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                          ANNOUNCEMENT

                    by Robert LeChevalier

         President of The Logical Language Group, Inc.



On behalf of the Logical Language Group, Inc.  (LLG), I am pleased to

announce a major milestone in the 42-year-old Loglan Project.



LLG has now baselined and published electronically a complete reference

grammar of the artificial language called at various times "Loglan-88",

"Loglan", "Loglan/Lojban", "Lojban - A Realization of Loglan", and

perhaps most commonly "Lojban" alone.



>From the standpoint of LLG, THE LOGLAN/LOJBAN LANGUAGE DESIGN is

considered COMPLETE upon this baseline.  We now enter into the usage

phase, and eventually the linguistic research and application phases of

the project.



Taken from our introductory brochure, available in full on our FTP and

WWW sites (see below), the following states some primary features of the

Loglan/Lojban language:



   o   Lojban is designed to be used by people in communication with each

           other, and possibly in the future with computers.

   o   Lojban is designed to be culturally neutral.

   o   Lojban grammar is based on the principles of logic.

   o   Lojban has an unambiguous grammar.

   o   Lojban has phonetic spelling, and unambiguous resolution of sounds

           into words.

   o   Lojban is simple compared to natural languages; it is easy to

           learn.

   o   Lojban's 1300 root words can be easily combined to form a

           vocabulary of millions of words.

   o   Lojban is regular; the rules of the language are without

           exception.

   o   Lojban attempts to remove restrictions on creative and clear

           thought and communication.

   o   Lojban has a variety of uses, ranging from the creative to the

           scientific, from the theoretical to the practical.



A small core of people have demonstrated extensive conversational

ability in the language, and a much larger group has written in or

translated text into Lojban.  Much of this substantial volume of text is

available in archives on our electronic sites.  The base of skilled

Lojbanists is international, with representatives from Australia, the

UK, Finland, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Argentina, as well as several from

the US, counted among the most skilled.  There is Lojban "conversation"

as well as discussion of the language (in both English and Lojban) on a

Listserv mailing list (see below for subscription information).



For historical and other reasons we continue to assert our role as a

continuation of the "Loglan Project" started by Dr. James Cooke Brown

in 1954, and documented among other places in the June 1960 "Scientific

American" article entitled "Loglan".  That article stated the primary

design goals of the language and reasons why the language effort would

be useful.  In developing Loglan/Lojban we have striven to remain true

to those design goals, and indeed believe that we have succeeded in

fulfilling them to an extent far greater than Dr. Brown conceived

possible.  We continue to use the name "Loglan" with pride, honoring

Dr. Brown's seminal ideas.



We regret that Dr. Brown insisted on restrictive claims for control

over distribution and use of his earlier versions of Loglan, including a

full copyright on the language and its vocabulary.  Those claims led the

community of Loglan users to unite as the Logical Language Group to

redevelop a public domain version of the Loglan language, a process that

has taken nearly 10 years and culminates in this announcement.  This

version of the language is intended to supersede the previous incomplete

and restricted-usage versions of the language promulgated by Dr. Brown.



With the approval of the Board of Directors of LLG, as of 0000 GMT on 10

January 1997, the Lojban language design is baselined and frozen for a

minimum period in excess of 5 years.  We intend that during this period

a community of skilled Loglan/Lojban speakers will develop to the point

that the role of the organization will be one of documenting, educating

and researching the actual use of the language, rather than the

prescribing of a language design.



By this act, we make it clear that Loglan/Lojban has ceased to be a

"language development project", and instead is now a "language" proper.

This transition is vital, since of hundreds or even thousands of

artificial language projects, only a few have achieved a stability that

has allowed large numbers of people to learn the language.  Among

artificial languages, only Esperanto and Gode's Interlingua have

achieved stability and a solid base of language speakers on a long term

basis; other artificial languages continued to be changed by reformers

and lost the few speakers who had started to learn the language.  We

intend that Loglan/Lojban achieve stability and a large international

speaking-community, comparable with these relatively stable and

successful languages.  Potential Lojban students who have waited for a

stable language have LLG's formal commitment towards that stability.



The completed Loglan/Lojban design has been documented in the form of a

reference grammar, various word lists, a formal grammar processible by

the computer parser tool "YACC", and various other teaching materials

and material actually written in the language.  These documents make

Lojban what is probably one of the most thoroughly described of human

languages.



The reference grammar, just completed and published electronically with

HTML coding on the World Wide Web (WWW) will also be published in

hardbound within 2-3 months.  LLG is accepting notification requests

from those with possible interest in purchasing the book when it is

printed.



The completed language design is being turned over to the budding

community of Loglan/Lojban speakers and writers for their use and/or

application in any way they see fit.  The language and language design

and certain vital language design documents are being placed irrevocably

in the public domain, allowing speakers to use the language for whatever

purposes without legal constraint or obligation.



Text written to describe the language design, such as the reference

grammar, is being published electronically (and generally in print as

well), and is copyright under a liberal license that encourages

distribution and translation into other languages.  Chapter 21 of the

reference grammar contains the formal YACC grammar of the language and

is explicitly and irrevocably placed in the public domain.



The following paragraphs provide more detail on the nature of the

baseline, and the completion of the reference grammar that made the

baseline possible.



Acknowledgment of all who have contributed over the years to this effort

is impossible.  Hundreds of people have contributed to the technical

design of the language, and hundreds more have aided us with commentary

and financial support.  We make particular acknowledgment to Dr. James

Cooke Brown as inventor of the Loglan Project and the language, to Dr.

John (Parks-)Clifford, logician and linguist who has guided the most

sophisticated portions of the design, to John Cowan, Nick Nicholas, Bob

LeChevalier, Nora Tansky LeChevalier for long-term extended support of

the design and documentation efforts, to Athelstan, Ivan Derzhanski,

Colin Fine, Goran Topic, Sylvia Rutiser, and Jorge Llambias among many

others, for pioneering use of the language, to Jerry Altzman and Eric

Raymond for making the Lojban mailing list possible, to Veijo Vilva for

outstanding development and support of the Lojban WWW site, to Gary

Burgess, Tommy Whitlock, Jeff Taylor, and Jeff Prothero for critical

early design contributions that made the Lojban redevelopment of the

language possible, to John Hodges, Bob Chassell, the late Art Wieners,

and a multitude of others, for financial support and efforts in

promulgating the language widely.  I apologize to the many additional

deserved people, unmentioned above, who made this achievement possible.





REFERENCE GRAMMAR STATUS



The final draft of the Lojban Reference Grammar, authored by John Cowan

(cowan@ccil.org) has been placed on the Lojban FTP site, at the URL

listed below.  A copy will be available shortly after this announcement

on the Lojban WWW page, and we invite others with language and

linguistics pages to add links pointing to (or make copies of) this

document and the Lojban language resources.  The FTP site will be the

authoritative location for the baseline documents.



The text has been turned into HTML format for easier viewing with

HTML/WWW browsers and viewers.  (Accurate viewing will require an HTML

browser that responds to font directives, and will also require the SIL

IPA fonts and the Symbol font set for correct viewing of non-ASCII

symbols including the IPA symbols for the pronunciation guides.)



There may still be errors in example number reference:  specifically,

the reference may be to the wrong example number.  John Cowan welcomes

notification of such problems, as well as typos and any other severe

errors at his address (cowan@ccil.org) or via the LLG address below.



The baselined form of the reference grammar is the HTML format version

posted at the time that the baseline took effect.  With the baseline in

effect, only typos, HTML conversion errors, and other severe errors that

cause reader confusion which may be identified during the printed book

production phase will justify changes to the document.  Such changes

will be individually documented and made public as a formal change.



We intend that there be no technical changes to the baseline documents

during the freeze period.





LEXICON STATUS AND BASELINE



While the Lojban language design is considered complete, the Lojban

dictionary has not been completed.  As a result, the existing lexicon

(consisting of the gismu (root words), cmavo (structure words), rafsi

(root affixes for compounding) assignments, and some lujvo (compound

words)) is only loosely covered by this baseline.  Preliminary forms of

each segment of the dictionary are available electronically (via our FTP

and WWW sites), making a design baseline feasible and meaningful at this

time.



The final baseline of the lexicon, and electronic publication of the

dictionary is scheduled for 30 June 1997, approximately 6 months from

now.  Lexical items used in the reference grammar are of course frozen

by the current publication and baselining of that document.



The major purposes for the 6 month delay are



- to provide an opportunity to verify the dictionary text for

consistency with the rest of the baseline;



- to standardize and clarify incomplete definitions of cmavo and lujvo.



The amount of documentation change and editing required to complete the

dictionary, which is the baseline description document for the Lojban

lexicon covered therein, requires that we not call that document "final"

at this time.  The 6 month delay was therefore approved by the

membership of LLG voting at LogFest (our annual meeting) last summer.





5 YEAR MINIMUM DESIGN FREEZE



Following the lexicon baseline, the entire Lojban Language design will

not only be complete, but the language definition will be frozen for a

minimum period of 5 years, during which period LLG commits itself not to

consider ANY change proposals for the language.





DEFINITION OF "BASELINE" AND "FREEZE"



By using the terms "baseline" and "frozen", LLG is stating that during

the minimum 5 year period, it will be committed to supporting the

language status quo, and will neither propose nor make any changes to

the language design as an organization.



LLG will actively seek to expand the Lojban user community, and will

encourage that community to actively use the language.  That use will

likely result in enormous growth of the lexicon using the highly

productive methods designed into the language.  In addition, usage may

resolve hitherto undecided issues, and may bring to light and resolve

other issues not yet identified.  This growth and evolution will take

place informally, and without any restraints from LLG, in the manner of

natural language evolution.



Presuming that an active community forms, further language evolution

will NOT take place by prescriptive changes produced by the Lojban

designers.  The language freeze will then last indefinitely beyond the

five year minimum period.



LLG's long-term role will be to promote the language and to serve a

research and description function in analyzing how Lojban speakers

actually use the language.





ALL UNRESOLVED ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED BY ACTUAL USAGE



Design points not covered in the reference grammar and/or the dictionary

are intended to be resolved by actual usage, preferably by skilled

speakers of the language.  LLG may report on such usage when questions

arise, but will not rule prescriptively on whether the usage is

"correct" or not.  If a usage occurs in natural communication and it is

comprehended and accepted by other Lojbanists, then the usage is de

facto "valid".



Some Lojban supporters have asked that LLG make specific plans for a

language review following the 5 year period, that it establish a

committee and/or plan a formal procedure for proposing and discussing

proposals during that period for consideration and implementation

following the period.  The LLG Board of Directors believes that this is

contrary to the intended purpose of the baseline and freeze, which is to

turn over the language to the users of the language, and to remove LLG

from ANY prescriptive role which constrains the natural evolution of the

language.



LLG makes the commitment, however, that should it ever decide to

establish any such procedures after the 5 year period, that all

discussions of possible changes will occur solely in the Lojban

language, ensuring that only actual users of Lojban will participate in

any decision process.



Editors of publications sponsored by LLG shall have their own discretion

to accept or reject or edit Lojban text according to their own criteria,

which may include conformance with the language prescription.  If they

do so, however, their decisions will be personal, as individual

Lojbanists using the language, and based on their own competence in the

language.  Editors shall not prescribe language usage on behalf of LLG.

Similarly, members and officers of LLG (including myself) who are

actively speaking and using the language, may express opinions about

Lojban text and issues, but shall do so as Lojban users independent of

their LLG roles.





EXPERIMENTAL USAGES



The Lojban design includes language space specifically for trying new

ideas in language usage.  All cmavo (structure-words) of the form "xVV"

are formally undefined, as are all cmavo-form words formed by adding one

or more apostrophe and additional vowels onto the currently-used forms

VV and CVV.  There is also an untested concept for a specific subset of

6 letter fu'ivla (borrowing) space to be used as experimental "fu'ivla

gismu"; these would have the ability to be compounded into lujvo

(compounds).  The lujvo of course would also be experimental.



These experimental word forms may be freely used to experiment with new

usages in actual communication.  We intend (but will not enforce) that

the "xVV" cmavo space be permanently experimental, meaning that if

Lojban users wish to adopt an experimental usage that has been found

workable, we urge that they choose a cmavo from the longer undefined

cmavo space for permanent usage.  The very small number of undefined

cmavo in the regular cmavo space could also be used, but we urge that

they be reserved only for the most useful, widely accepted, and

frequently used new ideas.



Likewise, user additions to the regular 5-letter gismu forms are

discouraged but no ban will be enforced.  LLG intends to independently

verify any user-added gismu for consistency with the existing

prescription, and will document deviations descriptively, but will not

suggest or enforce alterations.



Lojban allows for unrestricted creation of lujvo compounds and fu'ivla

borrowings in accordance with rules and conventions discussed in the

reference grammar.  Users are encouraged to coin new words in these

forms as needed in speech and writing.



LLG intends to document new lujvo and fu'ivla that come into use.

Consistency or conflict with the lujvo-place structure conventions may

be analyzed, but LLG will not suggest or enforce alteration to match the

conventions.  Recognizing that Type IV fu'ivla are difficult to make

with assurance of validity, LLG intends to provide a service to

Lojbanists who wish to verify that a proposed word follows the

prescription.  Individual Lojbanists providing this service on behalf of

LLG may suggest alterations, but LLG as an organization will not enforce

any changes.



People using Lojban are encouraged to send archives of texts to the LLG

address below.  This will allow research analysis and documentation of

Lojban usages in the text.  Labelling the text "nopublic" or "not for

public archive" will restrict the text to archives that will be

available only to bona fide researchers.





ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING INFORMATION





The LLG e-mail address is:



lojbab@access.digex.net





The Lojban reference grammar and other documents are available at:



ftp://ftp.access.digex.net/pub/access/lojbab/





The Lojban WWW page is located at:



http://xiron.pc.helsinki.fi/lojban/





To subscribe to Lojban List, send:



subscribe lojban firstname lastname



to:



listserv@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu



(You will get instruction on how to post when you subscribe.  If volume

on the list is too high for you, or you decide you are not interested,

please unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe lojban" to the above

address.)




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