Many Lojbanists dislike the cultural gismu: merko, fraso, gento, etc. If some cultures get them, and others do not, they’re very direct evidence that Lojban doesn’t treat all cultures the same way, violating one of its own foundational principles (cultural neutrality)!
On the experimental rafsi page, a new system involving the rafsi -goi- is proposed:
-goi- is a proposed special rafsi, modifying the previous rafsi to indicate “cultural rafsi”. This allows rafsi with existing assignments to also be assigned to a culture, giving more space for each major culture to get a rafsi. e.g. -sfegoi- might be able to represent sfe'ero (Swedish), despite -sfe- already being assigned to sefta. In another part of this proposal, existing cultural rafsi will also be reassigned to also use -goi-, so as to be more culturally neutral.
Spheniscine made some suggested reassignments of the existing culture words to goi-lujvo. However, these are ad-hoc assignments based on the existing gismu, not made according to an algorithm.
Another existing solution is the gugdebubu series of words: fu'ivla created from gugde + an ISO 2-letter country code (here BB stands for Barbados). However, these words are quite lengthy and all share the same two consonants, which makes them sound a little silly (in my opinion).
Nobody seems to like either solution enough to apply it in practice. Tah-dah! I made a third one.
I tried to combine these solutions into a list of goi words for all ISO 2-letter country codes. In writing an algorithm that maps them as intuitively as possible, I had the idea that it doesn’t matter so much if the words are lujvo or zi'evla! And if they are zi'evla, then they can end in koi if it helps pronunciation.
For example, my word for the United States culture (code US) is uskoi. It’s the same length as merko, and immediately memorable. French is fergoi, Polish is pelgoi, Japanese is jepygoi. It works pretty well!
Also, the way I picked these words guarantees that you can append gu'e (to get the country word) and ru'u (to get the currency) while still maintaining valid Lojban words, like uskoigu'e (the United States) or uskoiru'u (US dollars).
Here’s the algorithm, in pseudocode:
- If the second letter is
W:- Return first letter (if not a vowel) +
aurgoi.
- Return first letter (if not a vowel) +
- Else, we continue. Compute the string β as follows:
1. If the second letter is one of
AEHIOQUY, then β is respectively'ar,'er,'aur,'ir,'or,kr,'ur,'air. Otherwise, β is the second letter itself. - Now, if the first letter is one of
AEIOUWY, make a zi'evla:- Let α be
ueif the first letter isW;ieif it’sY, or else the first letter itself. - Let γ be
skoiif β ends inx;koiif it ends in one ofcfkpst;rgoiif it ends ing; or elsegoi.
- Let α be
- Otherwise, make a lujvo:
- Let α be
xuif the first letter isH;kuif it’sQ, or else the first letter itself pluse. - Let γ be
ygoiif β ends incfkpstxg, elsegoi.
- Let α be
- Return aβγ concatenated.
Here are all the results:
AC ackoi Ascension
AD adgoi Andorra
AE a'ergoi United Arab Emirates
AF afkoi Afghanistan
AG agrgoi Antigua and Barbuda
AI a'irgoi Anguilla
AL algoi Albania
AM amgoi Armenia
AN angoi Netherlands Antilles
AO a'orgoi Angola
AQ akrgoi Antarctica
AR argoi Argentina
AS askoi American Samoa
AT atkoi Austria
AU a'urgoi Australia
AW aurgoi Aruba
AX axskoi Aland
AZ azgoi Azerbaijan
AZ azgoi Nagorno-Karabakh
BA be'argoi Bosnia and Herzegovina
BB bebgoi Barbados
BD bedgoi Bangladesh
BE be'ergoi Belgium
BF befygoi Burkina Faso
BG begygoi Bulgaria
BH be'aurgoi Bahrain
BI be'irgoi Burundi
BJ bejgoi Benin
BM bemgoi Bermuda
BN bengoi Brunei
BO be'orgoi Bolivia
BR bergoi Brazil
BS besygoi Bahamas, The
BT betygoi Bhutan
BV bevgoi Bouvet Island
BW baurgoi Botswana
BY be'airgoi Belarus
BZ bezgoi Belize
CA ce'argoi Canada
CC cecygoi Cocos (Keeling) Islands
CD cedgoi Congo-Kinshasa
CF cefygoi Central African Republic
CG cegygoi Congo-Brazzaville)
CH ce'aurgoi Switzerland
CI ce'irgoi Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
CK cekygoi Cook Islands
CL celgoi Chile
CM cemgoi Cameroon
CN cengoi China, People's Republic of
CO ce'orgoi Colombia
CR cergoi Costa Rica
CU ce'urgoi Cuba
CV cevgoi Cape Verde
CX cexygoi Christmas Island
CY ce'airgoi Cyprus
CY ce'airgoi Northern Cyprus
CZ cezgoi Czech Republic
DE de'ergoi Germany
DJ dejgoi Djibouti
DK dekygoi Denmark
DM demgoi Dominica
DO de'orgoi Dominican Republic
DZ dezgoi Algeria
EC eckoi Ecuador
EE e'ergoi Estonia
EG egrgoi Egypt
ER ergoi Eritrea
ES eskoi Spain
ET etkoi Ethiopia
FI fe'irgoi Finland
FJ fejgoi Fiji
FK fekygoi Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
FM femgoi Micronesia
FO fe'orgoi Faroe Islands
FR fergoi France
GA ge'argoi Gabon
GB gebgoi United Kingdom
GD gedgoi Grenada
GE ge'ergoi Georgia
GF gefygoi French Guiana
GG gegygoi Guernsey
GH ge'aurgoi Ghana
GI ge'irgoi Gibraltar
GL gelgoi Greenland
GM gemgoi Gambia, The
GN gengoi Guinea
GP gepygoi GuadeloupeSaint Martin
GQ gekrgoi Equatorial Guinea
GR gergoi Greece
GS gesygoi South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands
GT getygoi Guatemala
GU ge'urgoi Guam
GW gaurgoi Guinea-Bissau
GY ge'airgoi Guyana
HK xukygoi Hong Kong
HM xumgoi Heard Island and McDonald Islands
HN xungoi Honduras
HR xurgoi Croatia
HT xutygoi Haiti
HU xu'urgoi Hungary
ID idgoi Indonesia
IE i'ergoi Ireland
IL ilgoi Israel
IM imgoi Isle of Man
IN ingoi India
IO i'orgoi British Indian Ocean Territory
IQ ikrgoi Iraq
IR irgoi Iran
IS iskoi Iceland
IT itkoi Italy
JE je'ergoi Jersey
JM jemgoi Jamaica
JO je'orgoi Jordan
JP jepygoi Japan
KE ke'ergoi Kenya
KG kegygoi Kyrgyzstan
KH ke'aurgoi Cambodia
KI ke'irgoi Kiribati
KM kemgoi Comoros
KN kengoi Saint Kitts and Nevis
KP kepygoi Korea, North
KR kergoi Korea, South
KW kaurgoi Kuwait
KY ke'airgoi Cayman Islands
KZ kezgoi Kazakhstan
LA le'argoi Laos
LB lebgoi Lebanon
LC lecygoi Saint Lucia
LI le'irgoi Liechtenstein
LK lekygoi Sri Lanka
LR lergoi Liberia
LS lesygoi Lesotho
LT letygoi Lithuania
LU le'urgoi Luxembourg
LV levgoi Latvia
LY le'airgoi Libya
MA me'argoi Morocco
MC mecygoi Monaco
MD medgoi Moldova
ME me'ergoi Montenegro
MG megygoi Madagascar
MH me'aurgoi Marshall Islands
MK mekygoi Macedonia
ML melgoi Mali
MM memgoi Myanmar (Burma)
MN mengoi Mongolia
MO me'orgoi Macau
MP mepygoi Northern Mariana Islands
MQ mekrgoi Martinique
MR mergoi Mauritania
MS mesygoi Montserrat
MT metygoi Malta
MU me'urgoi Mauritius
MV mevgoi Maldives
MW maurgoi Malawi
MX mexygoi Mexico
MY me'airgoi Malaysia
MZ mezgoi Mozambique
NA ne'argoi Namibia
NC necygoi New Caledonia
NE ne'ergoi Niger
NF nefygoi Norfolk Island
NG negygoi Nigeria
NI ne'irgoi Nicaragua
NL nelgoi Netherlands
NO ne'orgoi Norway
NP nepygoi Nepal
NR nergoi Nauru
NU ne'urgoi Niue
NZ nezgoi New Zealand
OM omgoi Oman
PA pe'argoi Panama
PE pe'ergoi Peru
PF pefygoi French Polynesia
PG pegygoi Papua New Guinea
PH pe'aurgoi Philippines
PK pekygoi Pakistan
PL pelgoi Poland
PM pemgoi Saint Pierre and Miquelon
PN pengoi Pitcairn Islands
PR pergoi Puerto Rico
PT petygoi Portugal
PW paurgoi Palau
PY pe'airgoi Paraguay
QA ku'argoi Qatar
RE re'ergoi Reunion
RO re'orgoi Romania
RS resygoi Serbia
RU re'urgoi Russia
RW raurgoi Rwanda
SA se'argoi Saudi Arabia
SB sebgoi Solomon Islands
SC secygoi Seychelles
SD sedgoi Sudan
SE se'ergoi Sweden
SG segygoi Singapore
SH se'aurgoi Saint Helena
SI se'irgoi Slovenia
SJ sejgoi Svalbard
SK sekygoi Slovakia
SL selgoi Sierra Leone
SM semgoi San Marino
SN sengoi Senegal
SO se'orgoi Somalia
SO se'orgoi Somaliland
SR sergoi Suriname
ST setygoi Sao Tome and Principe
SV sevgoi El Salvador
SY se'airgoi Syria
SZ sezgoi Swaziland
TA te'argoi Tristan da Cunha
TC tecygoi Turks and Caicos Islands
TD tedgoi Chad
TF tefygoi French Southern and Antarctic Lands
TG tegygoi Togo
TH te'aurgoi Thailand
TJ tejgoi Tajikistan
TK tekygoi Tokelau
TL telgoi Timor-Leste (East Timor)
TM temgoi Turkmenistan
TN tengoi Tunisia
TO te'orgoi Tonga
TR tergoi Turkey
TT tetygoi Trinidad and Tobago
TV tevgoi Tuvalu
TW taurgoi China, Republic of (Taiwan)
TZ tezgoi Tanzania
UA u'argoi Ukraine
UG ugrgoi Uganda
UM umgoi United States Minor Outlying Islands
US uskoi United States
UY u'airgoi Uruguay
UZ uzgoi Uzbekistan
VA ve'argoi Vatican City
VC vecygoi Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
VE ve'ergoi Venezuela
VG vegygoi British Virgin Islands
VI ve'irgoi U.S. Virgin Islands
VN vengoi Vietnam
VU ve'urgoi Vanuatu
WF uefkoi Wallis and Futuna
WS ueskoi Samoa
YE ie'ergoi Yemen
YT ietkoi Mayotte
ZA ze'argoi South Africa
ZM zemgoi Zambia
ZW zaurgoi Zimbabwe