiques sont appelés mekso (lojban pour « expression mathématique »), et sont largement inusités du fait de leurs complexité et du caractère douteux de leur avantage sur ce qu'on appelle les bridi mathématiques.
Commençons avec les nombres lojban les plus ordinaires, de zéro à neuf:
||zéro|un|deux|trois|quatre|cinq|six|sept|huit|neuf
no|pa|re|ci|vo|mu|xa|ze|bi|so||
On peut remarquer le schéma de voyelle a-e-i-o-u (sauf pour no) et qu'il n'y a pas deux fois la même consonne pour deux chiffres différents.
Pour les nombres plus grands que neuf, on aligne les « chiffres » comme dans une numération de position:
''vo mu ci'' – quatre cent cinquante-trois (453)
''pa no no no no'' – dix mille (10 000)
Il y a aussi un cmavo, xo, pour demander « Quel nombre ? ». La réponse à une telle question peut-être juste le nombre correspondant, ou bien une construction numérique, comme nous le verrons plus loin.
''ci xo xo xo'' – « Trois mille combien ? » (3???)
__''xo''__ – question « Quel nombre/chiffre ? » – peut-être utilisé comme un chiffre pour demander quel est le chiffre correct.
Le mot expérimental ''xo'e'' est parfois utilisé pour signifié un chiffre non explicité. Il n'est toutes fois pas officiel.
''ci xo'e xo'e xo'e'' – Trois mille quelque chose.
__''xo'e''__ – chiffre/nombre elliptique
Comme toutes les chaînes de nombres ont le même statut grammatical, ''xo'e'' peut aussi bien représenter un chiffre que plusieurs.
Ensuite il y a les chiffres hexadécimaux de A à F. Par défaut le lojban fonctionne en base 10, mais quand on rencontre les chiffres hexadécimaux, on peut supposer qu'on travaille en base seize:
||dau|fei|gai|jau|rei|xei |vai|
10(A)|11(B)|12(C)|13(D)|14(E)|14(E)|15(F)||
Oui il y a deux mots pour E. ''rei'' est le mot officiel (Tous les cmavo de trois lettres commençant par x sont expérimentaux). ''xei'' a été proposé pour éviter la confusion avec ''re''.
On peut spécifier la base numérique avec ''ju'u''. On utilise ''ju'u'' entre le nombre dont on veut spécifier la base et la base elle-même exprimée en base 10.
"dau so fei no ju'u pa re'' – A9B0 en base 12
Et maintenant les fractions. Elles sont habituellement exprimées à l'aide d'une virgule décimal : ''pi''.
__''pi''__ – virgule décimale (ou virgule de la base dans laquelle vous êtes)
''pa re pi re mu'' – douze virgule vingt-cinq (12,25).
S'il n'y a pas de nombre avant ou après la virgule on suppose que cela vaut pour zéro.
A côté de ''pi'' il y a le séparateur de nombre ''pi'e'', soit pour séparer les chiffre dans une base supérieure à seize, soit dans un système de numération sans virgule, par exemple pour exprimer le temps en heures, minutes, secondes.
''pa so pi'e re mu pi'e no ju'u ze re'' – dix-neuf, vingt-cinq, zéro en base vingt-sept (JP0 en base 27).
''re re pi'e vo bi'' – vingt-deux, quarante huit (22:48)
Il y a aussi des nombres qui ne sont pas mathématiques, mais plutôt subjectifs ou relatifs. Leur comportement est presque exactement le même que celui des précédent, sauf qu'il ne peuvent se combiner pour faire des nombres plus grands.
|| ro|so'a|so'e|so'i|so'o|so'u|
tous|presque tous|la plupart|beaucoup|certains|peu||
Quand ils sont combinés avec les nombres précédents, ils donnent un second verdict à propos de la taille du nombre:
''mu bi so'i sai'' – Cinquante-huit, ce qui est vraiment beaucoup.
Ils ne doivent donc pas être placés au milieu d'une chaîne de nombres.
Placés après ''pi'' ils signifient la taille d'une fraction:
''pi so'u'' – une petite partie de
''pi so'o'' – une certaine quantité de
''pi so'i'' – une grande partie de
''pi so'e'' – la plupart de
''pi so'a'' – presque tout de
Ensuite il y a des nombres très subjectifs - qui fonctionnent exactement comme les précédents.
||du'e|mo'a|rau
trop|pas assez|assez||
Les cinq suivants dépendent du contexte – ils fonctionnent comme les précédents, sauf qu'ils prennent en compte le nombre suivant dans leur signification:
||da'a|su'e|su'o|za'u|me'i
tout sauf n|au plus n|au moins n|plus que n|moins que n|| Où n est le nombre suivant. S'il n'y en a pas la valeur par défaut est « un ».
''so'i pa re da'a mu'' – beaucoup, douze ce qui est tous sauf cinq.
Les deux derniers nombres ont une grammaire un peu plus complexe:
__''ji'i''__ – approximation numérique
Quand ''ji'i'' est placé avant un nombre, le nombre entier est une approximation:
''ji'i ze za'u rau ju'o'' – « Environ sept ce qui est plus qu'assez, certainement ».
Si ''ji'i'' est placé au milieu d'un nombre, seul les chiffres qui le suivent sont approximatifs. A la fin d'un nombre, il signifie que le nombre a été arrondi.
__''ki'o''__ – séparateur de paquet de nombres. Milliers.
Ce n'est pas par hasard que ''ki'o'' ressemble au préfixe kilo. ''ki'o'' est d'abord utilisé pour séparer les paquets de trois chiffres dans les grands nombres:
''pa ki'o so so so ki'o bi xa ze'' – 1 999 867
Si moins de trois chiffres sont placés avant ''ki'o'', les chiffres présents sont ceux de plus faibles poids et les trous sont comblés par des zéros:
''vo ki'o ci bi ki'o pa ki'o ki'o'' – 4 038 001 000 000
''ki'o'' s'utilise de la même façon après une virgule.
Et c'est tout pour les nombres lojban. Comment ils s'appliquent aux sumti est un gros morceau qu'on laisse pour la leçon vingt-deux. Maintenant nous allons voir comment on les utilise dans un bridi. Un nombre est grammaticalement correct en lui-même puisqu'il peut-être la réponse à une question de type ''xo''. Mais dans ce cas ils ne font partie d'aucun bridi. En général, quand un nombre s'intègre dans un bridi il a deux formes possibles : nombre pur ou quantité. Par exemple: « 42 est un nombre qui a une histoire intéressante » et « 42 chemins à parcourir, ça fait beaucoup ». On garde les quantités pour une prochaine leçon, pour l'instant intéressons nous aux nombres purs.
Un nombre pur est préfixé par ''li''. ''li'' transforme un nombre en sumti et fait référence à l'entité mathématiques.
__''li''__ – converti un nombre/une mekso en sumti
__''lo'o''__ – fa'orma'o: termine un sumti commencé par ''li''.
C'est généralement ce genre de sumti qui remplit le x2 de brivla comme ''mitre'' ou ''cacra''.
__''mitre''__ – x1mesure x2 mètres en dimension x3 selon le standard x4
__''cacra''__ – x1 dure x2 heures (une par défaut) selon le standard x3
Essayer de traduire ceci:
''le ta nu cinjikca cu cacra li ci ji'i u'i nai''
Réponse: ~~grey,grey: « grmpf, ça fait dans les trois heures que ce flirt dure. » ~~
Comment compte-t-on jusqu'à trois en lojban ?
Réponse: ~~grey,grey: ''li pa li re li ci''~~
Pour finir cette leçon nous allons voir les selma'o MAI et MOI.
MAI ne contient que deux mots, ''mai'' et ''mo'o''. Les deux transforment un nombre en un ordinal qui obéit aux mêmes règles que les attitudinaux. Les ordinaux sont utilisés pour diviser un texte en segments numérotés, comme des chapitres et des parties. La seule différence entre ''mai'' et ''mo'o'' est que ''mo'o'' s'applique à de plus grande subdivisions, permettant deux niveaux de découpage du texte, par exemple en chapitres énumérés avec ''mo'o'' et sections avec ''mai''. Remarque : comme avec MOI les nombres sont utilisés directement sans ''li''.
__''mai''__ – Converti un nombre en ordinal. Echelle inférieure.
__''mo'o''__ – Converti un nombre en ordinal. Echelle supérieure.
Il y a cinq cmavo dans la selma'o MOI, et tous transforment n'importe quel nombre en selbri.
__''moi''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est n-ième membre de l'ensemble x2 selon l'ordre x3.
Exemple: ''la lutcimin ci moi lo'i ninmu pendo be mi le su'u lo clani zmadu cu lidne lo clani mleca'' – « Lui-Chi Min est la troisième de mes amies selon l'ordre: Les plus grandes précèdent les moins grandes ».
Remarque: quand on spécifie une séquence, il est généralement admis que si une abstraction introduite par ''ka'' (leçon vingt-neuf) est utilisée comme sumti, les membres sont ordonnés de celui avec la plus grande valeur dans cette propriété à celui avec la moins grande valeur. Donc le x3 de la phrase précédente peut ce raccourcir en ''lo ka clani''.
__''lidne''__ – x1 est avant x2 dans la séquence x3
__''clani''__ – x1 est long en dimension x2 selon la norme x3
__''zmadu''__ – x1 est plus grand que x2 selon la propriété x3, de la quantité x4
__''mleca''__ – x1 est plus petit que x2 selon la propriété x3, de la quantité x4
__''mei''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est une masse extraite de l'ensemble x2, ayant les n éléments x3
Remarque: x3 est supposé être des individus, x2 un ensemble et x1 une masse.
Que signifie ''mi ci mei'' ?
Réponse: ~~grey,grey: « Nous sommes un groupe de trois ».~~
__''si'e''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est n fois x2.
Exemple: ''le vi plise cu me'i pi pa si'e lei mi cidja be ze'a lo djedi'' – « Cette pomme, là, représente moins d'un dixième de ma nourriture pour une journée ».
Remarque: la définition officiel de ''si'e'' est « x1 est un n-ième de x2 » au lieu de « x1 est n fois x2 ». Mais tout le monde utilise cette définition alternative, la définition du dictionnaire va donc probablement changer.
__''cu'o''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 a la probabilité n sous les conditions x2
Exemple: ''lo nu mi mrobi'o cu pa cu'o lo nu mi denpa ri'' – « L'événement que je meurs a une probabilité 1 sous la condition: j'attends que ça arrive » = « Il est certain que je vais mourir si j'attends assez longtemps ».
__''denpa''__ – x1 attends x2, en l'état x3 avant de continuer x4.
__''va'e''__ – transforme un nombre n en le selbri: x1 est en n-ième position sur l'échelle x2.
Exemple: ''li pa no cu ro va'e la torinon'' – « 10 est en dernière position sur l'échelle de Turin » ou « 10 est le maximum sur l'échelle de Turin »
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty (bo, ke, co and more cuteness)
Say you're an important American buyer of computers. How do you express this? For constructs like these, tanru are ideal: ''mi vajni merko skami te vecnu''. No wait, that's not right. Tanru are grouped from left to right, so this tanru is understood: ((''vajni merko'') ''skami'') ''te vecnu'', a buyer of computers for important Americans. You can't change the order of the selbri to get a useful tanru. Neither can this be solved with logical connectives, which you will first learn about later anyway. The only way to make a fitting tanru is to force the selbri to group differently.
To bind two selbri close together in a tanru, the word ''bo'' can be placed between them: ''mi vajni bo merko skami bo te vecnu'' is read ''mi'' (''vajni bo merko'') (''skami bo te vecnu''), which is useful in this context. If bo is placed between several selbri in a row, they are grouped from right to left instead of the usual left to right: ''mi vajni merko bo skami bo te vecnu'' is read ''vajni'' (''merko bo'' (''skami bo te vecnu'')) an “important (American computer-buyer)”, which is even more appropriate in the situation.
__''bo''__ Binds two selbri together strongly.
How would you say “That's a tasty yellow apple”?
__''kukte''__ x1 is tasty for x2
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''ti kukte pelxu bo plise''~~
What about ”That's a big, tasty yellow apple”
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''ti barda kukte bo pelxu bo plise''~~
Another approach to this is to use the words ''ke…ke'e''. These can be considered as equivalent to the parenthesises used in the paragraph above. ''ke'' begins strong selbri grouping, ''ke'e'' ends it.
__''ke''__ – begin strong selbri grouping.
__''ke'e''__ – end strong selbri grouping.
The strength of the binding is the same as that of ''bo''. Therefore, ''mi vajni merko bo skami bo te vecnu'' can be written ''mi vajni ke merko ke skami te vecnu {ke'e} {ke'e}''.
How could you say “I'm a German seller of yellow homes?”
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi dotco ke pelxu zdani vecnu''~~
While we're at messing with the ordinary tanru structure, there is another word worth paying attention to. If I want to say that I'm a professional translator, I could say ''mi fanva se jibri''.
__''jibri''__ x1 is a job of x2
__''dotybau''__ x1 is German used by x2 to say x3
__''glibau''__ x1 is English used by x2 to say x3
If I wanted to say that I'm a professional translater from English to German, I'd have to mess around with ''be'' and ''bei'': ''mi fanva be le dotybau bei le glibau be'o se jibri'', and the fact that it was a tanru could quickly be lost in speech due to the complicated structure of the sentence. Here, we can use the word ''co''. it inverts the tanru, making the rightmost selbri modify the leftmost instead of the other way around:
''mi se jibri co fanva le dotybau le glibau'' is the same bridi as the previous Lojban one, but much more easy to understand. Notice that any sumti before the tanru fills ''se jibri'', while any following it only fills the modifying selbri: ''fanva''.
__''co''__ Invert tanru. Any previous sumti fill the modified, any following fill the modifier.
The strength by which two selbri are bound together with co is very weak – even weaker than normal tanru grouping without any grouping words. This makes sure that, in a co-construct, the leftmost selbri is always the selbri being modified, and the rightmost always modifies, even if any of those parts are tanru. This makes a co-construct easy to parse:
''ti pelxu plise co kukte'' is read ''ti'' (''pelxu plise'') ''co kukte'', which is the same as ''ti kukte pelxu bo plise''. This also means that a ''ke…ke'e'' cannot encompass a ''co''.
The cmavo of the selma'o GIhA, the bridi-tail afterthought logical connectives, however, binds even looser than ''co''. This is in order to totally avoid confusion about which selbri binds to which in a GIhA-construct. The answer is simple: The GIhA never emcompasses any selbri-groups.
How can you express ”I am an important American buyer of computers” using a ''co''?
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi skami te vecnu co vajni merko''~~
If it's of any use, this is the list of different kind of selbri groupers ranked by strength:
1. ''bo'' and ''ke..ke'e''
2. logical connectives other than bridi-tail afterthought logical connectives (explained in lesson twenty-five)
3. no grouping words
4. ''co''
5. bridi-tail afterthought logical connectives (also in lesson twenty-five)
The rest of this lesson will not be on selbri grouping, but much like lesson seventeen mention assorted words, which can be of use.
''bo'' has another use, which seems separate from selbri grouping: It can also bind a sumtcita to an entire bridi, so that the content of the sumtcita is not a sumti, but the following bridi. This is best explained with an example.
__''xebni''__ x1 hates x2
''mi darxi do .i mu'i bo mi do xebni'' – “I hit you, with motivation that I hate you.” Here the ''bo'' binds ''mu'i'' to the following bridi.
This is where the technical difference between tense sumtcita and other sumtcita is relevant. You see, when binding a normal sumtcita to a bridi with ''bo'', it means that the following bridi somehow fits into the sumti place of the sumtcita. For the reason of God Knows Why, binding one of the words ''ba'' or ''pu'' to a bridi has the exact opposite effect. For example, in the bridi ''mi darxi do .i ba bo do cinjikca'', one would assume that the second bridi is somehow filled into the sumti place of ''ba'', meaning that the bridi first uttered took place in the future of the second bridi. That's not the case, however, and the correct translation of that utterance would be "I hit you. Afterwards, you flirt". This weird rule is actually one of the main obstacles to a unification of all sumtcita into one single word class. Another difference is that tense-sumtcita can be elided, even though they apply. This rule makes more sense, since we often can assume bridi is placed in a time and space, but we can't assume that the sumtcita of BAI applies.
The unofficial word ''me'oi'' is equivalent to me la'e ''zo'oi'', which means that it converts the content of the next word into a selbri. It is used to invent brivla on the fly: ''mi ca zgana la me'oi X-files'' for “I now watch X-files”. Like all quote next word-cmavo, it is not supported by the official grammar, but to the lazy Lojbanist, it's invaluable.
The word ''gi'' is strage kind of bridi separator, analogous to ''.i'', but to my knowledge, it is used in only two different kinds of constructs: Most often with logical connectives, explained in lesson twenty-five, but also with sumtcita. With sumtcita it creates a useful, but hardly seen, construct:
''mu'i gi BRIDI-1 gi BRIDI-2'', which is equivalent to ''BRIDI-2 .i mu'i bo BRIDI-1''. Therefore, the example above, which explained why I hit you, can be written ''mu'i gi mi xebni do gi mi darxi do'', or to preserve the same order as the original sentence, we can convert ''mu'i'' with ''se'': ''se mu'i gi mi darxi do gi mi xebni do''.
It is in examples like this that ''gi'' really can show its versatility. It does not just separate two bridi like ''.i'' does, but can also separate two constructs within a bridi, making all constructs outside the scope of ''gi'' apply to both bridi, as this example demonstrates:
__''cinba''__ x1 kisses x2 at locus x3
''mi gi prami do gi cinba do'' leaves mi outside the construct, making it apply to both bridi. This can also be done with ''do'', which is also present in broth bridi: ''mi gi prami gi cinba vau do''. Note that ''vau'' is needed to make do appear outside the second bridi.
Thus, we can write the original sentence shorter: ''mi mu'i gi xebni gi darxi vau do'', or, to omit even the ''vau'', we can write it even shorter and more elegantly: ''mi do mu'i gi xebni gi darxi''
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty-one (COI)
In this lesson, you will familiarize yourself with vocatives, or ''ma'oi coi''. They get their own lesson, not because understanding these provides a basis for understanding Lojban grammar in general, or because they are hard to understand, but rather because they are very often used in casual speech, and there are a lot of them.
A vocative is used partly to define who ''do'' refers to. If the vocative is followed by a cmevla, the cmevla gets an implied la in front of it. If a selbri follows, a ''le'' is used as a gadri instead.
In these examples, I will use the vocative ''coi'', with means “Hi” or “Hello”.
If a person is called ''la + SELBRI'', using a vocative with only the selbri to address that person will mean you refer to her as actually being the x1 of that selbri, which is often wrong. If, for instance, a person is called ''la tsani'', “Sky”, saying ''coi tsani'' refers to her as a ''le tsani'', meaning “Hi, you sky”, while ''coi la tsani correctly'' refers to her as someone called "Sky", meaning “Hi Sky”. This is a frequent mistake, especially among new Lojbanists.
All vocatives have a fa'orma'o which is sometimes required. This is ''do'u''. It's mostly used if both the first word after the vocative phrase and the last word of the phrase is a selbri, so that it prevents forming a tanru:
__''do'u''__ End vocative phrase. Usually elidable.
__''klaku''__ x1 cries x2 (tears) for reason x3
''coi la gleki do'u klaku fi ma'' ”Hello Happy. Why cry?”
The generic vocative, ''doi'', does nothing except defining who is being referred to by ''do'':
''doi .ernst. xu do dotco merko'' “Ernst: Are you a German-American?”
All the other vocatives have some content beside defining ''do''. ''coi'', which you know, also means “Hello”, for example. Many of the vocatives have two or three definitions like the attitudinals. Like attitudinals, this is because they can be modified with ''cu'i'' and ''nai'', though only one vocative has the ''cu'i''-form defined.
Some important vocatives are listed in the table below. There are others, but those are not used much.
||vocative|Without suffix|-cu'i|-nai
coi|Hello|-|-
co'o|Goodbye |-|-
je'e|Understood / OK|-|Not understood
fi'i|Welcome|-|Not welcome here
pe'u|Please|-|-
ki'e|Thanks|-|Disappreciation
re'i|Ready to recieve|-|Not ready
ju'i|Hey!|At ease|Ignore me
ta'a|Interruption|-|-
vi'o|Will do|-|Will not do
ke'o|Please repeat|-|No repeat needed
ki'ai|well-wish|-|curse||
Notice that ''ki'ai'' is experimental
What would ''coi co'o'' mean?
Answer: ~~grey,grey:“Greetings in passing” or “Hello and Goodbye”~~
''je'e'' is used as “OK”, but also the appropriate response when receiving praise or thanks (at least, if you want to be modest), as it indicates that the praise or thanks was successfully understood.
Translate ''ki'e sidju be mi bei lo vajni .i je'e .jenifyn.''
__''sidju''__ x1 helps x2 do x3
Answer: ~~grey,grey:“Thanks, you helper of me to do something important.” “No problem, Jennifer”~~
And ''fi'i te vecnu .i pe'u ko citka''
Answer: ~~grey,grey:”Welcome, buyer. Please eat!”~~
''re'i'' is used to signal that you are ready to be spoken to. It can be used as the Lojban equivalent of “What can I do for you?” or perhaps replace “Hello”, when speaking on a phone. ''re'i nai'' can mean “AFK” or “Be there is a second.”
Translate: “Hello, what can I do for you, Interpreter/Translater?”
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''coi re'i la fanva''~~
''ta'a'' is used when attempting to politely interrupt someone else. What would be good responses to this?
Translate: ''ta'a ro do mi co'a cliva''
__''cliva''__ x1 leaves x2 via route x3
Answer: ~~grey,grey:“Excuse me for interrupting, everyone. I begin to leave now” Notice that no fa'orma'o or ''.i'' is needed.~~
''ke'o'' is used a lot when inexperienced Lojbanists speak together vocally. It's quite a handy word
__''sutra''__ x1 is quick at doing x2
Translate: ''.y ke'o sutra tavla''
Answer: ~~grey,grey:“Uh, Please repeat, you quick speaker.”~~
And “Okay okay, I got it already! I'll do it!”
An answer: ~~grey,grey:''ke'o nai .ui nai vi'o''~~
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty-two (quantifying sumti)
Most other learning materials such as The Complete Lojban Language and Lojban for Beginners were written before the official adoptation "xorlo", a change in the rules about gadri definition and gadri quantification. The obsoleteness of some of the text in the older learning materials was a major cause for the motivation to write these lessons. Unfortunately for me, quantification of sumti can become a very complex topic when the implications of certain rules are discussed in detail. In order to fulfill the goal of this text being accurate enough to represent the official "gold standard" BPFK rules, this chapter was among the last ones finished and the ones most frequenty rewritten. I strongly encourage anyone who finds mistakes in this text to contact me in order for them to be corrected.
Having said that disclaimer, let's get started:
The first concept you should know about is "distributivity". In lesson fourteen i used the word "individuals" about a group of objects considered distributively. A distributive group ''ko'a'' is for any selbri ''broda'' a group such that, if ''ko'a broda'' is true, it means that every member of the group also is characterized by ''broda''. This stands in contrast to non-distributivity (which masses have), in which the group has other properties than each of the individuals do. The distinction between distributivity (individual-like) and non-distributivity (mass-like) is of relevance when quantifying sumti.
Let us first consider how one can quantify decription sumti, which are sumti of the form GADRI BRIVLA. The number string which does the quantification can be placed before the gadri, in which case it is referred to as an __outer quantifier__, and it can be placed between the gadri and the brivla, in which case it's an __inner quantifier__. Any kind of number string can act as a quantifier.
The rules for how inner and outer quantifiers affects sumti depend on the kind of gadri which is used:
- -''lo'' and ''le''- - An inner quantifier tells us how many objects are being spoken of - how many objects are in the discourse total. If an outer quantifier is present, the sumti is distributed over that amount of objects. As stated earlier, if no outer quantifier is present, it's vague how many objects the selbri applies to (though not none), and whether it does so distributively or non-distributively. Examples are always a good idea, so here they are:
''mu lo mu bakni cu se jirna'' - The inner quantifier of five tells us that we speak about five pieces of cattle, and the outer quantifier of five tells us that the selbri is true for each of the five. Therefore, it means "All the five cows had horns".
__''bakni''__ x1 is a cow/ox/cattle/calf etc of breed x2
__''jirna''__ x1 is the horn of x2 (metaphor: any pointed extremity)
What does the following bridi mean?
''lo ru'urgubupu be li re pi ze mu cu jdima lo pa re sovda''
__''ru'urgubupu''__ x1 is measures to be x2 British pounds (GBP)
__''jdima''__ x1 is the price of x2 to buyer x3 set by vendor x4
__''sovda''__ x1 is a gamete (egg/sperm) of x2
Answer: ~~grey,grey: "Twelve eggs cost 2.75 British pounds" which, as the English translation, could mean both that they cost 2.75 each (distributively) or that all twelve together cost 2.75 (non-distributively)~~
''so le ta pa pa ci'erkei cu clamau mi'' (notice that the ''ta'' goes before the inner quantifier)
__''ci'erkei''__ x1 plays game x2 govenerd by rules x3 interrelating game parts x4 {this is used to translate "play" in the sense "play a game" rather than, for instance "playing pretend" or "playing House"}
__''clamau''__ x1 is taller/longer than x2 in direction x3 my marigin x4
Answer: ~~grey,grey:The inner states there are 11 players in the discourse, and the outer states that the selbri applies to nine of them distributively. Thus it means "Nine of the eleven players are taller than me"~~
There are a few points that needs to be raised regarding quantification of ''lo''/''le'':
Firstly, ''lo'' is unique in that "{number} {selbri}" is defined as "{number} ''lo'' {selbri}". Therefore, ''ci gerku cu batci re nanmu'' is defined to be ''ci lo gerku cu batci re lo nanmu'', which considers both the group of dogs and the group of men distributively. Therefore, each of the three dogs bit each of the two men, with six biting events in total.
__''batci''__ x1 bites/pinches x2 at locus x3 using x4 as pinching tool.
Secondly: What if there is no outer quantifier? Does this mean that it __is__ there, but it's elided? Nope. If there is any kind of outer quantifier, elided or not, it would force the sumti to be distributive, which would mean that neither ''lo'' nor ''le'' could be used to describe masses. Therefore, if no outer quantifier is present, it's not only elided - it's simply not there. Sumti without an outer quantifier can be referred to as "constants", even though I won't.
Thirdly, it makes no sense to have an outer quantifier which is larger than the inner one. It means that the selbri holds true for more sumti than are present in the discourse - but since they appear in a bridi, they __are__ part of the discourse. It's grammatical to do it, though.
Lastly, placing a ''lo'' or a ''le'' in front of a sumti is grammatical, if there is an inner quantifier present. "''lo''/''le'' {number} {sumti}" is defined as "''lo''/''le'' {number} ''me'' {sumti}".
So what would this mean? ''mi nelci loi mi briju kansa .i ku'i ci lo re mu ji'i ri cu lazni''
__''briju'''__ x1 is an office for worker x2 at location x3
__''kansa''__ x1 accompanies x2 in action/state/enterprise x3
__''lazni''__ x1 is lazy, avoiding work concerning x2
Answer: ~~grey,grey:"I like my co-workers, but three out of about twenty five of them are lazy"~~
- -''la''- - An inner quantifier is grammatical if the name is a selbri - in this case, it's considered part of the name. An outer quantifier is used to quantify distributively over such individuals (much like ''lo''/''le'') It's grammatical when placed in front of {number} {sumti}, in which case, the both the number and the sumti is considered the name.
Translate this: ''re la ci bargu cu jibni le mi zdani''
Answer: ~~grey,grey: Two "The Three Arches" are located close to my house" (Perhaps The Three Arches are a kind of restaurant?)~~
- -''loi'' and ''lei''- - An inner quantifier tells us how many members there are in the mass/masses in question. An outer quantifier quantifies distributively {!} over these masses
Notice here that while masses consist of a number of objects considered non-distributively, an outer quantifier always treats each of these masses as an individual.
When placed before a number string, then a sumti, ''loi''/''lei'' is defined as "''lo gunma be lo''/''le'' {number} {sumti}" - "The mass consisting of the {number} of {sumti}".
Attempt to translate this: ''re dei gunma re loi ze valsi .i ca'e pa dei jai gau jetnu''
__''gunma''__ x1 is a mass of the individuals x2
__''valsi''__ x1 is a word, meaning x2 in language x3
__''ca'e''__ Attitudinal: Evidential: I define
__''jetnu''__ x1 is true according to metaphysics/epistemology x2
Answer: ~~grey,grey: "These two utterances are a mass, consisting of two individual masses each of seven words. I define: This one utterance causes {it} to be true."~~
- -''lai''- - Much like ''la'', an inner quantifier (when name is a selbri) is part of the name. An outer one quantifies distributively. Before a number+sumti, both the sumti and the number make up the name.
When a fraction is used as an outer quantifier to quantify ''loi'', ''lei'' or ''lai'', one speaks about only part of the mass (for instance, "half of the Johnsons" - ''pi mu lai .djansyn.'').
- -''lo'i'' and ''le'i''- - An inner quantifier describes the amount of members of the set. An outer quantifies distributively over several of such sets. When placed before a number and a sumti, it's defined as "''lo selcmi be ''lo''/''le'' {number} {sumti}" - "The set of {number} {sumti}".
Translate ''lo'i ro se cinki cu bramau la'a pa no no lo'i ro se bogykamju jutsi''
__''cinki''__ x1 is an insect of species x2
__''la'a''__ Attitudinal: Discursive: Probably
__''bramau''__ x1 is bigger than x2 in dimension x3 by marigin x4
__''bogykamju''__ x1 is the spine of x2
__''jutsi''__ x1 is the species of genus x2, family x3 ... (open ended classification)
Answer: ~~grey,grey: "The set of all the species of insects is probably bigger than one hundred sets of all species of vertebrates"~~
- -''la'i''- - As with ''lai''
Like with the mass gadri, an outer quantifier before a set gadri enables one to speak about a fraction of a set. In front of a number and a sumti, it's defined as "''lo selcmi be la'' {number} {sumti}" - "The set consisting of The {Number} {Sumti}" (considered a name)
- -''lo'e'' and ''le'e''- - Are for some reason not included in the currently accepted gadri proposal. If one were to extend the rules of another gadri, ''lo''/''le'' would probably be the best choice (since both operates with individuals rather than groups), and so one would expect the outer quantifier to force distributivity over the amount of typical/stereotypical things given by the inner quantifier.
When quantifying sumka'i representing several objects, it is useful to remember that they are usually masses. By definition, "{number} {sumti}" is defined as "{number} ''da poi ke'a me'' {sumti}". You will not be familiar with ''da'' until a few lessons later, so take it on faith that it means "something" in this context. Therefore, ''ci mi'' means "Two of those who belong to "us"". When quantifying such masses, it can safely be assumed that the relation implied by ''me'' is membership of the mass, and therefore ''ci mi'' is "Three of us".
Some important uses of quantification requires you to be quantify selbri or objects whose identity is unknown. This is done by "logically quantified variables". These, as well as how to quantify them will be covered in lessons twenty-seven.
Lastly, how can you quantify uncountable substances like sugar or water? One solution is to quantify it using inexact numbers. This use is vague, not only because the value of the number is vague, but also because it's not specified on what scale you're counting: The sugar could be considered a group of many crystals, counted one at a time, and the water could be quantified by the amounts of raindrops it took to make the body of water in question. While this way of counting is legitimate, it's not very exact and can easily confuse or mislead.
A way to be explicit about non-countability is to use the null operand ''tu'o'' as an inner quantifier.
__''tu'o''__ Null operand ( Ø ). Used in unary mekso.
This solution is elegant and intuitive, and also gives me an excuse to quote this horrifying, yet comical example from the original ''xorlo''-proposal:
''le nanmu cu se snuti .i ja'e bo lo tu'o gerku cu kuspe le klaji''
__''snuti''__ x1 is an accident on the part of x2
__''ja'e''__ sumtcita: BAI: (from ''jalge''): Bridi results in {sumti}
__''kuspe''__ x1 spans/extends over x2
__''klaji''__ x1 is a road/avenue/street at x2 accessing x3
What does it mean?
Answer: ~~grey,grey: "The man had an accident and so there was dog all over the road"~~
A second method of quantifying substances is to use the tenses ''ve'i'', ''ve'a'' and ''ve'u'' as mentioned in lesson ten:
''ti ve'i djacu'' - This is a small amount of water
__''djacu''__ x1 is an expanse of water/is made of water/contains water
Thirdly, of course, you could use a brivla to give an exact measurement:
''le ta djacu cu ki'ogra be li re pi ki'o ki'o'' - "That water has a mass of 2.000 000 kilograms"
__''ki'ogra''__ x1 measures in mass x2 kilograms by standard x3
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty-three (negation)
Sometimes, just saying what's the truth is not enough. Often, we want to specify what's not the truth, and we do this by using negation.
Negation in English mostly involves “not”, and is completely arbitrary and ambiguous. We, as Lojbanists, can't have that, of course, so Lojban contains an elegant and unambigious system for negating. What will be presented here are the official gold-standard rules. Disapproval of these "golden rules" concerning ''na'' is growing, and there is disagreement about what rule set should replace it. For now, I will stick with the official rules, and therefore, so will you, dear reader.
The first you need to know about is bridi negation, so called because it negates the bridi it's in, saying it's not true. The way to negate a bridi is to place ''na'' first in the sentence with a ''ku'' after it, or just before the selbri.
__''speni''__ x1 is married to x2 under convention x3
Thus: ''na ku le mi speni cu ninmu'' states that “My spouse is not a woman”. It states nothing about what my wife is, or if I even have a wife. It only states that I do not have a wife who is also a woman. This has an important implication: If the negation of a bridi is false, the bridi must be true: ''na ku le mi speni cu na ninmu'' must mean that I have both a spouse, and that she is a she.
It is possible to use bridi negations in all bridi, even the implicit bridi of descriptive sumti. ''lo na prenu'' can refer to anything non-human, whether it be a sphinx, a baseball or the property of appropriateness.
__''bau''__ sumtcita, from bangu: using the language of {sumti}
__''se ja'e''__ sumtcita, from se jalge: because of {sumti}
Often when using ''na'', it's a problem that it negates the entire bridi. If I say ''mi na sutra tavla bau le glibau se ja'e le nu mi dotco'', I end up negating too much, and it is not clear that I wanted to only negate that I speak fast. The sentence could suggest that I in fact speak fast because of some other reason, for instance that I speak fast in French because I'm German. To express the sentence more precisely, I need to only negate that I speak fast, and not the other things.
To only negate part of a bridi, ''na ku'' can be moved around the bridi and placed anywhere a sumti can go. It then negates any sumti, selbri and sumtcita placed after it. When placed immediately before the selbri, the ''ku'' can be elided.
Moving ''na ku'' from the left end of the bridi and rightwards effects any quantifiers in a certain way, as can be seen by this example:
There are forces within the Lojban community who, perhaps rightly, think that there is no good reason that a ''na'' placed before a selbri negates the entire bridi, whereas a ''na ku'' any other place negates only what is trailing behind it. However, in these lessons you will be taught what is still the official stance, namely that ''na'' before the selbri negates the bridi.
The use of ''na ku'' is exemplified with the following examples.
''na ku ro remna cu verba'' “It's not true that: All humans are children”
''su'o remna na ku cu verba'' “For at least one human it's not true that: It's a child”. See that the ''na ku'' is placed before ''cu'', since a sumti can go only before, not after the ''cu''. Had I only used ''na'', it would have to go after ''cu'' - but that would have negated the entire bridi, meaning "It's not true that: At least one human is a child".
When the ''na ku'' is moved rightwards, any quantifier is inverted - that is: ''ro'' is turned into ''su'o''. This is, of course, only if the meaning of the bridi has to be preserved. This means that when the ''na ku'' is placed at the end of the bridi, only the selbri is negated but all the sumti and sumtcita are preserved, as can be seen by these three identical bridi:
__''ckule''__ x1 is a school at location x2 teaching x3 to students x4 and operated by x5
''na ku ro verba cu ve ckule fo su'o ckule'' – “It's not true that all children are students in a school.”
''su'o verba cu ve ckule na ku fo su'o ckule'' – “Some children are students in not a single school.”
''su'o verba cu ve ckule fo ro ckule na ku'' – “Some children are for all schools not students in them.”
The opposite of ''na'' is ''ja'a''. This is barely ever used, since it is default in most bridi. One exception is repeated bridi (next lesson). Sometimes it's used to put more weight on the truth of the bridi, as in ''la .bab. ja'a melbi'' = "Bob is indeed beautiful".
While the mechanism of ''na ku'' resembles natural language negation, it can be difficult to keep track of exactly what is negated and how that affects the bridi. For that reason, the construct ''na ku'' is rarely seen anywhere other than the beginning of a bridi. In most cases where more specific negation is needed people resort to a different method. This method, called scalar negation, is an elegant and intuitive tool. Using it, you effect only the selbri, since the words used in scalar negation binds to the selbri much like the word ''se''.
The name “scalar negation” is derived from the fact that the words which bind to the selbri can be placed along a scale from affirmation over negation and to stating that the opposite case is true:
||Word|Meaning
je'a|“Indeed”; scalar affirmer
no'e|“Not really”, scalar midpoint
na'e|“Non-“, scalar negator
to'e|“Il”, “Dis-“, “Mis” ect; scalar opposer||
These words are not negators in the same sense as ''na''. They do not state that a bridi is false, but makes a positive statement that a bridi is true – the same bridi, but with a different selbri. This distinction is mostly academic, though. If, for example, I state that ''mi na'e se nelci'' "I am non-liked", I actually state that some selbri applies to me, which is also on a relevant scale with the selbri ''nelci''. Most of the time, we assume a scale where the positions are mutually exclusive (like love-like-dislike-hate), so ''mi na'e se nelci'' implies ''mi na se nelci''
Therefore, the words ''no'e'' and ''to'e'' should only be used when the selbri is placed on some obvious scale:
''le mi speni cu to'e melbi'' – ”My spouse is ugly” makes sense, since we immediately know what the opposite of beautiful is, while
''mi klama le mi to'e zdani'' – ”I go to my opposite thing of home”, while grammatical, leaves the listener guessing what the speaker's “opposite-home” is and should be avoided.
So how can you negate only the selbri without also implying that the selbri is correct at some other position on a truth-scale? Simple: Moving the ''na ku'' to the rightmost end of the bridi, as demonstrated a few lines above. This feature is very useful. Some lojbanists prefer to prefix the rafsi ''nar'' (the rafsi of ''na'') in front of the selbri - this has the same effect, but I advise against it, because it makes familiar brivla seem alien, and it's harder to understand when spoken casually.
If a situation arises where you need to negate only the selbri, but want it to be clear before the end of the bridi, the experimental cmavo ''na'ei'', which grammatically works like ''na'e'', can be used
__''na'ei''__: Negates the following selbri only
Try to translate these sentences:
“My spouse is not a woman” (meaning that he is a male)
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''le mi speni cu na'e / to'e ninmu''. Using scalar negation here implies that he exists, which na did not.~~
“My spouse is not really a woman”
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''le mi speni cu no'e ninmu''. The scale here is presumed to be from woman to man.~~
“I don't speak fast in English because I'm German”
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi na'e sutra tavla bau le glibau se ja'e le nu mi dotco''~~
Also, note that whenever these words are used together with a tanru, they only affect the leftmost selbri. In order to make it bind to the whole tanru or parts of the tanru, the usual tanru-grouping words can be used.
Try to say “I sell something which is not yellow homes” using the tanru ''pelxu zdani vecnu''
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi na'e ke pelxu zdani ke'e vecnu or mi na'e pelxu bo zdani vecnu''~~
When attempting to answer: “Is the king of the USA fat?”, all of these negations fail. While it's technically correct to negate it with ''na'', since it makes no assumptions of that is true, it's mildly misleading since it could lead the listener to believe there is a king of the USA. For these scenarios, there is a metalinguistic negator, ''na'i''.
''na'i'' Metalinguistic negator. Something is wrong with assigning a truth value to the bridi.
Because ''na'i'' can be needed anywhere it has been given the grammar of the attitudinals, which means it can appear anywhere, and it attaches to the previous word or construct.
__''palci''__ x1 is evil by standard x2
''le na'i pu te zukte be le skami cu palci'' – ”The sought goal {mistake!} of the computer was evil”, probably protests that computers can seek a goal volitionally.
Since this is a lesson on negation, I believe the word ''nai'' deserves a short mention. It is used to negate minor grammatical constructs, and can be used in combination with attitudinals, all sumtcita including tenses, vocatives and logical connectives. The rules for negating using ''nai'' depend on the construct, and so the effect of ''nai'' has been discussed when mentioning the construct themselves. The exception is sumtcita, where the rules for negation are more complex, and will not be discussed here.
__Note:__ At the time of writing, it has been proposed to move ''nai'' to the selma'o CAI, which means the semantics of ''nai'' depend on which selma'o it follows.
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty-four (brika'i/pro-bridi and ko'a)
If I say that I'm called Mikhail, ''la .mikail. cmene mi'', and you have to say the exact same bridi, what would that be? One of the many answers is ''do se cmene la .mikail.''. For the bridi to be the same, you have to replace ''mi'' with ''do'', and it doesn't matter which if you say the bridi with the ''se''-converted selbri or not. This is because a bridi is not the words which express it – a bridi is an idea, an abstract proposition. The word ''mi'' when I say it and the word ''do'' when you do refers to the same sumti, so the two bridi are identical.
This lesson is on ''brika'i'', the bridi equivalent of sumka'i. They are word which represent entire bridi. Here it is important to remember that a bridi consists only of sumti and the things which contain the sumti, selbri and sumtcita. Neither attitudinals, nor the semantic layer of ''ko'' or ''ma'' are part of the bridi proper, and so these are not represented by a ''brika'i''.
There are much fewer ''brika'i'' than there are sumka'i. We will begin by going through some of the words in the most used series, called GOhA:
Word: Definition:
__''go'u''__ Repeats remote past bridi
__''go'a''__ Repeats past bridi
__''go'e''__ Repeats next-to-last bridi
__''go'i''__ Repeats last mentioned bridi
__''go'o''__ Repeats future bridi
__''nei''__ Repeats current bridi
__''no'a''__ Repeats outer bridi
Some of the GOhA-''brika'i''. Notice the familiar i, a, u-pattern for close in past, medium in past and distant in past.
These are very much like the sumka'i ''ri'', ''ra'' and ''ru''. They can only refer to main bridi of jufra, and not those contained in relative phrases or description sumti. The main bridi can contain a relative phrase, of course, but a ''brika'i'' can never be used to refer to only the relative phrase.
A GOhA acts grammatically much like a selbri, any construct which can apply to selbri can also apply to these. The place structure of a GOhA is the same as that of the bridi it represents, and the sumti are by default the same as in the bridi it represents. Filling the sumti places of a GOhA explicitly overwrites the sumti of the bridi it represents. Contrast:
A: ''mi citka lo plise'' B: ''go'i'' – “I eat an apple.” “You do.” with
A: ''mi citka lo plise'' B: ''mi go'i'' – “I eat an apple.” “I do, too.”
These ''brika'i'' are very useful when answering a question with ''xu'':
A: ''xu do nelci le mi speni'' B: ''go'i / na go'i'' – “Do you like my wife?” “Yes./No.”. The ''xu'', being an attitudinal, is not copied.
When repeating bridi negated by ''na'', that is: Bridi where ''na'' is placed in the prenex (lesson twenty-seven), in the beginning of the bridi or right before the selbri, the rules for copying over ''na'' are different from what one might expect. Any ''na'' is copied over, but any additional ''na'' in the brika'i replaces the first na. Let me show you with an example:
A: ''mi na citka lo plise''
B: ''mi go'i'' = ''mi na citka lo plise''
C: ''mi na go'i'' = ''mi na citka lo plise''
D: ''mi na na go'i'' = ''mi citka lo plise'' = ''mi ja'a go'i''
''nei'' and ''no'a'' are not used much, except for “mind-breaking purposes”, which is making up bridi which are hard to parse, like ''dei na se du'u le no'a la'e le nei''. Since ''nei'' repeats the current outer bridi, however, ''le nei'' can be used to refer to the x1 of the current outer bridi, ''le se nei'' the x2 and so on.
When using ''brika'i'', one must always be wary of copying sentences with the personal sumka'i like ''mi'', ''do'', ''ma'a'' ect, and be careful not to repeat them when they are in the wrong contect, as shown in the two examples with apple eating above. Instead of replacing them one by one, though, the word ''ra'o'' anywhere in the bridi updates the personal sumka'i so that they apply for the speaker's perspective:
A: ''mi do prami'' B: ''mi do go'i'' is equivalent to A: ''mi do prami'' B: ''go'i ra'o''
__''ra'o''__ Update all personal sumka'i so that they now fit the speaker's point of view.
The only other series of brika'i are very easy to remember:
__''broda''__ Bridi variable 1
__''brode''__ Bridi variable 2
__''brodi''__ Bridi variable 3
__''brodo''__ Bridi variable 4
__''brodu''__ Bridi variable 5
__''cei''__ Define bridi variable (not a brika'i and not in BRODA)
The first five are just five instances of the same word. They can be used as shortcuts to bridi. After saying a bridi, saying ''cei broda'' defines that bridi as ''broda'', and ''broda'' can then be used as ''brika'i'' for that bridi in the following conversation.
While we're at it, there is an analogous series of sumka'i, which probably does not belong in this lesson, but here they are anyway:
__''ko'a''__ Sumti variable 1 __''fo'a''__ Sumti variable 6
__''ko'e''__ Sumti variable 2 __''fo'e''__ Sumti variable 7
__''ko'i''__ Sumti variable 3 __''fo'i''__ Sumti variable 8
__''ko'o''__ Sumti variable 4 __''fo'o''__ Sumti variable 9
__''ko'u''__ Sumti variable 5 __''fo'u''__ Sumti variable 10
as well as the ''cei''-equivalent for this series:
__''goi''__ Define sumti variable
These are used like the ''brika'i''-series. Just place, for instance, ''goi ko'u'' after a sumti, and that sumti can be referred to by ''ko'u''.
Strangely, these series are rarely used for their intended purpose. They are, however, used as arbitrary selbri and sumti in example texts:
“So, is it true that the truth conditions of ''ko'a ko'e broda na ku'' are always the same as ''na ku ko'a ko'e broda''?” “Nope, it isn't.”
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty-five (logical connectives)
“If you ask a Lojbanist: “Do you want milk or sugar in your coffee?” she'll answer: “Correct.””
Witty as this joke might be, it illustrates a weird property of the English way of asking this question. It is phrased as a true/false question, but it really isn't. In Lojban, we can't have this kind of inconsistency, and so we must find another way of asking this kind of question. If you think about it, it's pretty hard to find a good and easy way, and it seems Lojban have picked a good way instead of an easy way.
To explain it, let us take two separate bridi: Bridi 1: “I like milk in my coffee” and bridi 2: “I like sugar in my coffee”. Both of these bridi can have the state true or false. This yields four combinations of which bridi is/are true:
A ) 1 and 2 B ) 1 but not 2
C ) 2 but not 1 D )neither 1 nor 2
I, in actuality, like milk in my coffee, and I'm indifferent as to whether there is sugar in it or not. Therefore, my preference can be written A ) true B ) true C ) false D ) false, since both A and B yields true for me, but neither C nor D does. A more compact way of writing my coffee preferences would be TTFF for true, true, false, false. Similarly, a person liking his coffee black and unsweetened would have a coffee preference of FFFT. This combitation of "true" and "false" is called a “truth function”, in this case for the two statements “I like milk in my coffee” and “I like sugar in my coffee”. Note that the order of the statements matters.
In Lojban, we operate with 4 truth functions, which we consider fundamental:
A: TTTF (and/or)
O: TFFT (if and only iff)
U: TTFF (whether or not)
E: TFFF (and)
In this example, they would translate to something like: A:”Just not black coffee”, O: “Either both milk or sugar, or nothing for me, please”, U: “Milk, and I don't care about if there's sugar or not” and E: “Milk and sugar, please.”.
In Lojban, you place the word for the truth function between the two bridi, selbri or sumti in question. That word is called a logical connective. The words for truth functions between sumti (and just for sumti!) are ''.a'' ''.o'' ''.u'' and ''.e''. How nice. For instance: “I am friends with an American and a German” would be ''lo merko .e lo dotco cu pendo mi''.
How would you say: “I speak to you and no one else?”
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi tavla do .e no drata'' Note that this actually states that it's true that "I speak to you".~~
One more: “I like cheese whether or not I like coffee”
__''ckafi''__ x1 is a quantity/contains coffee from source/of grain x2
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi nelci lo'e cirla .u lo'e ckafi''~~
You can perhaps deduce that there are sixteen possible truth functions, so we need to learn twelve more in order to know them all. Eight more can be obtained by negating either the first sentence or the second. The first is negated by prefixing the truth function word with ''na'', the second is negated by placing ''nai'' after the word. For example, since ''.e'' represents TFFF, ''.e nai'' must be “both 1 is true and 2 is false”, which is FTFF. Similarly, ''na .a'' is “Just not: 1 is true and 2 is false”, which is TTFT. Doing this type of conversion in the head real-time is very, very hard, so perhaps one should focus on learning how logical connectives work in general, and then learn the logical connectives themselves by heart.
Four functions cannot be made this way: TTTT, TFTF, FTFT and FFFF. The first and the last cannot be made using logical connectives at all, but they are kind of useless anyway. Using a hypothetical logical connective in the sentence “I like milk FFFF sugar in my coffee” is equivalent to saying “I don't like coffee”, just more complicated. The last two, TFTF and FTFT, can be made by prefixing ''.u'' with good ol' ''se'', which just reverts the two statements. ''se .u'' , for instance is “B whether or not A”, which is TFTF. The final list of all logical connectives can be seen below.
TTTT: Cannot be made
TTTF: ''.a''
TTFT: ''.a nai''
TTFF: ''.u'' OR ''.u nai''
TFTT: ''na .a''
TFTF: ''se .u''
TFFT: ''.o'' OR ''na .o nai''
TFFF: ''.e''
FTTT: ''na .a nai''
FTTF: ''na .o'' OR ''.o nai''
FTFT: ''se .u nai''
FTFF: ''.e nai''
FFTT: ''na .u'' OR ''na .u nai''
FFTF: ''na .e''
FFFT: ''na .e nai''
FFFF: Cannot be made
Logically, saying a sentence with a logical connective, like for instance ''mi nelci lo'e cirla .e nai lo'e ckafi'' is equivalent to saying two bridi, which are connected with the same logical connective: ''mi nelci lo'e cirla .i {E NAI} mi nelci lo'e ckafi''. This is how the function of logical connectives is defined. We will get to how to apply logical connectives to bridi in a moment.
By putting a “j” in front of the core word of a logical connective, it connects two selbri. An example is ''mi ninmu na jo nanmu'' “I am a man or a woman, but not both”
__''ninmu''__ x1 is a woman
This is “tanru-internal”, meaning that it loosely binds selbri together, even when they form a tanru: ''lo dotco ja merko prenu'' means “a German or American man”, and is parsed ''lo'' (''dotco ja merko'') ''prenu''. This binding is slightly stronger that normal tanru-grouping (still weaker than specific grouping-words), and as such, ''lo dotco ja merko ninmu ja nanmu'' is parsed ''lo'' (''dotco ja merko'') (''ninmu ja nanmu''). The selbri logical connectives can also be attached to ''.i'' in order to connect two sentences together: ''la .kim. cmene mi .i ju mi nanmu'' “I'm called Kim, whether or not I'm a man”. The combination ''.i je'' states that both sentences are true, much like we would assume had no logical connective been present.
Unfairly hard question: Using logical connectives, how would you translate “If you're called Bob, you're a man.”?
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''la .bab. cmene do .i na ja do nanmu'' or “Either you're not named Bob and a man, or you're not named Bob and not a man, or you're named Bob and a man. But you can't be named Bob and not be a man.” The only combination not permitted is: “You're called Bob, but not a man.” This must mean that, if it's true that you're called Bob, you must be a man.~~
If we try to translate the sad, sad event of “I cried and gave away my dog”, we run into a problem.
Attempting to say the sentence with a ''je'' between the selbri “gave” and “cried”, would mean the same word for word, but unfortunately mean that “I cried the dog and gave away the dog”, cf. the definition of logical connectives. One can cry tears or even blood, but crying dogs is just silly.
However, we can get around by using bridi-tail logical connectives. What they do is that any previous sumtcita and sumti attaches to both selbri bound by the bridi-tail logical connective, but any following sumti or sumtcita only applies to the last mentioned: The bridi splits up from one head to two tails, to speak metaphorically.
The form of a bridi-tail logical connective is gi'V, with the V for the vowel of the truth function.
How could you correctly translate the English sentence to Lojban?
Answer: ~~grey,grey:''mi pu klaku gi'e dunda le mi gerku''~~
What does ''ro remna cu palci gi'o zukte lo palci'' mean?
__''palci''__ x1 is evil by standard x2
Answer: ~~grey,grey:“People are evil if and only if they do evil things.”~~
Furthermore, there is a forethought all-but tanru internal group of connecters made by prefixing “g” in front of the truth function vowel. “Forethought” in this context means that they need to go in front of the things they connect, and thus you need to think about the grammatical structure of the sentence before saying it. All-but tanru internal means that it serves both as a connective between sumti, bridi, selbri and bridi-tails, but not between two selbri of one tanru. Let me show you how it works, rewriting the Lojban sentence above:
''go lo remna cu palci gi lo remna cu zukte lo palci''
The first logical connective in these kinds of constructs are what carries the vowel which signal what truth function is being used. The second logical connective is always ''gi'', and like ''.i'', it has no truth function. It simply serves to separate the two terms being connected. If you want to negate the first or second sentence, a ''nai'' is suffixed to either the first (for the first sentence) or second (for the second sentence) logical connective.
Provided that the constructs are terminated properly, it has remarkable flexibility, as the following few examples demonstrate:
''mi go klama gi cadzu vau le mi zdani'' “I go, if and only if walk, to my home” or “I can only go to my home by walking.” Notice that the ''vau'' is needed to make le mi zdani apply to both ''cadzu'' and ''klama''.
''se gu do gi nai mi bajra le do ckule'' “Whether or not you, then not I, run to your school” or “I won't run to your school no matter if you do or not”
The tanru-internal equivalent of gV is gu'V. These are exactly the same, except that they are exclusively tanru-internal, and that they bind a selbri to the ''gi'' tighter than normal tanru-grouping, but weaker than explicit binding-sumti:
''la xanz.krt. gu'e merko gi dotco nanmu'' is equivalent to
''la xanz.krt. merko je dotco nanmu''
And so you've read page up and page down just to get the necessary knowledge in order to be able to learn how to ask “Would you like milk or sugar in your coffee?” in Lojban. Simply place a question logical connective instead of another logical connective, and like ''ma'', it asks the listener to fill in a correct response. Unfortunately, these question-logical connectives don't always match the morphological pattern of the logical connectives they ask for:
__''ji''__ Logical connective question: Asks for a sumti logical connective (A)
__''je'i''__ Logical connective question: Asks for a tanru-internal selbri logical connective (JA)
__''gi'i''__ Logical connective question: Asks for a bridi-tail logical connective (GIhA)
__''ge'i''__ Logical connective question: Asks for a forethought all-but tanru internal logical connective (GA)
__''gu'i''__ Logical connective question: Asks for a forethought only tanru internal logical connective (GUhA)
So... how would you ask if the persons wants milk or sugar in her coffee?
__''ladru''__ x1 is/contains milk from source x2
__''sakta''__ x1 is/contains sugar from source x2 of composition x3
Possible answer: ~~grey,grey:''sakta je'i ladru le do ckafi'' though I guess something more English and less elegant could also suffice like ''do djica lenu lo sakta ji lo ladru cu nenri le do ckafi''~~
!!Lojban Lessons - Lesson twenty-six (non-logical connectives)
The word "logical" in "logical connective" refers to the association a logical connective has with a truth function. Not all useful connectives can be defined through a truth function, however, and so there are other connectives beside the logical ones.
The meaning of a logical connective is defined the same as two different bridi connected with that logical connective. For instance, ''mi nitcu do .a la .djan.'' is defined to be equivalent to ''mi nitcu do .i ja mi nitcu la .djan.''. This definition is useful to bear in mind, because it implies that sometimes, sumti cannot be connected with logical connectives without chaning the meaning. Consider the sentence: "Jack and Joe wrote this play." One attempt at a translation would be: ''ti draci fi la .djak. e la .djous.''
__''draci''__ x1 is a drama/play about x2 by writer/dramatist x3 for audience x4 with actors x5
The problem with this translation is that it means ''ti draci la .djak. ije ti draci la .djous.'', which is not really true. Neither Jack nor Joe wrote it, they did so together. What we want here is of course a mass, and some way to join Jack and Joe in one mass. This has little to do with a truth function so we must use a non-logical connective, which are of selma'o JOI. We'll return to this Jack and Joe-problem in a little - first: Four of the known JOI:
||The Lojban connective:|''ce''|''ce'o''|''joi''|''jo'u''
Joins sumti and forms a:|set|sequence|mass|group of individuals||
The functions of these words are simple: ''lo'i remna jo'u lo'i gerku'' considers both the set of humans and the set of dogs distributively (as individuals). Remember from lesson twenty-two (quantifiers) that "distributivity" means that what is true for the group is also true for each of the individuals alone. Similarly ''loi ro gismu ce'o loi ro lujvo ce'o loi ro fu'ivla'' is a sequence consisting of the mass of all gismu, followed by the mass of all lujvo, followed by the mass of all fu'ivla.
As with all of the JOI which has an inherent order, ''se'' may be put before ''ce'o'' to inverse the order: "A ''ce'o'' B" is the same as "B se ''ce'o'' A".
How can you correctly translate "Jack and Joe wrote this play"?
Answer: ~~grey,grey: ''ti draci fi la .djak. joi la .djous.''~~
The cmavo of JOI are very flexible: They can act both as sumti connectives and tanru-internal connectives, so they can be used to connect sumti, selbri and bridi. This flexibility means that one must be careful to use fa'orma'o correctly when using a JOI.
What is wrong with the bridi ''lo dotco jo'u mi cu klama la dotco gugde''?
Answer: ~~grey,grey: ''jo'u'' is put after a selbri, so it expects a selbri after it to connect to, but none is found. Had a ''ku'' been present before the connective, it would have been grammatical~~
If several JOI are used, ''bo'' and/or ''ke'' may be used to override the usual left-grouping: ''mi joi do ce'o la .djak. joi bo la .djous. cu pu'o ci'erkei damba lei xunre'' "Me and you, and then Jack and Joe are about the play against the reds". Contrast with ''mi joi do ce'o la .djak. joi la .djous. cu pu'o ci'erkei damba lei xunre'' - "First me and you, then Jack will together with Joe play against the reds".
Connecting bridi with JOI can make some interesting implications of the relationship between the bridi: ''la .djak. morsi ri'a lo nu ri dzusoi .i joi le jemja'a po ri cu bebna'' - "Jack is dead because he was a infantry soldier and his general was an idiot", implying that these two bridi massed together was the physical cause of his death: Had he only been in an armored vehicle or with a competent commander, he might had survived.
__''dzusoi''__ x1 is an infantry soldier of army x2
__''jemja'a''__ x1 is a general of army x2 in function x3
__''bebna''__ x1 is foolish/idiotic in property/aspect x2
Non-logical connectives may also be negated with ''nai'', indicating that some other connective is appropriate: ''lo djacu ce'o nai .e'o lo ladru cu cavyfle fi le mi tcati'' - "Please don't pour first water then milk in my tea". This, of course, says nothing about which connective is appropriate - one might guess ''se ce'o'' (first milk, then water), only to find out that ''.e nai'' (only water, no milk at all) was the correct one.
__''cavyfle''__ x1, consisting of x2, flows into x3 from x4
Just like a logical connective is a plausible negation of a non-logical connective, answers to questions of the type ''ji'' or ''je'i'' can be both logical and non-logical: A: ''ladru je'i sakta le do ckafi'' B: ''se ce'o'' ("Milk or sugar in you coffee?" "First the latter, then the former"). In this case ''ce'' would make no sense at all, since sets can't be contained in coffee, and ''joi'' (both mixed together) would mean the same as ''jo'u'' (both of them), unless the respondant preferred unmixed sugar in his coffee.
The fifth JOI I present here is a bit of an oddball:
__''fa'u''__ Non-logical connective: Unmixed ordered distribution (A and B, respectively)
When only one ''fa'u'' is placed within a bridi (or several bridi connected together with connectors), ''fa'u'' may be assumed to be identical to ''jo'u''. When several ''fa'u'' is used within one bridi, however, the constructs before ''fa'u'' each apply to each other, and the constructs after ''fa'u'' each apply to each other. Let's have an example:
''mi fa'u do rusko fa'u kadno'' - "You and I are Russian and Canadian", implying that ''mi'' goes with ''rusko'' and ''do'' goes with ''kadno'', and implying nothing about any other combination. Of course, in this example, it would be much easier to say ''mi rusko .i do kadno''.
These last three JOI connects two sets to make new sets:
__''jo'e''__ A union B
__''ku'a''__ A intersection B
__''pi'u ''__ Cross product of A and B
These are probably not very useful for the average Lojbanist, but I might as well include them here.
The first one, ''jo'e'', makes a new set from two sets. This new set contains only those members which are in both sets.
A set made with ''ku'a'' contains all the members of set A and those of set B. If anything is a member of both sets, they are not counted twice.
''pi'u'' is a little more complicated. A set "A ''pi'u'' B" contains all the possible combinations of "a ''ce'o'' b", where a is a member of A and b is a member of B. It is thus a set of sequences of members. If, for instance, set A contained the members p and q, and set B contained members f and g, then A ''pi'u'' B would be a set consisting of the four members p ''ce'o'' f, p ''ce'o'' g, q ''ce'o'' f and q ''ce'o'' g.
!!!End of part two
((wavelessonscontinued|Return to the wavelessons part one))
This part concludes the tutorial to ordinary Lojban. In the third part, I will focus on advanced Lojban - the parts you don't actually need to know to speak the language. I discourage you to begin reading the third part until you feel comfortable enough with the information in the first two parts to hold an written conversation in the language. If you __do__ wish to continue, you can press ((wavelessonscontinuedp3|this link)) to go there.
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