gistfile1.rst

• PREFACE

This is a distilled overview of the Lojban language.

Major concepts of the language are introduced by saying as much with as little as possible.

That is to say:

• For each concept the most crucial aspects are presented
• However, some details may be glossed over or simplified
• Some details are only mentioned or explained by their mere appearence in example sentences. Look carefully!

Finally, some aspects of Lojban are omitted entirely!

However incomplete - the goal of the following is to present, in the most immediate and expedient manner possible, a conceptualization of the language.

Lojban is characterized in many ways from being "logical" and "unambiguous" to "culturally neutral".

The characterization that this text aims to reveal is that Lojban is both rational (it makes sense) and regular (it always works the same).

From this rationality and regularity comes a simplicity that makes Lojban easier to learn than anyone really ever expects it to be at first.

Tip:

If you take the following passages at reading speed you will likely find yourself lost in the forest very quickly. Each tiny section is a conceptual neutronium diamond. The slower you go, the better time you'll have at absorbing what it is trying to tell you.

In the end, if you're confused use that as inspiration to dig deeper and you'll be fine!

* CORE GRAMMAR ** Parts of Language In Language there are three major parts:

nouns: the things we talk about

verbs: tell us what the nouns do

sentences: says something using nouns and verbs

** Types of Words Lojban only has two kinds of words:

particles: short words that perform grammar functions

verbs: tell us what nouns do

** What about Nouns? What about nouns?!

Hold that thought.

** Standard Form Every sentence follows the form:

i x1 VERB x2 x3 xN

"i" separates multiple sentences

the first noun appears before the verb

additional nouns follow the verb

** Verbs Say What Nouns Do Verbs tell us what the nouns do:

dunda: x1 donates gift x2 to beneficiary x3

[donor] dunda [gift] [benefactor]

├──────┼──────┼────────┤

x1 verb x2 x3

** Simple Pro-nouns Some particles act like pro-nouns:

mi - me, the speaker do - you, the listener ti - this, something nearby

** Verbs and Nouns You can put nouns in place and the verb says what they do:

mi dunda ti do

[donor] │ [gift] [beneficiary]

├──────┼──────┼────────┤

x1 verb x2 x3

"I give this to you."

** Rearranging Nouns Putting the nouns into different places changes what they do:

do* dunda ti mi*

[donor] │ [gift] [beneficiary]

├──────┼──────┼────────┤

x1 verb x2 x3

"You give this to me."

** Converting Verbs to Nouns The particles "lo" and "ku" convert verbs to nouns from the x1 role:

Pattern: lo VERB ku => NOUN from x1

dunda: x1 donates gift x2 to beneficiary x3

▼

verb ┌─┴─┐

lo dunda ku <== [donor] dunda [gift] [benefactor] ─────┬───── ├──────┼──────┼────────┤ noun x1 verb x2 x3

"lo dunda ku" creates a noun-description which refers to "a donor"

mi dunda ti lo dunda ku

[donor] │ [gift] [beneficiary]

├──────┼──────┼────────┤

x1 verb x2 x3

"I gave this to a donor."

** Complex Sentences Using multiple verbs, complex sentences can be formed:

mlatu: x1 is a cat

pinxe: x1 drinks beverage x2

ladru: x1 is milk

lo mlatu ku pinxe lo ladru ku

[drinker] │ [beverage]

├──────────┼─────────┤

x1 verb x2

"A cat drinks some milk."

** The Drama of Language You can think of the example in 1:10 as being a stage-play, directed by the Verb and starring the Nouns.

Breakfast Time, a play by Pinxe!

The Verb Director tells us what Roles are available and What Happens:

Pinxe says, "x1 drinks beverage x2"

Story Outline: [drinker] pinxe [beverage]

SCRIPT:

1. A Drinker drinks!
2. A Beverage is imbibed!

CAST:

The lead Drinker : lo mlatu ku (mlatu's x1 - "a cat") The supporting Beverage: lo ladru ku (ladru's x1 - "some milk")

STAGE:

lo mlatu ku pinxe lo ladru ku <= actors in the play

[drinker] │ [beverage] <= roles in the play

├──────────┼─────────┤

role1 director role2

"A cat drinks some milk."

** Rearranging Verbs The particles of the SE family rearrange verbs:

Pattern: SE VERB => VERB'

The roles of the x1 and xN nouns, what they do, is swapped in the new modified verb:

klama: x1 travels to destination x2 from origin x3 via route x4 in vechile x5

X1 | VERB | X2 | X3 | X4 | X5 |
traveller | klama | destination | origin | route | vehicle |

x1◄ ►x2 | destination | se klama | traveller | origin | route | vehicle | x1◄ ►x3 | origin | te klama | destination | traveller | route | vehicle | x1◄ ►x4 | route | ve klama | destination | origin | traveller | vehicle | x1◄ ►x5 | vehicle | xe klama | destination | origin | route | traveller |

se klama: to destination x1, traveller x2 goes from origin x3 via route x4 in vehicle x5

and so on..

** SE In Action These SE modified verbs are useful both in making nouns and as the main verb of sentences:

fraxu: x1 forgives x2 for x3

vecnu: x1 sells x2 to buyer x3 for price x4

dakfu: x1 is a knife

lo se fraxu ku te vecnu lo dakfu ku

[buyer] | [goods]

└────────────┴───────────┘

"The forgiven buys a knife."

friti: x1 offers x2 to x3

xamgu: x1 is beneficial to x2

ginka: x1 is an encampment of x2

lo se friti ku xamgu lo se ginka ku

[benefit] | [beneficiary]

└───────────┴───────────┘

"The offering is good for the campers."

** FA Labels The FA family of particles allows for breaking the default noun ordering of sentences without modifying the verb:

Pattern: FA NOUN => NOUN'

fa : x1 Each particle from the FA family fe : x2 simply specifies what the following fi : x3 noun is doing in the sentence. In fo : x4 other words which role from the verb fu : x5 it fills.

This allows you put all of the nouns after the verb:

dunda fa mi ti do - "I donate this to you"

Or skip some places entirely:

mi dunda fi do - "I donate to you"

Counting resumes from any FA particle:

fe ti dunda fa mi do - "I donate this to you" ──┬── ──┬── ─┐ x2 x1 x3

** Cmavo and Brivla Lojban has names for the two kinds of words that make up its dictionary:

"cmavo" - mi, ti, do, lo, ku

• small word that performs a grammatical function
• categorized into families

"brivla" : dunda, klama, mlatu, ladru

• a word that produces a grammatical verb
• has a definition with 1 or more noun roles

** Selbri Sumti and Bridi It also has names for the different parts of speech that come to life in lojban sentences:

"selbri" - the verb phrases central to sentences and nouns

"sumti" - the noun phrases that take on semantic roles

"bridi" - the combination of a selbri and its sumti

LEGEND:

<> - selbri verb [] - sumti noun {} - bridi statement

Notice how selbri verb phrases appear throughout:

lo <se <jdice>> ku <nandu> lo <sonci> ku

Sumti nouns are placed around the root selbri:

[lo se jdice ku] nandu [lo sonci ku]

And the whole structure, a selbri with its sumti, is a bridi:

{lo se jdice ku nandu lo sonci ku}

** Tanru By combining multiple consecutive independent selbri you can create a "tanru" which is a compound-selbri verb:

mi <<djica> <citka>> lo <plise> ku "I want-eat an apple."

Two brivla "cidja" and "dunda" come together below to create a compound-selbri inside a sumti:

Simple Selbri

┌───┴───┐

lo <<cidja> <dunda>> ku <prami> lo <prenu> ku

└───────┬───────┘

Selbri Tanru

"The food-donor loves people."

But what is the definition of a composite-selbri or "tanru"?

Tanru are metaphorical, so their full meaning is ambiguous. However, basic structure of the definition is that of the right most selbri component:

gleki : x1 is happy about x2

cadzu : x1 walks on surface x2

gleki cadzu : x1 happy-walks on surface x2

What does "happy-walk" really mean? Only the speaker knows for sure!