1
Notebook 3-Phonology
Transcriber's note: Yellow means changed from original, Red means unchanged but
suspicious, Green means unknown or missing text, sometimes interpolated. Original text had
no italics, so all italics are notes.
Notebook 3
THE PRESENT STATE
OF
THE LOGLAN™ LANGUAGE
By
James Cooke Brown
Copyright © 1987 by
The Loglan™ Institute, Inc.
A Non-Profit Research Corporation
1701 Northeast 75th Street
Gainesville FL 32601
U. S. A.
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PREFACE
The present work is a revision and extension of The Institute's two previous notebooks,
both published in 1982, and the two special issues of The Loglanist, TL6/1 (1983) and TL7/1
(1984), and it incorporates some material from the latter two works. The scope and
organization of this present work is quite new, however; in particular it is the first complete
description of the language to be published since 1975.
This account of New Loglan is long overdue and I apologize. Both financial reasons and
reasons of personal health have slowed The Institute's work down since the early 1980's,
when so much seemed to be being accomplished. One of the reasons is that that certain
parlor game which had supported the Loglan Project for so much of its life was withdrawn
from the market in 1983, and Loglan has had to go it alone ever since. Fortunately, we are
now on the verge of Going Public Again; so the long, dry period of Loglan's being everybody's
"poor relation" may soon be over. If, as everybody seems to think, Loglan is about to become
at least a modest commercial success, the project may at last become financially selfsupporting.
I wish to take this occasion to acknowledge the stalwart few who have contributed to the
work of The Institute over these last few, difficult years. Faith Rich has made a large
contribution to the next Loglan dictionary by completing the Eaton Interface. She was ably
helped in doing so by Jeffrey Taylor, Kieran Carroll and Robert McIvor. Unfortunately, their
work is not quite ready to be published. But it will, as I say, for the bulk of the next dictionary
of the Loglan language whenever that is published.
My daughter Jennifer Fuller Brown managed to bring the Optional Case Tags Project to a
happy conclusion this Spring; and the fruits of her work are in this notebook. Paloma Imañez
ably assisted me in bringing the Scientific Borrowings Project very nearly to an algorithmic
conclusion; but the fruits of that project are, as explained elsewhere, not quite ready to be
published. Glen Haydon has helped me put together the two MacTeach programs that are
now available. Bill Greenhood has counseled me from time to time on the proprieties of
scientific word-making. And Scott Layson has made yet another extraordinary gift to the
project by updating all the Lyces software–which is the tool with which I do my grammatical
work–for the more capacious environment of our new Zenith 100 computer.
Users of this notebook are invited to send in (1) notices of whatever errata they may find,
and (2) proposals for improving the language by adding to, changing, or deleting any of the
provisions described in this notebook. Please keep these two kinds of contributions separate,
however. Formal proposals will go to the Loglan Academy for assessment when they meet in
the early Spring of 1988; and the format for making proposals formally to the Academy has
been described in a recent Lognet. Notices of errata should also be kept separate from the
covering letter. Preferably they should be on sheets or cards that may be filed separately
from correspondence.
We at The Institute look forward to a vigorous testing of the language described in these
pages, and to GPA-ing with it in the very near future.
JCB
Gainesville
July 1987
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Notebook 3-Phonology
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword Page 11
CHAPTER 1. PHONOLOGY (SOUNDS & SOUND-VARIANTS)
15
1.1 Definitions and Conventions 15
1.2 Two Types of Phonemes
17
1.3 Regular Phonemes 17
1.4 The 6 Regular Vowels
17
1.5 The Advantages of Romance (aa) 18
1.6 The Two Spellings of 'e' of 'met'
19
1.7 The Odd Spellings of /i/ and /y/
19
1.8 /y/ as a Hyphen
20
1.9 /y/ as a Buffer 20
1.10
/iy/ as a Hyphen in Buffered Dialects 21
1.11
The Effect of Hyphenating and Buffering on Stress 21
1.12
/y/ in Names 21
Table 1.1 Permissible Pronunciations of the Twenty-Five Loglan Vowel-Pairs 22
1.13
1.14
1.15
1.16
1.17
1.18
1.19
1.20
1.21
1.22
1.23
1.24
1.25
1.26
The 25 Vowel-Pairs 22
The 10 Optionally Disyllabic Vowel-Pairs
The Pair-from-the-Left Rule 23
Indications of Syllabicity
24
The 17 Regular Consonants 25
The Odd Sounds of [C c] and [J j]
27
The Four Vocalic Consonants
27
The Unfamiliar Consonant Pairs
28
The Three Irregular Phonemes /q w x/
The Use of Irregular Phonemes in Names
Three Stress Phonemes
29
One Pause Phoneme 29
Intonation
30
Buffered Dialects
31
23
28
29
CHAPTER 2. MORPHOLOGY (WORDS & WORD-FORMS)
2.1 Design Objectives
33
2.2 Definitions and Conventions 33
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Notebook 3-Contents
Table 2.1 The Two Partitions and Three Classes of Loglan Words
2.3 Two Major Partitions and Three Word-Classes
A. THE MORPHOLOGY OF NAMES
35
35
37
2.4 The Forms of Names 37
2.5 The Pause Before Vowel-Initial Names
37
2.6 The Name-Marker Restriction on Names
37
2.7 Working Around the Name-Marker Restriction
38
2.8 Derivations of Names 39
2.9 Internal Names
39
2.10
External Names
39
2.11
Auditorily-Modeled External Names 39
2.12
Visually-Modeled External Names 40
2.13
The Linnaean Polynomials 41
2.14
Pronunciation of the Linnaean Polynomials 42
2.15
Writing Linnaean Names
43
2.16
The Post-Nominal Pause
43
2.17
Resolving Names
44
B. THE MORPHOLOGY OF STRUCTURE WORDS
2.18
2.19
2.20
2.21
2.22
2.23
2.24
2.25
2.26
2.27
2.28
2.29
2.30
2.31
2.32
45
The Functions of Structure Words 45
The Four Little-Word Forms 45
Compound Little Words
46
Letter-Words 47
Suffixes for the 52 Latin Letter-Words
47
Suffixes for the 48 Greek Letter-Words
48
Uses of Letter-Words 48
Spelling Aloud 49
Little Word Predicates 49
Mathematical Predicates
49
The "No Pausing Inside Words" Rule 50
Acronymic Predicates 50
Pause and Stress around Acronymic Words and Letter-Words
Pause and Stress around Dimensioned Numbers 52
Acronym Recovery Rules
53
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5
2.33
Notebook 3-Phonology
Resolving Structure Words
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Notebook 3-Contents
C. THE MORPHOLOGY OF PREDICATES
2.34
2.35
2.36
2.37
2.38
2.39
2.40
2.41
2.42
2.43
2.44
2.45
2.46
2.47
2.48
2.49
2.50
2.51
2.52
2.53
2.54
2.55
2.56
2.57
2.58
2.59
2.60
2.61
2.62
2.63
57
The Functions of Predicates 57
A Temporary Stress-Marking Convention
57
The Post-Emphatic and Intervocalic Pauses 58
Stress in Predicates 58
The Forms of Predicates
59
Three Kinds of Predicates
60
Primitives
60
Complexes
60
Borrowings
61
Consonant-Pairs
62
Permissible Medials 62
Intelligibility at the C/CC-Joint62
Hyphenation 63
Permissible Initials
63
The Decipherability of Complexes 64
Affix-Length and Frequency of Use 64
Term-Reduction
64
Long Affixes 65
Short Affixes & their Derivations
65
Affix-Assignment & Coverage66
Preempted CVr Affixes
66
Making Complexes 66
The "Tosmabru Test" 67
Allowable Borrowings 67
The "Slinkui Test"
68
The Resolution & Partial Classification of Predicates
The Predicate Resolution Algorithm 70
Term-Resolution
70
The Recognition of Borrowings
71
Making Borrowed Predicates 71
CHAPTER 3. LEXICON (WORDS & SPEECH PARTS) 73
3.1 Definitions and Conventions 73
(The *-ed lexemes are machine-oriented)
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Lexeme A: Afterthought Connectives (Eks)
Lexeme ACI:
Hyphenating Eks
75
Lexeme AGE:
Right-Grouping Eks 75
Lexeme BI:
Identity Operators
76
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Notebook 3-Phonology
*Lexeme BAD
76
Lexeme CA:
Predicate Word Connectives (Sheks)
76
Lexeme CI:
The Interverbal hyphen
77
Lexeme CUI:
The Shek Left-Parenthesis 77
Lexeme DA:
Variables
77
Lexeme DIO:
Argument Tags
78
Lexeme DJAN: Name Words 79
*Lexeme END
79
*Lexeme FI:
The Utterance Ordinal Suffix 79
Lexeme GE:
The Grouping Operator
80
Lexeme GI:
The Fronting Operator
80
Lexeme GO:
The Inversion Operator
80
Lexeme GU:
The Optional Right Boundary Marker ("Comma") 81
Lexeme GUE:
The GE-Group Optional Terminator 81
Lexeme HOI:
The Vocative Marker 81
Lexeme HU:
The Interrogative Argument 82
Lexeme I: Sentence Connectives (Eesheks)
82
Lexeme ICI:
Hyphenating Eesheks 83
Lexeme IE:
The Identity Interrogative
83
Lexeme IGE:
Right-Grouping Eesheks
84
Lexeme JE:
The First Linking Operator 84
Lexeme JI:Argument Modification Links 84
Lexeme JIO:
Subordinate Clause Links
84
Lexeme JO:
Metaphorizers 85
Lexeme JUE:
The Second Linking Operator 85
Lexeme KA:
Prefix Members of Forethought Connectives (Keks) 85
Lexeme KI:
Infixes for Forethought Connectives (Keks) 87
Lexeme KIE:
The Left-Parenthesis 87
Lexeme KIU:
The Right-Parenthesis
87
Lexeme LA:
The Name Operator 88
Lexeme LAE
Indirect Designation Operators
88
Lexeme LE:
Descriptors 89
Lexeme LEPO: Event Operators
89
Lexeme LI:
The Left Quotation Operator 90
Lexeme LIE:
The Strong Quotation Operator
90
Lexeme LIO:
The Number Designator
90
Lexeme LIU:
The Single-Word Quotation Operator91
Lexeme LU:
The Right Quotation Operator
91
*Lexemes M1 through M11
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91
9
Lexeme ME:
Lexeme NI:
Lexeme NO:
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The Predifying Operator
Quantifiers
92
The Negation Operator
92
93
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Notebook 3-Phonology
*Lexeme NOI:
Lexeme NU:
Lexeme PA:
The Negation Suffix 94
Conversion Operators94
Inflectors/Adverbs/Prepositions
Tense Operators
Location Operators
Modal Operators
Causal Operators
The Ga Operator
Lexeme PAUSE:
Lexeme PO:
Lexeme PREDA:
*Lexeme RA:
Lexeme TAI:
Lexeme UI:
95
96
96
97
97
The Pause-Comma 98
Abstraction Operators 98
Predicate Words
100
Numerical Predicate Suffixes 101
Letter Variables
101
Free Modifiers 103
Attitudinals
104
Discursives 104
Relative Interrogatives
105
Utterance Ordinals 106
Salutations
106
A Note on Other Free Modifiers
Lexeme ZE:
*Lexeme ZI:
Lexeme ZO:
106
The Joining Operator 106
Magnitude Suffixes 107
The Quantity Abstractor
107
CHAPTER 4. GRAMMAR (UTTERANCE FORMS)
4.1 Design Objectives
109
4.2 Definitions and Conventions 109
4.3 The Structure of Loglan Grammar
Group A.
Group B.
Group C.
Group D.
111
The Optional Punctuators, Rules 1-7 112
Linked Arguments, Rules 8-19
114
Predicate Units, Rules 20-33 115
Descriptive Predicates, Rules 34-48 117
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94
109
11
Group E.
Group F.
Group G.
Group H.
Group I.
Notebook 3-Phonology
Sentence Predicates, Rules 49-58 118
Modifiers, Rules 59-67
120
Arguments, Rules 68-116
121
Terms & Term Sets, Rules 117-127 125
Predicates, Rules 128-154 127
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Group J. Sentences, Rules 155-164
Group K. Utterances, Rules 165-194
130
132
LIST 1.
LIST 2.
LIST 3.
LIST 4.
PRIMITIVE PREDICATES, L-E (By Loglan) 137
PRIMITIVE PREDICATES, E-L (By English) 147
SHORT AFFIXES
157
CASES OF THE PRIMITIVE ARGUMENTS 167
LIST 5.
THE TEACHING CORPUS (LWs are listed where they are first used)
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
179
Imperatives & Responses (eo ao ai ae ti tu mi no) 179
Address & Response; Offers & Replies (loi loa sia siu ea oi mu) 179
Addressing vs. Naming (la ta e hoi) 180
Descriptions (le ne su gu)
181
Questions with he; Demonstratives & Plurals; Replacement with da
(he da na ri ro levi leva) 182
F. Identity Questions & Sentences; Replacement with de & dui
(ie bi hu I de dui) 182
G. Yes/No Questions & Answers; Utterance Demonstratives
(ei ia toi toa)
183
H. Tenses; Time Questions & Answers; Local Modification; Punctuation (pa fa ji ipou
nahu) 184
I. Time Phrases (pahu fahu fazi pazu tiu)
185
J. Space Questions & Answers; Space Phrases (vi va vu vihu vahu vuhu) 186
K. Existentials & Universals; Completion (ba be bo bu
raba rabe rabo nibe ifeu inusoa vina uu) 187
L. Predicate Strings; Grouping, Hyphenation, Connection & Inversion (ge go ci ce ke ki)
188
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M. More Connections & Groupings in Predicate Strings (gue cui canoi ka kanoi)
189
N. Event/State Predicates; Other Abstractions (po pu zo di) 191
O. Mass & Event Descriptions; Mass Event Descriptions (lo lovi lepo lopo) 192
P. Specified & Nested Event Descriptions (No new LWs.)
193
Q. Attitude Indication; Conversion, Negation & Superlatives (uo ue ua uu ui nu fu) 194
R. Counting, Quantifying & Numerical Questions (to te fo fe so se vo ve
iesu iene ho hoba toba teba foba soba) 196
S. Quantified Descriptions & Questions (iete iefo ieho) 197
T. Measurement, Dimensioned Numbers & Numerical Description (lio lepa -ma-mei-dai)
198
U. Linked Description; Identity Clauses; Replacement with Letter-Words; Mixed
Predicates and Arguments (je jue ze sui -mo -ai-ei dai/dei, etc.) 199
V. Identifying vs. Claiming Subordinated Clauses (jio jia)
200
W. Sentence, Predicate & Argument Negation (ni)
201
X. Quotation of Loglan; Fronted Arguments (li lu liu gi) 202
Y. Predicates from Arguments and Prenex Quantifiers (me me- goi) 202
Z. Prenex Quantifiers (goi)
203
AA.Connected Arguments & Predicates; Joint Argument Sets
(a anoi onoi noa efa epa gugu do)
204
BB.Causal Inflectors, Modifiers & Phrases
(moi soa kou moipa numoi kouhu moiju nukouhu)
206
CC.
Compound Term Connectives (enumoi unukou efa eva epa)
207
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DD.
Connective Questions (ha enoi noenoi)
208
EE.
Internal Arguments (No new LWs.) 208
FF.
Argument Ordinals (HB-tags) (pua pue pui puo puu)
209
GG.
Compound & Connected Tenses (-fa--pa--na-ra-ne-ni--noi-)
HH.
Logically Connected Clauses (inoca icanoi ica ice) 211
II. Causally-Connected Clauses (i-ki-) 212
JJ. Indirect Designation; Foreign Quotation (lae sae lie)
212
KK.Metaphor-Marking or "Figurative Quotation" (ja)
213
LL.
Letter-Variables and Acronyms(-z-) 214
MM.
Predicates as Names & Vocatives (No new LWs.) 215
NN.
Grouped & Ungrouped Afterthought Connectives (i--ge-ci) 215
OO.
Spelling (No new LWs)
216
PP.
Sentences in VOS order (goa)
217
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Notebook 3-Phonology
FOREWORD
The objectives of the present notebook are three. The first is to provide users of
the 1975 language with a description of the present language which will allow them to
become competent in Loglan once again. Once that is accomplished, I would hope
these rearmed loglanists would then use the enlarged domain of modern Loglan in
creative and testing ways, and communication to The Institute their results. But there
is a second objective. I have also tried to create a document that will serve as a
teaching text–buttressed, as it now can be, by the two "MacTeach" (computerized
flashcard) programs that have recently become available for learning primitives and
affixes–but intended mainly for those who wish to learn the current language more or
less from scratch. The third objective is to provide a technically complete description
of the language that will serve as the easily updated reference manual we will soon
need to back up the less formal and more popular publications which The Institute
plans to offer to the general public when we go public again…a development of which,
we trust, this notebook will be the final forerunner.
Current Loglan has emerged over the last four or five years from the word-making,
grammar-expanding, and translating activities of a very few people. Their work has
enlarged the language considerably, both in vocabulary, in grammatical domain, and
in usage, and is now ready to be reported out. The translating and word-making
activities were outgrowths of–actually, they were deliberately undertaken engineering
test of–our more publically connected 1976-1982 design studies of usage, grammar,
and morphology…the last two having been called affectionately the MacGram
("machine grammar") and the GMR ("Great Morphological Revolution") projects,
respectively, while they were still underway.
But well before these various engineering projects had boosted Loglan into a new
and higher state, an active corps of competent users, albeit a small one, had
developed by 1978 or '79 out of our 1975 publications. To be sure, their competence
was in a language–or rather, in what were sometimes highly personal extrapolations
from a plan for a language–which was substantially but incompletely described in the
two 1975 books Loglan 1 and Loglan 4 & 5, and in the first four volumes of The
Loglanist, 1976 through 1980, most notably in the Supplement to Loglan 1, a
special issue of TL published in November 1980 which was the capstone of the first
four years of public discussion. Incomplete as those earlier documentations of the
language were even then, however, they are now, in addition, very badly out of date.
And while there have been two subsequent special issues of The Loglanist–TL6/1 in
1983 and TL7/1 in 1984, issues designed to help people catch up with the thencurrent states of the language–even these two documents largely antedate the recent
word-making, translating and grammar-expanding activities and so no longer tell the
whole story.
Thus the first goal of the present notebook is simply to update the documentation
of the language and make it whole. If that could be done well, I reckoned, then this
third notebook would provide a tool with which one-competent loglanists would be
able rapidly to restore their competence should they wish to do so. To serve their
more sophisticated and often technical purposes, therefore, I have striven mainly to
produce a description of the present language as I know it that would be as complete,
as technically exact, and as conveniently cross-referenced as I have been able to
make it.
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It was during the early days of writing for experts in the Spring of 1986 that the
notebook acquired its second purpose. A large number of the current partisans of
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Loglan, I had been learning, happen to have joined the project well after the
creative ferment of the late '70's, and so did not participate in it. Moreover, there are
many current loglanists who, though "old hands" in the historical sense, had never
actually mastered the old language before it disappeared again into the engineering
laboratory. Both kinds of potential users of the notebook began to write me. They, too,
hoped to get some mileage out of the new notebook, especially now that
developmental research on the language appeared to be slowing down. For these
relative newcomers, then, but also for those old hands who have been until now only
onlookers, I have tried to erect a second kind of document on the substructure
provided by the first. In addition to a technical description of the current language, I
have tried to produce a didactically useful, amply-illustrated account of the language
from the point of view of the second-language learner. I have tried, in short, to provide
these two kinds of sometime students of the language with the means by which, with
some personal effort, they may at last become its masters.
These two objectives have not always been easy bedfellows. As the second one
began to press itself upon me last Spring I had to admit that a book that promised also
to be a reference manual for one-time experts is not an ideal place in which to teach a
second language to completely innocent newcomers. Even so, examples are
necessary even for experts. And an algorithm or two can be endured by such
newcomers as choose to consort with experts. So I have attempted to select the
examples and illustrations in this book in such a way that they will, of themselves,
constitute a gradual climb through the structure of the language, starting at ground
level with the utter simplicity of its phonology, rising through morphological and lexical
materials of middle difficulty, and ending with what may, I fear, be found the
stratospheric intricacies of the machine grammar. It is I trust a compact account, but it
does move through these several levels of intellectual difficulty. (The language itself,
of course, remains refreshingly simple…as I trust the reader will soon rediscover. It is
just these increasingly exact scientific descriptions of it–which have been made
possible and in some sense necessary by our increasingly exact understanding of it–
that sometimes border on the intricate.)
There is a third objective of which I have only recently become aware; and that is
the possibility that a second edition of Notebook 3 may even now be looming.
Suitably retitled, the next update of this notebook may very well be the one that
accompanies the fourth edition of Loglan 1 to the marketplace. This will probably be
in the Spring or Summer of 1988; for it is then that The Institute presently plans to "go
public again" with the language. If these plans do indeed develop in this way, then
Notebook 3 may be the first in a long series of continuously updated technical
manuals, the purpose of which will be to describe in a single place the current state of
the whole language. None of the specific requirements of that looming reference
manual have, however, shaped the writing of the notebook…except of course for that
ubiquitous canon of completeness, which has been dictated by the first objective as
well.
A final note, and an apology. Earlier accounts of the contents planned for
Notebook 3 announced that it would include a small but exemplary vocabulary of
scientific borrowings, as well as the algorithm that made them. I meant also to include
the translation forays I had made into the international literature of science; for these
had provided the test words in the first place and were meant, in the end, to contain
them. These translation materials are not included. The latest reasonable date for the
publication of this notebook–already twice delayed–was Mid-Summer 1987. I could
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Notebook 3-Phonology
make the algorithm for the construction of "best scientific words"–a process that
involved, as usual, a statistical analysis of the many judges' opinions I have
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Notebook 3-Phonology
collected–in time to include it, and the vocabulary it was intended to make
exemplary, in the notebook. And to publish my translations with a non-exemplary
vocabulary seemed counter-productive. I am sorry to disappoint those readers who
expected to find this textual material in this notebook. Perhaps another notebook will
be in order after this one has had its day. On the other hand, it seems increasingly
likely that the next large task for The Institute, after the loglanists have made whatever
use they wish to make of this one, will be GPA (The Institute's acronym for Going
Public Again).
But even without the scientific word-list, and the translations that evoked them, the
contents of Notebook 3 will, I trust, be found substantial. It not only contains the most
complete description of this developing language that has ever yet been published, it
is the first publication since 1975 that even purports to describe the language as a
whole. I trust, therefore, that everyone who endures the long march through its lists
and pages will have a reasonably good chance of learning to use, for da's own
purposes, the extraordinarily rich creative instrument that Loglan has lately become.
JCB
Gainesville
July 1987
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Notebook 3-Phonology
CHAPTER 1
PHONOLOGY (SOUNDS & SOUND-VARIANTS)
1.1 Definitions and Conventions: We require a small technical vocabulary. A
phoneme is a class of one or more speech-sounds all of which are regarded as
"instances of the same sound" by the speakers of some language. The individual
sounds so classified are called phones. All the phones which are members of a given
phoneme are called its allophones. I shall use strokes [/] to mark off phonemes, sets
of phonemes, and phonemic transcriptions. Thus /a/ is a phoneme, /a e i o u/ is a set
of phonemes, and /eAmuGODzi/ is a phonemic transcription. I shall use
parentheses to mark off phones, sets of phones, and phonetic transcriptions. Thus
(ah) is a phone, (ah aa) are the allophones of phoneme /a/, and (ey-AH-mo-GOHDzee) is the phonetic transcription of the utterance phonemically transcribed as
/eAmuGODzi/. The utterance itself is Ea mu godzi; it means 'Let's go!' Phonetic
transcriptions of utterances will sometimes be called guides; they are phonetic guides
to at least one way of pronouncing those utterances. Phonemic transcriptions are
often referred to simply as productions. They exhibit one of the ways an utterance
might be produced in speech.
Stressed syllables are shown in uppercase letters in both the guides and
productions. Hyphens are used to show syllabification in guides. Stress rise and fall,
shown by the shift from lower to upper case characters, are normally sufficient to
show syllabification in productions. But when there are strings of unstressed vowels it
is sometimes necessary to show syllable breaks in a production by using closecommas (commas without an adjacent space), e.g., /i,aimiGODzi/. This production
shows us that the utterance involved was I ai mi godzi = 'And yes I intend to go'. The
close-comma between them puts /i/ and /ai/ in separate syllables. Without the closecomma, the default syllabification rule would pair the vowels from the left. Thus
/iaimiGODzi/ syllabifies as (yah-ee-me-GOHD-zi), and this gives quite a different
resolution, namely *Ia i mi godzi = 'Certainly; and I go'.
The asterisk [*] on *Ia i mi godzi shows that this utterance is wrongly
pronounced. I shall use leading asterisks [*] to mark all expressions which are
illegitimate at some level or correctness, whether that level is phonological,
morphological or grammatical. Even bad usages are so marked. *Ia i mi godzi is
morphologically incorrect because it is missing an obligatory pause before the little
work I; such pauses are sometimes necessary for resolution. I shall use leading
question-marks [?] to show that an express is of unknown legitimacy–unknown, that
is, to the reader. Thus? Ia i mi godzi is how we would mark this utterance before the
reader is expected to know that it is malformed.
Pauses are shown in written specimens either by a comma-space, e.g., Ia, ice
mi godzi ('Certainly; and I go') or by period-spaces which require two following
spaces, e.g., ia I mi godzi ('Certainly. I go'). The second marking is equivalent to the
full-stop in English. Both pauses are shown in productions by close-periods, e.g.,
/ia.imiGODzi/, and in the guides by open-periods (space-period-space). E.g., (yah .
ee-mee-GOHD-zee). So the correct pronunciation of these last two specimens is
given by the pair of guides (yah . ee-mee-GOHD-zee) for the one that means
'Certainly. I go' and (ya . EE-sheh-mee-GOHD-zee) for the one that means 'Certainly;
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I go'. A silence is the long pause before an utterance begins or after one ends; it is
not usually
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useful to show silences in productions, but when it useful to do so they are shown
by pound-signs [#]. A breathgroup is a pauseless string of phonemes lying between
pauses, silences, or pauses and silences in either order.
I shall use square brackets to enclose textual characters, or sets or strings of
characters. Thus [a] and [l] are visual characters; [, ] is the comma-space and [. ] is
the period-space; [ . ] is the open-period used in guides; while [,] [.] and [#] are the
close-comma, close-period and silence, respectively, used in phonemic transcriptions.
Although we will rarely have occasion to use bracketed utterances, we can also say
that [Ea mu godzi] and [Let us go.] are visually perceived utterances, that is, pieces of
text.
Sometimes I shall wish to refer to characters that are not on the fonts available to
me for printing this document. I shall say, for example, that in lieu of the proper
characters the printed expression [alpha] stands for the Greek lower-case character
called alpha while [Alpha] refers to the upper case version of that character.
I shall, as is customary in Institute publications, use bolding to mark Loglan
specimens whenever their status as text or speech is immaterial. Thus Ea mu godzi
is the utterance variously represented above. I shall also use bolding to indicate
emphatic stress in both phonemic transcriptions and guides: /eAmuGODzi/ = /ey-AHmoo-GOHD-zee/ = 'Let's go!' I shall use single quotes to mark non-Loglan (usually
English) specimens when the mode of delivery is immaterial, and I shall be using
underlining for emphasis in both such non-Loglan specimens and in ordinary test.
Thus 'Let's go!' is a translation of Ea mu godzi pronounced as /eAmuGODzi/ with no
special stress on any word, while 'Let us go!' is a translation of the same utterance
when pronounced /eAmuGODzi/ with godzi emphasized. (Bolding is also used for
titles, technical terms about to be defined, and for chapter, page and section heading
in this document…I trust without confusion.) I shall use double-quotes for English
expressions in the text which are either not being used literally or which have not been
defined yet. Thus the allophones of a phoneme may be said to be "instances of the
same sound" but are not literally.
The Loglan words which I customarily use as English words when I am addressing
loglanists remain unmarked. For example, 'sutori', which means 'at least second' or
'second and subsequent', as in 'the sutori places of the predicate', has become a
quasi-English word in my idiolect and so is undistinguished in my English prose…just
as the French, German or Latin words and phrases which have been taken into
English are now usually unmarked in written English ('That's a priori reasoning' 'He's a
gestalt psychologist'). I expect loglandical readers to know the meanings of these
borrowings from Loglan, as from German or Latin, or to catch up by looking them up.
Besides, they impart a usefully loglandic flavor to one's English thought and speech.
The borrowings from Loglan which I notice I use most frequently are 'da' and its kin. I
treat these words as genderless, numberless, and caseless 3rd person English
pronouns.
I occasionally use the sign '=>' to mean 'is the source of', '<=' to mean 'is derived
from', and '=' between a specimen and its translation to mean 'has approximately the
same meaning as'. I use parentheses for other uses than Loglan phonetics, of course,
as in the next paragraph. I trust this will cause no confusion.
I have used least equivocal spellings in ordinary English letters (a procedure
made familiar by the Berlitz people) to represent all the Loglan phones we'll need.
Thus, I've used (sh) to represent the sound of Loglan /c/, (ee) for the principal sound
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of Loglan /i/, (oo) for the main value of its /u/, (igh) for the otherwise hopelessly
equivocally-spelled 'eye/aye/I'-sound of English, which in Loglan is the sound of the
diphthong /ai/, and I've used (eigh) for the sound it invariably spells in such words as
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'eight' and 'freight' for one of the two allophones of Loglan /e/; and I have chosen
to do this rather than use the special symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
The IPA symbols are not widely understood except among linguists; changing fonts to
print them would slow down the production of this notebook by about a factor of ten;
and our discussion of the sounds of Loglan loses little in technical precision by our
adoption of this humbling convention. Phonetic issues in Loglan are not so wideranging that they require the full armamentarium of modern phonetic scripts.
1.2 Two types of Phonemes: There are two types of Phonemes in Loglan; the
regular phonemes that are used throughout the language, and the irregular ones
that may be used only in (proper) names. The term 'name' will always mean a proper
name in our discussion of Loglan.
1.3 Regular Phonemes: There are 23 regular phonemes in Loglan: /a b c d e f g
h I j k l m n o p r s t u v y z/; so to represent them, Loglan uses the entire English
alphabet less the letters [q w x]. Two of these phonemes, /h y/, are new since 1975.
/h/ was added in 1981 because it was present in all the target languages and adding it
made some much needed word-space available for new little words. Unexpectedly,
incorporating /h/ also increased the average recognition scores of Loglan composite
primitives (C-Prims) due to the large improvement in the recognizability of the 100 or
so primitives that were remade with /h/. Schwa was added in 1981 as the buffer in
buffered dialects and was assigned the unused English letter [y]. In 1986 the sound /y/
was given the even more important function of serving as the intraverbal hyphen in
regular words; see Sec. 1.8.
1.4 The 6 Regular Vowels: The 6 regular vowels are pronounced a in the
following table. The primary allophone is given first, the second, if one is recognized,
appears on following lines:
/
As in 'father' in the Germanic dialects of Loglan, but
a/
as in S. 'casa', F. 'la' and E. 'palm' in the Romance
dialects. In the "standard" (Gainesville) dialect, the
Romance pronunciation is preferred.
Romance /a/, as in S. 'casa', F. 'la' & E. 'palm'
(a
a)
Germanic /a/, as in G. 'vater' & E. 'father'
(a
h)
Problems: In unstressed syllables, /a/ is occasionally
but incorrectly pronounced as in 'about' or 'sofa' which
permits it to be confused with the 'uh' sound of /y/; see
below.
/
As in 'met'
e/
Before vowels, the sound of 'eigh' in 'freight' or 'a' in
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(e
)
or
(eh)
(ei
26
Notebook 3-Phonology
'ate'; it is also the first part of the diphthong 'ey' in 'grey'.
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gh)
27
Notebook 3-Phonology
Problems: There is a strong tendency for Englishspeaking persons to use either the monophthong (eigh) as
in 'eight' or the diphthong (ay) as in 'day' for /e/ in V-final
monosyllables, i.e., to say 'day' for de and 'say' for se.
This must be resisted, if only because Loglan words like
dei and sei also exist in which the diphthong (ay) is
genuinely present. This tendency can be resisted by
making sure that de se are pronounced like the first parts
of 'debt' 'set'. These then contract sharply with dei sei as
properly pronounced (day say).
/
As in 'machine'
Before vowels, 'y' as in 'yet'
i/
(
ee)
(
y)
/
o/
As in 'note', but shorter; resist the tendency to say 'ohoo'
(
oh)
Before /r i/, as in 'more' or 'noise'
(
aw)
/
u/
As in 'lute' but shorter; resist the tendency to say 'oooo'
(
oo)
Before vowels, 'w' as in 'woo'
(
w)
/
y/
/e/ as in unstressed 'the', 'a' in 'sofa' and 'above', 'u' in
'up' and 'under'
(
uh)
1.5 The Advantages of Romance (aa): Loglan /a/ has two permissible sounds,
the Germanic (ah) of 'father' and the Romance (aa) of 'palm' and Spanish 'casa'. I
shall usually use the Romance (aa) of 'casa' in the guides simply because I wish to
remind the reader that, in the regular words of Loglan (although not necessarily in its
names), the Romance pronunciation is preferred over Germanic (ah). Thus, I will
usually guide the reader toward the preferred pronunciation (MAAT-maa) of matma'mother', despite the fact that the Germanic pronunciations (MAHT-mah) and *(MAHTmuh), the second one erroneous, are much more common among current loglanists,
who are largely Anglophones. (English, along with Dutch, German and the several
Scandinavian languages, is a Germanic language.) But remember that you may
always substitute the more familiar Germanic sound of (ah) for any of my (aa)s.
*(MAHT-muh), however, is not an acceptable pronunciation of matma. If you're going
to use Germanic (ah), you must to do so in both syllables, saying (MAHT-mah) with
the (ah) of 'father' in both places.
The chief difficulty with Germanic (ah) is that it is a slack sound that easily
degenerates into (uh) in unstressed syllables…especially in the mouths of native
speakers of Germanic or Slavic languages. Speakers of such languages regularly and
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unconsciously allow this slackening to happen to many of their unstressed vowels. So,
if you do elect to try to pronounce matma consistently as (MAHT-mah), the second
(ah) is very likely to slip into a grunted (uh) when you're not listening. Unfortunately,
had as you try, you'll probably end up saying *(MAHT-muh)…which may cause trouble
for your human auditors and eventually for your computer. If, on the other hand, you
at least try for the tense Spanish (aa) at the outset, trying to say (MAAT-maa) with the
stretched lips, wide-open mouth and higher pitch that the production of this Romance
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(aa) requires–think of a Spaniard saying 'casa'–then your Loglan /a/ is much less
likely to slump off into a grunted (uh) even when it is unstressed.
That's the main reason, then, why you should consider trying to speak the
Romance dialect of Loglan: your unstressed /a/s are much more likely to remain
intelligible. If you know any Romance languages, you can easily find your models for
this (aa). Spanish especially is noteworthy for them. But if you are a monolingual
speaker of American English, then the Boston Irish version of 'faather'–if you can
conjure it up from a recent movie–is probably your best model…unless, of course, you
have The Institute cassettes, which abound in Romance (aa)s.
1.6 The Two Spellings of 'e' of 'met': Notice that the principal allophone of /e/,
which is the 'e' of 'met', has exactly two spellings in the pronunciation guides, namely
(e) and (eh). These expressions spell exactly the same sound, namely that same 'e' of
'met'. Two spellings are necessary because there are a pair of phonetic contexts in
which each spelling would be misleading if it were used in both contexts, yet each is a
good guide in one of them. So both spellings are required, each in its own context.
Thus (e) is used to guide pronunciation when /e/ just precedes a consonant, as it does
in 'met' itself, unless that consonant is /r/. Thus the 'e' of 'met' in metro 'meter' is
spelled (e) in the guide (MET-roh). But the same 'e' of 'met' when found with following
/r/ is spelled (eh), as it is in (KEHR-tee), for example, which is a guide to the
pronunciation of kerti = 'air'. The same sound is also spelled (eh) when /e/ is final in a
word or syllable. This doesn't happen in English, so we can give no English examples.
But the 'e' of 'met' is final in many Loglan words. Thus, ne se pe all end with the 'e' of
'met. So the guides for these three words are (neh seh peh), which happen to be the
sounds of English 'net set pet' with the 't's omitted.
To take another example, the pronunciation of the Loglan word ie–which means
'Which?'–has the value of the first two sounds in English 'ye(t)'. As /e/ is final in ie it
will be written with (eh) in the in the pronunciation guide, which is therefore (yeh), and
this is identical to the first two-thirds of the word 'ye(t)'. This is a very un-English way
of pronouncing a final /e/, but with a little effort you can learn to do it.
Loglan /e/ has a second allophone, of course. This allophone is the sound of
(eigh) in 'eight' which you may have been tempted to give /e/ in words like ne se pe,
thus pronouncing them like 'nay' 'say' 'pay' incorrectly. But in Loglan, the (eigh)
allophone of /e/ is reserved for positions before vowels, and it never occurs anywhere
else. Thus (eigh) occurs in words like English 'Mayo' (MEIGH-oh) and Loglan eo
(EIGH-oh) ('Please') because this /e/ precedes a vowel; but (eigh) is never correct for
/e/ when /e/ precedes a consonant or is final in a word or syllable. Native Romance
speakers are inclined to misuse Loglan (eigh) in just this way.
1.7 The Odd Spellings of /e/ and /y/: Two of the 6 vowel phonemes will seem
oddly-spelled to the English-reading eye, namely /i/ and /y/. These phonemes have
been given letters which commonly have quite different phonetic values in English.
Bur the sounds of these Loglan phonemes–which are (ee y) in the case of /i/ and the
"grunted" (uh) in the case of /y/–are certainly not odd to the English ear. The sounds
(ee y) are in fact very common in English. Indeed, the letter [i] has just these values in
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many European languages, including but not only the Romance ones. On the
other hand, the short, "grunted" vowel (uh) that is spelled with the letter [y] in Loglan is
not consistently represented in any European spelling, the (uh)-sound being usually
regarded as a "slighted", or even a "degenerate", version of some other vowel. Thus,
the German letter [e] when final is always pronounced as (uh), even though [e] has
other values in other contexts. In English, (uh) is sometimes spelled with [e] as in 'the'
(thuh), sometimes with an [a] as in 'sofa' (SOH-fuh), sometimes with a [u] as in 'upon'
(uh-PAHN), and sometimes with an [o] as in 'phonetic' (fuh-NEH-tik); so it does not
appear to "have a letter of its own" in English. On the other hand, the sound (uh) is
extremely common in English. So having such a familiar sound uniquely represented
by the same single letter, even an odd one, may actually be something of a relief for
English-reading eyes. Note that the work the letter [y] most commonly does in English
is performed in Loglan by another letter, namely [i]. This frees the letter [y] to do its
present work in Loglan as (uh).
1.8 /y/ as a Hyphen: As we have seen, the sound of Loglan /y/, which is often
called schwa (schvuh) by linguists, is a very short, usually unstressed, "grunted" vowel
that occurs in all Germanic and Slavic languages, and in many other consonant-rich
language as well. /y/ has a very odd distribution in Loglan in that in the regular words
of unbuffered dialects–see the next section for its role in the buffered ones–it occurs
only as an intraverbal hyphen. In these dialects–which include the standard one–/y/
is the pronunciation of the hyphen-like letter [y] that is used to "glue" the parts of
complex words together. An example is mekykiu (MEK-uh-kyoo), which means
'ophthalmologist' or 'eye-doctor'. In this word the hyphenated elements /mek/ and /kiu/
are not words, but affixes. An affix is a usually shortened representative of one of the
words in the defining metaphor used to build a complex word; see Sec. 2.55 on
Making Complexes. In this case, the defining metaphor is menki kicmu (MENG-keeKEESH-moo), and mek and kiu are derived from these words by processes that we
will consider later; Sec. 2.52. The segment /y/ between them turns them into a single
word. The phrase menki kicmu also means 'eye doctor' but this time without the
English hyphen. When /y/ is used as a hyphen in regular words, it always a neverstressed sound between affixes. Because the sound (uh) is a hyphen it does not even
count as a syllable in locating stress; see Sec. 1.11.
In the regular words of unbuffered dialects the phoneme /y/ has no other use than
as a hyphen. That is to say, /y/ is always the sign of the intraverbal hyphen in these
dialects whenever it appears in a non-name; see Sec. 1.12 for the uses of schwa in
names and below for its uses in buffered dialects.
1.9 /y/ as a Buffer: In the buffered dialects of Loglan, /y/ may be used as a buffer
between any pair of "difficult" consonants, even when that pair is wholly within an affix
or a simple word. For example, in the Japanese dialect of Loglan, the word for
'mother' will probably be buffered. It will become matyma, a 3-syllable word
pronounced (MAAT-uh-maa). Here the phoneme /y/ is not used as a hyphen. Indeed
matma is a simple word without any constituent affixes, so it could hardly contain a
hyphen. Instead the /y/ in matyma is a buffer between the two "difficult" consonants /t/
and /m/, that is, it makes them pronounceable. (Consonant pairs a difficult when the
speakers of a buffered dialect choose to buffer them by introducing /y/ between the
members of the difficult pair.) If this happens, matyma will become a dialect word,
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that is, a harmless variant of some standard word. It will have exactly the same
meaning as the standard word matma. Moreover, we expect (MAAT-uh-maa) to be as
easily recognized by a speaker of the standard dialect as (MAAT-maa) is likely to be
recognized by speakers of the Japanese dialect as a "variant" of their own matyma.
1.10 /iy/ as a Hyphen in Buffered Dialects: Notice that the speakers of a
buffered dialect may not use /y/ as their intraverbal hyphen. /y/ has already been
preempted as their buffer, and to use it for the hyphen as well would lead to confusion
for the resolver [person or machine?] as to where the "joints" in a complex word
actually were. This is contrary to the spirit of Loglan, in which not only are all words
uniquely resolvable, but also all terms within words. Using /y/ for both hyphen and
buffer in a buffered dialect would make the term-resolver's task impossible in that
dialect.
So the hyphen adopted for use in these dialects is /iy/ (pronounced (yuh)). Thus
the Japanese speaker of Loglan is obliged to use mekiykiu pronounced (MEK-yuhkyoo) for mekykiu if da buffers any consonants at all. Of course, if da doesn't buffer
da's consonants, da is in that respect speaking the standard dialect. In that case da
may use the standard hyphen /y/ without fear of spoiling the resolvability of da's
speech; see Sec. 2.1 on resolution.
1.11
The Effect of Hyphenating and Buffering on Stress: In the regular
words of any dialect the buffer /y/ and the hyphens /y/ and /iy/ are always unstressed.
Hyphens and buffers are "so unstressed", in fact, that they do not even count as
syllables in locating stress. This rule permits the same syllable to be stressed in both
the buffered and the standard versions of a given word, e.g., (MAAT-uh-maa) and
(MAAT-maa). Indeed, because of this rule both versions of the word matma may be
said to be "penultimately stressed"; the penultimate stress rule is discussed in Sec.
2.37. Although mekykiu and mekiykiu are both stressed on the syllable (MEK) in
(MEK-uh-kyoo) and (MEK-yuh-kyoo), they may both be said to be penultimately
stressed; for neither hyphen counts as a syllable.
1.12
/y/ in Names: The phonology of /y/ in names is, as usual, a different
matter. In names /y/ may occur in either stressed or unstressed positions in a dialects.
For example, /y/ appears in a stressed syllable in 'Hunter' => Hyntr (HUHN-trr) and in
an unstressed one in 'Washington' => Ua'cintyn (WAH-sheen-tuhn); see Secs. 2.4-12
on making names.
But what are we going to do with the Japanese version of the name for
Amsterdam, which my English-Japanese dictionary lists as 'Amusuterudamu'? Like all
loglanists, Japanese loglanists will no doubt be making the effort to pronounce the
name of this city in the way its inhabitants do. In standard Loglan, that effort produces
A'msterdam (AHM-stehr-dahm), for we Anglophones who speak standard Loglan are
as tolerant of consonant-clustering as the Dutch are. But not so the Japanese. The
habit of buffering, which is encouraged elsewhere in their dialect of Loglan, may well
cause them to buffer their Loglan names too. In that case, the word for A'msterdam
in the Japanese dialect of Loglan is likely to come out A'mysytreydam (AH-muh-suhtehr-uh-dahm)
or
even
A'mysyterydamy
(Ah-muh-suh-tehr-uh-dah-muh).
Unfortunately this seems to generate two, or even three, different Loglan names for
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the same place. But the "misfortune" is only apparent. Having one, two or a dozen
variant names for
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Amsterdam, along with the Loglan standard one with which all the others may be
equated by an easy algorithm, is as unlikely to be troublesome for the mutual
intelligibility of the two dialects as the fact that buffering creates two words for
mothers. Each phonological variant is a synonym of the standard, and once the
pattern of buffering in any given dialect has stabilized, each member of such synonym
pairs will easily be recaptured from the other. So each dialect word will be as easily
understood by the speakers of the standard dialect as the dialect speakers will
understand the written word. Mutual intelligibility of dialects is the aim. We think that
consonant-buffering will advance this aim rather than retard it.
-
-
-
-
-
Table 1.1 Permissible Pronunciations of the Twenty-Five Loglan Vowel-Pairs
-a
-e
-i
-o
-u
–
–
–
(a
(a
(i
(o
a
(aaa-eh)
a-oo)
gh)
w)
aa)
or
or
or
–
–
(ah-ah)
(ah(aheh)
oo)
–
–
(e
–
–
e
(eighy)
(ei
(ei
(ei
aa)
or
gh-eh)
–
gh-oh)
gh-oo)
(eigh-ah)
(yaa)
(y
(y
(y
(y
eh)
ee)
oh)
ou)
i
(eeaa)
or
(e
(e
(e
(e
(ee-ah)
e-eh)
e-ee)
e-oh)
e-oo)
–
–
(o
–
–
o
(ohy)
(o
(o
(o
aa)
or
h-eh)
–
h-oh)
h-oo)
(oh-ah)
(waa)
(w
(
(w
(w
eh)
wee)
oe)
oo)
u
(ooaa)
or
(o
(o
(o
(o
(oo-ah)
o-eh)
o-ee)
o-oh)
o-oo)
1.13 The 25 Vowel-Pairs: Loglan abounds in vowel-pairs. Not being allowed to
enter the syllables of regular words, schwa or /y/ does not figure in any of them. But
all possible pairings of the other five vowels /a e i o u/ occur in some words of the
language. This creates the 25 vowel-pairs shown in Table 1, which provides a
"phonological map" of their pronunciations. The upper entries in each cell of the table
are the monosyllabic pronunciations of that particular pair if such a pronunciation is
permitted. A '–' is entered on the first line if it is not. The lower entries in each cell are
that pair's pronunciation as a disyllable, again if that is permitted.
Notice that some pairs in the table may be pronounced both monosyllabically and
disyllabically. Thus /ii/ may be (yee) or (ee-ee). Others, line /aa/, may only be
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pronounced disyllabically. Still others, like /ai/, apparently occur only
monosyllabically. That is, /ai/ may be pronounced only as the (igh) of hai and sai and
never as *(ah-ee). Incidentally, these two Loglan words are identical in sound to
English 'high' and 'sigh'.
In using this table, try to pronounce the pairs with hyphenated guides as two
distinct syllables with a "glide" between. It is easier to do this if you stress one of the
two syllables relative to the other. While both stress patterns are possible, stressing
the first syllable in a vowel-pair is a bit more common in Loglan. As an Anglophone,
you are likely to find stressing the first syllable a bit more "natural" as well.
We observe that the always-monosyllabic pairs are the four "natural" diphthongs
/ai ao ei oi/. These can easily be pronounced monosyllabically as (igh ow ay oy) in
any context; and so they are.
The next group are the eleven always-disyllabic pairs. These are
/aa ae au ea ee eo eu oa oe oo ou/. Except for /au/ and /ou/ these pairs cannot be
pronounced as diphthongs; and so they never are. /au/ and /ou/ are included among
the pairs that are always disyllables to prevent their monosyllabic pronunciations from
being confused with one another and with the natural diphthong /ao/ = (ow). So /au/
and /ou/ are always pronounced disyllabically in Loglan, that is as (aa-oo) and (oh-oo)
(or (ah-oo) and (oh-oo) if the Germanic /a/ of 'father' is preferred); and /ao/ is always
pronounced (ow). This keeps them acoustically quite separate from one another.
The remaining ten pairs are the optional disyllables and are discussed separately
in the next section.
1.14
The 10 Optionally Disyllabic Vowel-Pairs: Notice that the 10 vowelpairs which have both monosyllabic and disyllabic pronunciations in the Table 1 are all
those that begin with either /i-/ (ia ie ii io iu) or /u-/ (ua ue ui uo uu). (In English, we
would think of them as the 'y'-and 'w'-words, respectively.) They are therefore quite
easy to remember. In certain contexts these optional disyllables are all easily
pronounced as monosyllables. For example when they stand alone they are always
given the values (yah yeh yee yoh yoo) and (wah weh wee woh woo). But there exist
contexts in which these vowel-pairs are difficult to pronounce monosyllabically.
Following /r l m n/ seems to be four of these contexts. So in these contexts, and
perhaps some others not yet identified, the loglanist is free to pronounce the i-and uwords either as monosyllables or as disyllables, that is, as (ee-ah) and (oo-ah), etc.
Thus, the Loglan word lui ('to please…') may be pronounced either as the English
name 'Louie' (LOO-ee) or as the French name 'Louis' (l'wee); and which is chosen is
largely a matter of personal preference. The word will resolve as lui either way. In the
Gainesville dialect, the swift French monosyllables seem currently to be preferred.
Uncertainty about the pronunciation of the optional disyllables reflects the fact that
The Institute does not know yet how loglanists of a sufficiently wide variety of nativelanguage backgrounds are going to treat them. So we will wait to describe a general
pronunciation pattern here, preferring to observe the speech of active loglanists a little
longer. In the meantime, no morphological confusion is generated by keeping these
options open.
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1.15 The Pair-from-the-Left Rule: The default rule for grouping a written string of
vowels into pairs is to start pairing them from the left and to restart the pairing process
at any marked pause or syllable-break encountered. Once this is done we have to
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examine the pairs so made to see whether they are obligatory monosyllables,
obligatory disyllables, or optional disyllables. For example, suppose we encounter the
written word [aiuiaoea], which is an implausibly long "compound attitudinal"; see
Lexeme UI. How do we pronounce it? The first part of the answer is given by the
pairing rule. Starting from the left we can try first to syllabify the string as
?/ai,ui,ao,ea/. (We don't know yet whether this is a correct transcription of this new
word, so we mark it with leading [?].) We now see that /ui/ is an optional disyllable,
and so may be pronounced either (wee) or (oo-ee), and that /ea/ is an obligate
disyllable that must be pronounced either (eigh-aa) or (eigh-ah) depending on our
personal choice between Romance or Germanic /a/. The other two pairs are the
obligate monosyllables (igh) and (ow). We choose to pronounce /ui/ as (wee). This
gives us our second transcriptions, namely ?/ai,ui,ao,e,a/. But what about stress? We
decide to use penultimate stress for this new word (which we probably haven't heard
yet), for this is another good default rule; see Sec. 2.37. So we produce ?/ai,ui,aoEa/
as our next transcription, this time exploiting the economizing convention that
wherever there is a stress-rise or-fall in a transcription, a syllable break is inferable. Is
this the most economical way we can transcribe the pronunciation (igh-wee-ow-EIGHaa) phonemically? No; it is not. The very pair-from-the-left rule we have been studying
allows us to remove the two remaining close-commas. Thus /aiuiaoEa/ transcribes the
pronunciation (igh-wee-ow-EIGH-aa) accurately and compactly. It does so because
we can infer that there are syllable breaks between the vowel-pairs as counted from
the left.
What if someone elects to exercise da's privilege of pronouncing the optional
disyllable [ui] in the word [aiuiaoea] disyllabically? This rather odd pronunciation–odd
because this [ui] is not in the difficult context of leading [l r m n] in which we might
expect some readers to prefer the disyllable–can nevertheless be shown by the
insertion of two close-commas, one on either side of the second [i]: /aiu,I,aoEa/. This
does indeed give (igh-oo-ee-ow-EIGH-aa). One close-comma would not be sufficient
here; the pairing rule starts over again with any pause or inferable syllable break. As a
consequence, the transcription /aiu,iaoEa/ would have to be pronounced (igh-oo-yahoh-EIGH-aa). The interested reader is invited to work out other details of this
transcription system.
1.16
Indications of Syllabicity: The novice is of course not expected to
remember which pairs of vowel letters in a given string are to be pronounced
monosyllabically, or to carry out all the above inferences. So at first we need to tell da.
In the pronunciation guides the "syllabicity" of a vowel-pair–i.e., whether it is to be
pronounced as a monosyllable or as a disyllable–is always plain. All syllable-joints
within a breathgroup are indicated by hyphens [-]. So if a pair of vowels is shown with
a hyphenated joint, it's a disyllable; if is not, it's a monosyllable. Thus, (LOO-ee) and
(lwee) are plainly the disyllabic and monosyllabic productions, respectively, of lui.
(They are also the pronunciations of English 'Louie' and French 'Louis'.)
But in phonemic transcriptions, where syllable structure has been played-down so
as to lift other features of Loglan speech into prominence, we have seen that certain
inferences may be drawn from the transcriptions themselves that will satisfactorily
distinguish disyllabic from monosyllabic productions of all vowel-pairs. By way of
summary, these inferences proceed as follows.
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First, if the two vowels of some pair are shown as having different levels of stress–
as they are shown to have in both /eAmuSUCmi/ Ea mu sucmi = 'Let's swim' and
/muSUCmiEa/ Mu Sucmi ea = 'We swim, I suggest"-then they are obviously disyllabic
in
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both productions. Indeed ea is one of those eleven vowel-pairs, see Sec. 1.13,
that are always disyllabic. So what we are doing in these two transcriptions is showing
which of the two vowels in ea is being stressed: (eigh-AA-moo-SOOSH-mee) vs.
(moo-SOOSH-mee-EIGH--aa).
Second, if both elements of an identifiable vowel-pair are shown as having stress–
both emphatic or both normal stress–then that pair of vowels is to be pronounced as a
monosyllable. Thus is /AImuSUCmi/ Ai mu sucmi = 'Yes, we'll swim' the /AI/ is
obviously being pronounced monosyllabically, that is, as the (IGH) of 'high'. Loglan ai
is the 'Aye' of intention, compliance of consent…as in the nautical 'Aye, aye, sir!'. We
can of course write the pronunciation guide for this utterance as (IGH-moo-SOOSHmee). (But is it possible that you are beginning not to need the guides?)
This leaves pairs of unstressed vowels as the only unexamined case. For
example, in /eituMREnu/ = (ey-too-MREH-noo) for Ei tu mrenu = 'Are you a man?'literally, 'Eh, you man?'-both phonemes in the interrogative ei (which is pronounced as
the English diphthong (ay) in 'say') are shown to be without stress. The interrogative ei
is often unstressed when it is in when it is in utterance-initial position. In utterancefinal positions, however, ei is usually stressed. We can show this by writing
/tuMREnuEI/ (too-MRE-noo-AY). We know from Sec. 1.13 that /ei/ is one of the four
vowel-pairs that are always pronounced monosyllabically, namely /ai ao ei oi/. But
even if we didn't know this, or had forgotten, we could infer the monosyllabicity of ei
from the transcription /eituMREnu/ itself. On the other hand, if we wish to show that
two adjacent unstressed vowels are being pronounced disyllabically, as for example if
someone spoke the invitation Ea mu sucmi without stressing either syllable of the
disyllabic /ea/, then we could show that production with a close-comma in the
transcription: /e,amuSUCmi/. So we can report the stress possibilities for ea in this
sentence as the set of three productions: /eAmuSUCmi/ /EamuSUCmi/ and
/e,amuSUCmi/. Make sure you can pronounce them all. The fourth logical possibility,
/E,AmuSUCmi/, is not really a lively phonological one.
We can now write the third inference as follows:Third, if two adjacent unstressed vowels are separated by no mark, and they are
indeed members of the same vowel-pair, then they are to be pronounced
monosyllabically. Thus, /ei/ in /eituMREnu/ can be inferred to be a monosyllable
because no mark separates the unstressed phonemes /e/ and /i/ from each other.
(Note that from this point of view, a stress-rise, such as occurs in /A/ (eigh-AA) and a
stress-fall, such as occurs in /Ea/ (EIGH-aa), are both "marks".) If and only if the two
unstressed adjacent vowels are separated by a close comma /,/–as in
/e,amuSUCmi/–are they intended to be pronounced disyllabically. Such a closecomma is not a pause; but it does indicate elongation of the time interval occupied by
these two unstressed phonemes just as pausing between them would do.
It is important that we transcribe these ambiguous unstressed cases in this explicit
way and not rely on the reader's memory of what kind of vowel-pairs they are.
Besides, we have those ten optional i-and u-initial pairs to worry about, those for
which pronunciation has still not settled down. So we must be especially careful to
convey in our guides and transcriptions just which of the several options we are
asking the reader to consider.
We have now finished with the Loglan vowel sounds and can address the
consonants.
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1.17
The 17 Regular Consonants: There are 17 consonants among the
regular phonemes, which means the sounds used in non-names. Their
pronunciations are given
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here by English examples. Fortunately, all regular Loglan sounds occur in English,
so good examples can always be found. The secondary and tertiary allophones of
some phonemes are given on the sutori lines of their entries. The parenthetic
expressions in the right-hand column of the table are phones. The spellings given in
this column are the least equivocal English spellings used in the pronunciation guides:
/
as in 'boy'
(b
b/
)
/
as 'sh' in 'sheep'
(s
c/
h)
/
as in 'dog'
(d
d/
)
/
as in 'fat'
(f)
f/
/
as in 'goat'
(g
g/
)
/
as in 'hat'
(h
h/
)
/
as 'z' in 'azure', '-ge' in
(z
j/
'garage'
h)
/
as in 'king'
(k
k/
)
/
as in 'lake'
(l)
l/
'-le' in 'kettle' when
(ll
vocalic
)
/
as in 'make'
(
m/
m)
as in 'chasm' when
vocalic
(
mm)
/
as in 'net'
(n
n/
)
before /k g/, as in 'sank'
(n
'-ain' in 'certain' when
g)
vocalic
(n
n)
/
as in 'pot'
(p
p/
)
/
as in 'rot'
(r)
r/
'-er' in 'father' when
(rr
vocalic
)
/
as in 'sat'
(s
s/
)
/
as in 'top'
(t)
t/
/
as in 'vet'
(v
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v/
)
/
z/
as in 'zoo'
(z
)
All phones are single sounds even if the guides to them are written between
parentheses with two letters, e.g., (ng). Also, note that the sounds represented by
(ll mm nn rr) are what are produced when the normally consonantal continuants
(l m n r) are sustained, e.g., as in 'brrr' where (r) is sustained to become the vowel-like
(rr). Observe that the sound after (b) in (brr) is long but that it is a single sound. That is
to say, no articulatory change occurs within it. When used in this way a consonant is
said to be vocalic. We shall have more to say on the vocalic consonants in Sec.
1.19.
Notice that, except for /c/ and /j/, the letters associated with these 17 Loglan
consonants are pronounced exactly as they most commonly are in English. Thus
[b d f g h k l m n p r s t v z], while sometimes ambiguous in English, have a most
common sound. That most common sound is always at least one of the sounds that
letter will have in Loglan. This is true of allophones as well. Thus Loglan /n/ has the
three allophones in (n ng nn), all of which occur in similar contexts in English. English
speakers who repeat the phrase 'sing out for sin gout in the fountain' will hear all three
sounds of /n/. The difference between Loglan and English /n/ is that (ng) is one of its
allophones in Loglan, whereas /ng/ is phonemic in English. Thus the 'sin/sing'
distinction exists in English but not in Loglan. But in both languages the sound that is
written as [n] is pronounced (ng) whenever it immediately precedes a /g/ or a /k/.
Observe that the English word 'sink' has the sounds of 'sing' in it. The same is true of
Loglan. Thus manko = 'mouth' is standardly pronounced (MAHNG-koh) in Loglan
because the (ng) allophone is /h/ is required before /k/.
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1.18 The Odd Sounds of <C c> and <J j>: Only the letters used to represent
/c/ = (sh) and /j/ = (zh) seem to be oddly paired with their sounds in Loglan. The letters
[c j] have been assigned to these two phonemes, first, because we need these
sounds in this international language–(sh zh) are especially common in Chinese, for
example–and, second, because no "digraphs" are permitted in Loglan. (A digraph is a
sequence of two letters used to represent a single sound; thus [ck kn ng ph pn sh th]
are all English digraphs.) But the Loglan rule is that each simple sound must be
represented in written Loglan by a single letter. The letter [c] happened to be
unemployed. [k] and [s] were doing all its (English) work in Loglan; and [c] is at least
weakly associated with the (sh) sound in other languages. For example, French 'chat'
is (shaa) and Italian 'ciao' is (chow). It turns out that the (ch)-sound in this Italian word
may be further analyzed as (t) + (sh). So (ch) is in fact written in Loglan phonetics as
(tsh), and phonemically this is of course /tc/. Thus, with [c] given the value (sh), the
Italian word 'ciao' can now be written in Loglan phonemics as /tcao/, and English
'chew' as /tcu/.
Loglan /j/ is parallel to Loglan /c/. Thus (zh) is the voiced, that is, the
unwhispered, version of unvoiced or whispered (sh), and it occurs commonly in
French as the French /j/ of /Jean/ (zhaan). (We shall show the nasalization of a
preceding vowel by superscript n.) (zh) also occurs in certain words of French origin in
English, such as 'azure' and 'garage'. But (zh) is also one component of a very
common consonant of English, one that is also represented by the letter [j]. For just as
the (ch) sound may be analyzed as (t) + (sh) in Loglan, so the sound of English [j] may
be analyzed a (d) + (zh). Thus English 'joke' may be written (dzhohk) in Loglan
phonetics, and /djok/ in Loglan phonemics. By a precise parallel, 'choke' may be
written (tshohk) phonetically and /tcok/ phonemically. This explains why the Loglan
word for 'chain' is written tcena and that for 'judge' is written djudi. (Try to pronounce
these as (CHEH-naa) and (JOO-dee), not as (CHEIGH-naa) and (JUH-dee).)
1.19 The Four Vocalic Consonants: The vocalic values of the four consonants
/l m n r/, namely (ll mm nn rr), are virtually confined to borrowed names in Loglan.
Examples are English 'Earl' which is respelled in Loglan as Rl but is still pronounced
(RR-ll); 'Burton' => Brtn pronounced (BRR-tnn) or sometimes (BRR-tyn); and 'Herbert'
=> Hrbrt pronounced (HRR-brrt). In such English names, as in similar names in other
consonant-rich languages, these four vocalic consonants play the roles of vowels.
So they have vocalic values in the Loglan loan-words Rl, Brtn and Hrbrt which are
derived from these natural names, and which thus require no other vowels.
These same four consonants, however, are seldom pronounced as vowels when
they occur in the regular words of Loglan, i.e., in its non-names. Thus the instances of
/r/ in the predicates rodlu (ROHD-loo) 'road', farfu (FAAR-foo) 'father', and brudi
(BROO-dee) all have consonantal values. In contexts like mrenu 'man', however, the
/r/ is sometimes vocalic, especially in the speech of newcomers to the language. That
is, mrenu is sometimes pronounced as the trisyllable (mrr-EN-oo) rather than as the
disyllable (MREH-noo). But the word is still spelled mrenu and transcribed as
/MREnu/ in Loglan phonemics; for in regular words (rr) is simply an allophone of /r/.
That is to say, (rr) is a legitimate, contextual variation of /r/ but does not have separate
phonemic status in the language.
What this means is that hearing (mrr-EN-oo) rather than (MRE-noo) does not
cause
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a loglanist to think da's heard a different word; but only that da is listening to
someone who is not comfortable with this Loglan consonant combination yet.
1.20 The Unfamiliar Consonant Pairs: /mr/ is just one of a handful of Loglan
consonant combinations which will be unfamiliar to monolingual Anglophones. Some
others are /dz/ as in dzoru (DZAW-roo) = 'walk'; /ts/ as in tsero (TSEH-roh) = 'error';
/cl/ as in cluva (SHLOO-vaa) = 'love'; /ct/ as in ctifu (SHTEEfoo) = 'stuff/matter/material'; /ck/ as in ckozu (SHKOH-zoo) = 'cause'; /cm/ as in
cmeni (SHME-nee) = 'money'. Despite their curious appearance, none of these
consonant-pairs will be difficult for an anglophone to pronounce.
The two pairs /dj/ and /tc/ look difficult but are not. The sounds they represent are
actually very common in English, being usually spelled [j] and [ch] as discussed
above.
1.21 The Three Irregular Phonemes /q w x/: These three sounds–one of them,
/w/, a vowel, and the other two, /q x/, being consonants–occur only in names and
letter-words, and then only rarely. All three are, by world standards, "difficult"
phonemes. That is to say, each is found in only a small subset of the world's
languages and is therefore unfamiliar to most human ears and tongues. But the letters
assigned to these three sounds in Loglan, namely [Q q W w X x] occur as letterwords (see Sec. 2.21) or as parts of acronyms (2.29) in many scientific contexts–for
example, the chemical symbol for tungsten is 'W', and the 'X' in 'X-ray' must somehow
be accommodated–and they are also employed, although not frequently, in writing
one of the most extensive vocabularies of science, namely the Linnaean binomials of
biology. These two-term species names, like 'Homo sapiens' and 'Escherichia coli',
are by international convention always either italicized or bolded in text and spelled
identically in all languages…even in Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, and Russian,
languages which do not use the Latin alphabet in any other context. It is therefore
advisable that Loglan, too, provide the means, at least, for the transcription of these
binomials, and in ways that preserve as much as possible of their standard visual
character. To this end, once the 23 regular Loglan sounds had been given letters, the
3 letters left over from the standard Western European alphabet were given to these
three fairly commonly used European sounds. Their phonetic values are as follows:
(
'th' as in E. 'thin' (unvoiced)
th)
/
q/
'th' as in E. 'then' (voiced)
(
dh)
/
'eu' as in F. 'bleu', umlaut 'u' in G.
(
w/
'München'
eu)
/
(
'ch' as in G. 'Bach', 'k' in R. 'Kruschev'
x/
kh)
As an anglophone, you will know the sounds (th) and (dh), of course; both are
spelled in English with [th]. But you might balk for awhile at spelling them with [Q q].
One useful mnemonic is that upper case [Q] looks quite a lot like upper case Greek
theta [θ] but with its bar slipped down and tipped a little, whence [Q]. Theta is, of
course, the letter used in Greek for its (th) sound. The other two irregular sounds are
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Notebook 3-Phonology
non-English, but probably familiar enough to those linguaphiles who make an
effort to pronounce foreign words correctly.
1.22 The Use of Irregular Phonemes in Names: As suggested by the examples
given above, the three irregular sounds of Loglan may also be used, at the namemaker's discretion, to produce better imitations of natural place and person names
than would otherwise be possible. Thus German 'Bach' may now be imported into
Loglan without change as Bax (bahkh). Similarly, 'München' (Munich) may be exactly
reproduced as Mwnxen (MEUN-khen). The sounds of English 'Theodore' may be
exactly reproduced as Qi'udor (THEE-uh-dohr), and 'Kruschev' may be wellapproximated as Xrucyf (KHROO-chuf). On the other hand, if the word-maker is
concerned about minimizing pronunciation difficulties for the large number of persons,
on a world-wide basis, to whom one or more of these three irregular sounds is
completely alien, and if the respelling of the natural name in regular Loglan sounds is
both sufficiently distinct from other names and a recognizable transformation of its
source word, the builder may opt for less than perfect imitations the natural language
sources and use regular sounds entirely. This would give Bak (bahk), Muncen
(MOON-shen), Tiador (TYAH-dohr), and Krucyf (KROO-shuhf) for the four natural
names in question; and at present this is perfectly acceptable.
At the moment, a mixed strategy seems to be the most attractive. Thus with the
arrival of /x/, 'Bach' is now being enthusiastically rendered by Bax and 'Kruschev' by
Xrucyf. On the other hand, Tiador and Muncen still seem to be acceptable variants
of 'Theodore' and "München' which avoid the formidable oddities of Qi'ydor and
Mwnxen. It may be that these oddities will turn out to be mainly visual. In that case,
they are likely to become less objectionable with the passage of time. So the policy of
whether or not to use the irregular sounds of Loglan in contriving the Loglan forms of
imported natural names is still an open one. It is likely to remain so for some time.
1.23
Three Stress Phonemes: We have already indicated how stress is
written in the guides and productions, name no stress by lower-case letters, normal
syllable stress by upper-case letters, and emphatic stress by both bolding and
upper-casing the normally stressed syllable of the emphatically stressed word. It
remains to mention that three values are sufficient to describe all meaningful
differences in Loglan stress contours.
For example, the pronunciation guide for the Loglan equivalent of 'You too came!'
is (too-SWEE . paa-KAAM-laa). The Loglan sentence whose production is here being
guided is of course Tu sui pa kamla. Word-for-word this means 'You also before
come'. As we will see in the chapter on grammar, the Loglan tense operator is a
separate word; it precedes the expression to be tensed.
Acoustically, stress is an increase in both the amplitude (loudness) and the
duration of the sounds that make up a stressed syllable of syllables. Both are
measured relative to the other sounds of its utterance. Thus (SWEE) is not only the
loudest syllable in the above utterance, it is also the longest.
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1.24
One Pause Phoneme: The pauses that occur in Loglan, as in any
language, vary markedly in both length and significance: from long hesitations to brief
phrasing pauses. Nevertheless, for morphological and grammatical purposes, it is
sufficient to classify all Loglan pauses as members of a single phoneme. This makes
the Loglan pause phoneme a single one with many allophones. For example, the
glottal stop in Loglan is an allophone of pause. So those instances of exceedingly
brief glottal stops that occur, for instance, between the vowels of a disyllabically
pronounce vowel-pair are not counted as pauses at all. In short, as in most
languages, Loglan pauses are those silences that occur in the midst of speech that
are perceptible as such. In acoustic practice this will mean that there is a number of
milliseconds above which a pause, say a glottal stop, is perceptible by most auditors
as such and below which it is usually not.
A pause is always marked by a period, or full stop, in the guides and productions.
In the guides, open-periods [ . ] are used; in the productions close-periods are used.
The silences that precede and follow utterances are not pauses; they are either not
marked at all or marked by the pound-sign [#] in the productions. An utterance so
marked is an isolated utterance. Thus /#tuSUI.paKamla#/ is the full phonemic
transcription of one way in which the utterance Tu sui pa kamla may be produced,
namely as an isolated utterance with emphatic sui and an optional pause after it.
Contrast the phonemic transcription of this production with the phonetic guide to the
pronunciation of the same utterance in the previous section. Notice that the phonetic
detail has disappeared, leaving the stress/pause "contour" of the production plainly
revealed. Because stress and pause together describe a pattern that overlies the
whole utterance, the stress and pause phonemes of a language are often called its
suprasegmental phonemes. (Its vowels and consonants are called its segmental
phonemes.)
1.25
Intonation: Intonation is not a phonemic quality of Loglan speech, and
so is not indicated in our phonemic transcriptions. Intonation in Loglan is in fact free to
vary in any way a speaker or a dialect group finds natural. It is true that in the Loglan
speech we have observed so far questions are generally accompanied by rising tone,
and the approaching end of a declaration by falling tone. But this may only be
because the Loglan speakers we have observed so far are native speakers of
English; and in English this is what happens. Still, in deference to the tonal habits of
this potentially "ancestral" group of speakers, a questioning or exclamatory intonation
is sometimes shown in the pronunciation guides by the use of [?] or [!].
It will be interesting to see how the tonal dimension of Loglan develops as
speakers become more fluent. Will it only reflect the dialectical origins of different
groups of speakers in different natural languages? Or will other, language-wide tonal
features eventually develop? If so, will these be the result of "universal mechanisms",
that is to say, of mechanisms which are inferably fixed in the human gene pool and so
operate in human languages generally? Or will they be only "founder effects", that is,
the accidental consequences of the fact that the language started in a certain place–
Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A., to be exact–and was first taught by a certain retired
college professor who happened to be a native speaker of English, but who also
happened
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to be foreign-born, to have lived many years abroad, and to have a small
acquaintance with certain other European languages? Complete toneless, such as
often characterizes the speech of badly programmed computers, is probably not even
a possibility for human speakers.
Incidentally, toneless computer speech–of the sort that can now be produced by
Vocoders and other devices–is surprisingly intelligible when the language is Loglan.
This is probably because all the syntactical work normally done by tones in human
languages is done by particles in Loglan. Thus, we use the question particle ei (ay)
(as in 'lay') to transform the declarative sentence Tu mrenu /tuMREnu/ ('You are a
man') into the question Tu mrenu ei /tuMREnuEI/ ('are you a man?'). (Ei tu mrenu
/eituMREnu/ works just as well of course, and is slightly to be preferred
grammatically.) Notice that the phonetic difference between the two English
utterances is far greater than that between the two Loglan ones, and that the English
difference is largely in the word-order and intonation. In Loglan, our recognition of the
fact that the second utterance is a question could be made to depend entirely on our
hearing and understanding the extra word ei. So both questions /tuMREnuEI/ and
/eituMREnu/ may be spoken quite tonelessly and still be recognized as questions by a
loglanist…or by a suitably programmed loglaphone computer.
1.26
Buffered Dialects: Anticipating that many who will eventually speak
Loglan will find some of the consonant clusters in its standard, anglophone dialect
awkward to produce, we expect the sixth vowel, schwa or what is now Loglan /y/, to
be used for "buffering" any or all of those clusters: that is, to separate difficult
consonant pairs by interposing this neutral vowel between them. Dialects which used
/y/ in this way would then be known as the "buffered" dialects of Loglan.
It is likely that the Japanese dialect of Loglan will be buffered. While Japanese has
some consonant pairs, they together comprise only a small fraction of those that occur
in standard Loglan. Here's a partial list of permissible consonant-pairs in Japanese:
dj tc ts; n followed by c d g k r s t z and by dj tc ts; m bmp. Nearly any other
consonant-pair is going to be awkward for a Japanese-speaking loglanist to produce.
As an example of what the Japanese already do about such matters, here is their
rendering of Dutch 'Amsterdam': 'Amusuterudamu'. [u] is obviously the letter by which
they represent their buffering vowel in Latin transcription. But phonetically the
Japanese buffering vowel has a value much closer to schwa /y/ than to our Loglan /u/,
being approximately the sound of English 'u' in 'full'. Thus a Japanese dialect of
Loglan could well employ /y/, or some suitably neutral local allophone of it, to stand
between any pair of consonants that was not on some official list of "pronounceable
pairs", a completion of the list begun above. The result would be easy for a Japanese
to produce and yet be fully understandable to speakers of the standard, European
dialect of Loglan…as 'Amusuterudamu' is understandable to us now. Thus with a little
practice in listening to the, ma'tyma, fa'ryfu, so'ryme, and byru'di would soon be
intelligible Loglan words to English-speaking loglanists, whether in speech or in print.
Many predicate words would be the same in both dialects, e.g., ti'tci, da'mpa and
tse'ro; and of course none of the Loglan little word sequences–which offer few if any
pronunciation difficulties to the Japanese–would require buffering; and so this
extensive region of the language would also remain substantially invariant across
dialects.
The question arises: If we are going to use /y/ for buffering consonants in the
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buffered dialects, what are we going to use as the intraverbal hyphen in those
dialects? The two functions must be kept separate; to let one operator serve them
both would be to five wrong information about term-joints to the resolver. /iy/
pronounced (yuh) has suggested itself as the hyphenating syllable to be used in
buffered dialects; see Sec. 1.10. /iy/ is easy to pronounce, phonemically similar to /y/,
and can easily–one might say harmlessly–be used in all positions in which /y/ is used
in the standard dialect. As an example of a word that would then contain both /y/ and
/iy/, take sanpyse'nsi, the new Loglan word for 'semiotics' in the standard dialect. The
consonant pair /ns/ is permissible in Japanese and needs no buffering; but /np/ is not,
and su requires buffering. Replacing /y/ with /iy/ and buffering /np/ with /y/ produces
sanypiyse'nsi (saan-uhp-yuh-SEN-see), an eminently pronounceable word for
'semiotics' in Japanese Loglan…and one which is recognizably the "same" as (saanpuh-SEN-see) in standard Loglan.
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CHAPTER 2
MORPHOLOGY (WORDS & WORD-FORMS)
2.1 Design Objectives: The principle objective to be met in designing Loglan
morphology was to ensure the audio-visual isomorphism of the language. By this is
meant that the written and spoken forms of every well-formed Loglan utterance, as
those forms would be seen and heard by their readers and listeners, respectively,
would in all non-trivial respects be reciprocally inferable from one another. In short,
that the spoken string /la.ARqr.paceNOInaBRAgai/ be convertible always and
everywhere into the written string La Arqr, pacenoina bragai ('Arthur is no longer
king'), and vice versa. It was hoped that this feature would contribute not only to
Loglan's utility as a man-machine interface language, where the contribution of
isomorphism is obvious, but also to its learnability as a second language by adults, in
which the transition from writing to speaking is often a difficult one, and finally also to
its acquisition as a second tongue by children, in which the reverse transition is often
the difficult one.
Perhaps the most important task to be performed in insuring audio-visual
isomorphism is that of word resolution, a task of the listener. For the listener to
perform this task as swiftly as speech is uttered, and also impeccably, there must be a
reasonable simple resolving algorithm–learnable by humans and programmable for
computers–that is capable of transforming any heard utterance which has been
grammatically composed of well-formed but largely pauselessly-spoken Loglan words,
into just one string of properly spaced, capitalized and punctuated written words.
Loglan morphology makes such an algorithm both easy to write and to execute in real
time. Even a small computer can execute it routinely.
We must note one exception to Loglan's audio-visual isomorphism. If an utterance
being read aloud from text involves a Linnaean binomial, that is, one of the standardly
spelled pairs of genus and species names which are universally used as naming
terminology in biological science (e.g., Australopithecus afarensis and Eschericha
coli), then that utterance will not always be simultaneously transcribable in a form that
matches the original text in all particulars. The Linnaean binomials are regularly
pronounceable in Loglan phonology; see Sec. 2.13. As such they may be regularly
resolved and transcribed; but those transcriptions will not be infallible reproductions of
the original Linnaean word. To recapture those originals exactly, thus completing the
isomorphism, will require in most cases a tabular lookup that will probably not be
executable in real time.
2.2 Definitions and Conventions: First, we need a small technical vocabulary
and a number of expository conventions. A morph is a simple word or a simple
component of a larger word that has a distinct meaning or makes a distinct
contribution to the meaning of the embedding word. A morph, in short, is the smallest
meaning-bearing component of speech. For example, pa is both a simple word
meaning (roughly) 'previously' and a component of words like pacenoina, where it
means 'before'. A morpheme is a set of one or more morphs with the same or related
meanings. If a morpheme has two or more morphs as members, they are said to be
its allomorphs. For example, bot no and-noi(-) convey the meaning of negation in
Loglan ('no' 'not' 'non-' etc.), and the second morph is plainly a derivative of the first;
so each is an allomorph
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of the morpheme no. A morpheme is named for its free allomorph, i.e., the one
that is derivationally most basic and also capable of functioning as a simple word. In
Loglan, these are always the same morph; and in this case it is no. Morphs that are
not free are bound. Thus-noi(-) is the bound allomorph of no because it occurs only
in compounds. The leading '-' in the expression '-noi(-)' means that-noi(-) is never
initial in its embedding word; the trailing '(-)' means that-noi(-) is sometimes medial
and sometimes final. In an alternative terminology, the markings on-noi(-) show that is
either an infix or a suffix but never a prefix. In this terminology a bound morph is
called an affix.
A word is a string of one or more morphs that is treated as a single element by the
grammar, just as 'nevertheless' is treated as a single element by English grammar.
Words are simple if they contain exactly one morph, and compound otherwise.
Boundaries between words are called junctures. It is the business of the resolver–a
computer program or some subsystem of the human central nervous system–to
discover the junctures in a string of pauselessly pronounced words. When it is
important to show junctures, we will represent them by the boldface vertical bar [|].
The joints between morphs in a compound or complex word will be shown by the
boldface slash [/].
A set of morphs or morphemes whose phonological constituents may be specified
in a relatively compact formula is said to be a form-class or simply a form. We shall
use the following conventions to represent the constituents of such forms: 'X' will
represent any (segmental) phoneme, that is, any vowel or consonant including the
irregular ones /q w x/ and /y/. 'V' will represent any of the primary vowels /a e i o u/ or
any vowel except /y w/. 'C' will represent any regular consonant, that is, any
consonant except /q x/. If is unimportant whether a pair of primaries is pronounced
monosyllabically or not, we shall write its formula as 'VV'; if an obligatory monosyllable
is called for, we shall write it 'vv'; if we require an obligate disyllable, we shall write
'V,V'.
A permissible initial consonant pair is a pair of regular consonants that may be
initial in a morph, i.e., in an affix or a word; a permissible medial is a pair of
consonants that may be adjacent in a morph. Clearly, the permissible initials are a
proper subset of the permissible medials. When it is unimportant whether a pair of
adjacent consonants is a permissible initial, we shall write it a 'CC'. When a consonant
pair in a given formula must be a permissible initial, we shall write it as 'cc'.
As before, we shall mark proscribed words or forms with a leading asterisk; for
example, *spai is not a permissible word because *ccvv is not a permissible form. In
a demonstration sequence, if the reader is not expected to know yet whether a given
form is acceptable, for example, ?ccV,V, it will be marked by a leading question-mark.
?Spea pronounced (SPEIGH-aa) is one of the instance of this questioned form.
Actually, this form too is unacceptable…for reasons that we will find out later.
Formulas and their ingredients are usually distinctive enough to require no special
marking. Thus VV is the formula for the 25 possible pairs of the 5 primary vowels.
Silences, pauses, syllable breaks and stresses on preceding vowels or vowel pairs
are shown in the formulas by their phonological marks [# . , ']. If a specific phoneme is
required in some formula, it will be shown in the formula by the same lower-case
letteral that represents it phonemically. Thus the formula dV is the set of 5 morphs
generated by putting each of the 5 primaries after phoneme /d/, in particular, it is the
set da de di do du. The ambiguity this convention seems to create between 'vv',
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which could mean a pair of /v/s but doesn't, and 'vv' a monosyllabic vowel-pair, is only
apparent. If it were a pair of v's, they would be bolded, stroked or bracketed. Besides,
"double consonants", or adjacent instances of the same consonant, do not exist
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in Loglan. This renders 'cc' unambiguous as well.
To specify a set of equally permissible alternatives in a formula we shall separate
them by strokes and enclose the set in square brackets. Thus, [CCV'/CV'C] says that
either of these two kinds of stressed syllables is acceptable here. The order in which
the alternatives are listed is unimportant. A plus-sign is used as a sign of
concatenation between the parts of a word. Thus [CCV'/CV'C]+CV is the complete
formula for the form-class to which both brudi and matma belong. (They are
pronounced (BROO-dee) and (MAAT-maa) and mean 'brother' and 'mother'.) Parts of
a form which may be iterated one of more times–that is to say, may be present in a
larger form as a string of one or more instances of that part–are shown in parentheses
in morphological formulas. Thus, (X)+[C/q/x]+. is a formula for the form composed of a
string of one or more consonants and vowels of any sort and in any order followed by
either a regular consonant or one of the two irregular consonants /q x/, the whole
followed by a pause.
Table 2.1 The Two Partitions and Three Classes of Loglan Words
Regular Words
Irregular
Feat
Words
Structure
ure
Predicates
= Names
Words
Endi
Always
Always
ng
C + /./
/q w
May
Never
x/
Penultim
Stre
Always
Any
ate
ss
penultimate
or none
As hyphen o
/y/
May
Never
nly
CC
May
No
At least one
2.3 Two Major Partitions and Three Word-Classes: As Table 2.1 shows, the two
major partitions of Loglan morphology are (1) between regular and irregular words,
and, among regular words, (2) between structure words and predicates. There is
only one kind of irregular words, namely names. Thus the two morphological
partitions generate three major word classes: (i) names, (ii) structure words, and (iii)
predicates.
Names are the relatively permanent designations of places, persons and things,
which, in any given context, are always meant to be unique designations. In Loglan
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most but not all names are borrowed from the natural languages. The structure
words of any language establish the grammatical structure of its utterances and are
generally quite short. They tend to be "little words" like 'the' and 'now' in English and le
and na in Loglan, but structure words may also be compounds of short words, like
'nevertheless' in English and lena = 'the-present…' in Loglan. Compound structure
words may sometimes be quite long, for example, pacenoina = 'before-and-not-now',
or 'no longer'. Occasionally we will speak of simple structure words as little words.
The words in the third class, predicates, are the words of reference in any language.
For example, predicates are the nouns, verbs and adjectives of English. Unlike
English predicates Loglan predicates are grammatically undifferentiated and have a
simple, readily identifiable form.
Table 2.1 gives the features that form the two partitions and identify and
characterize the three classes of words. The first two features differentiate irregular
from regular words. All irregular words are names, and these and only these may
contain the irregular sounds /q w x/. Furthermore, only names end with consonants
followed by an obligatory pause; all other Loglan words end in vowels. The next
feature, stress, also helps to differentiate names from non-names. Stress may occur
anywhere in a name, and if stress in a name is "irregular", that is, if it falls on any
syllable except the penultimate one, the stressed vowel is marked with an apostrophe
in the written form, e.g., Pari's. The next feature also helps to differentiate names
from non-names. The grunted vowel schwa or /y/ may occur anywhere in a name and
even be stressed, e.g., Hyntr (HUHN-trr); but it does not occur in structure words at
all and occurs only as a hyphen in predicates, e.g., mekykiu (MEK-uh-kyoo). The final
feature, the presence or absence of consonant-pairs, differentiates the two kinds of
regular words from one another. Structure words never contain adjacent consonants;
predicates always contain at least one pair. Names, in keeping with their general
flexibility, may or may not contain adjacent consonants.
Because of these deep morphological "furrows" in the vocabulary of Loglan, the
learner can tell the broad morphological class of each new Loglan word da encounters
at a glance. Take the sentence La Arqr, pacenoia bragai (laa. AAR-thrr . paa-cehNOY-naa-BRAA-gigh). La must be a little word; it is V-final and contains no CC. Arqr
must be a name; that it is C-final is sufficient to tell us this, but there is another clue.
Arqr also contains the irregular phoneme /q/ (th). Pacenoina, although clearly too
long to be a "little" structure word, must nevertheless be a compound one, e.g., one
that is composed of the little words pa + ce + noi + …, etc. For it, too, is V-final and
free of CCs. Only bragai (BRAA-gigh) is a predicate; while it is also V-final, it contains
the consonant-pair /br/. Eventually you will be able to translate this sentence as
'Arthur is no longer king'. But right now we are concerned only with its morphology.
The forms of names are discussed in the next section. The morphology of
structure words begins with Sec. 2.18, and of predicates, with Sec. 2.34.
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A. THE MORPHOLOGY OF NAMES
2.4 The Forms of Names: A name is any sequence of two or more sounds, including
irregular ones, in any order except that the last must be a consonant and the whole followed
by a pause. The formula for names is therefore (X)+[C/q/x]+.. There is one restriction and one
exception to this formula. The restriction will be discussed in the next paragraph. The
exception is that there is one very special class of scientific names, the so-called "Linnaean
binomials" of biology, whose spellings are fixed by international convention and may not be
altered. Occasionally these genus and/or species names end in vowels, e.g., Escherichia
coli. Occasionally they end in consonants, e.g., Australopithecus afarensis. Thus the
formula for Linnaean names is (X)X.. As these exceptional names are irregular beyond the
hope of any ordinary morphological redemption, certain extraordinary arrangements must be
made to place them in special contexts from which their resolution will be possible in Loglan.
These arrangements are described in Sec. 2.13-15. In all intervening sections the word
'name' will refer to non-Linnaean names.
2.5 The Pause Before Vowel-Initial Names: If a name commences with a vowel, then it
must also be preceded by a pause. Thus the English names 'Ellen' 'Eileen' and 'Iona' go into
Loglan as Elyn, Aili'n and Ai,onas. So 'Hello, Ellen', 'Come in, Eileen' and 'Give it to Iona' all
require pauses in Loglan: /LOI.ELyn/ Loi Elyn, /nenKAa.aiLIN/ Nenkaa, Aili'n and
/DONsula.aiOHNas.da/ Donsu la Ai,onas, da. (Note the final /s/ added to /aiONa/ to make it
C-final; there is more on this move in Sec. 2.11.) If the preceding word is a "name-marker",
like loi or la, (see next section), or another name, then the pre-nominal pause is nor
represented by a comma in text. If the preceding word is anything other than a name-marker
or a name, as in Nenkaa, Aili'n, then the pre-nominal pause is represented by a comma in
text.
2.6 The Name-Marker Restriction on Names: The restriction on the (X(+[C/q/x]+. namemaking formula arises out of the fact that Loglan names are morphologically so irregular that
in order for them to be followed by pauses but surrounded by them–as in Takna, Djan,
mi = 'Talk, John, to me!'_ or preceded by a "name-marker" (Takna mi Hoi Djan = 'Talk to
me, O John!'). Name-markers like Hoi are thus a morphologically privileged class of words.
They serve to link C-initial names pauselessly to the rest of the utterance. For example, in the
production /TAKnalaDJAN/ (TAAK-naa-laa-JAAN) the name Djan is not preceded by a
pause. The reason it isn't is because it is preceded by the name operator la, which is another
member of the class of name-markers that make pausing before C-initial names
unnecessary. This last production resolves as Takna la Djan and means 'Talk to John!'. It is
clear that the name-marker la is crucial to its resolution; see Sec. 2.17.
There are just seven simple little words that have this pause-blanketing privilege, namely I
/.i/ Hoi la loa loi sia siu, plus any of the compounds formed with
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initial /.i-/, e.g., ice = 'And'. Notice that I-words including I itself are themselves preceded
by a pause and so must be initial in their breathgroups. But the other six name-markers do
not require pausing either before or after they are spoken and so may occur anywhere in a
breathgroup. Only la, by the way, must be followed by a name; the other name-markers may
or may not be. This set of seven simple words and the I-compounds are both all the words
and the only words which may precede C-initial names pauselessly.
Restriction is the other side of privilege. Obviously no copy of a name-marker may occur
either initially or with a resolvable "prequel" within the first N-2 phonemes of a name. (The last
two phonemes of a C-final breathgroup are bound to be all or part of the resident-name, and
so do not have to be included in the search for name-markers.) If *Taknaladja'n, for example,
were offered to us as a name, we would protest that its first part is not a name, but the
incomplete phrase Takna la…, because that is how we have already resolved it. What we
would have to do if it were new to us is first spot the name-marker la or a copy of it, and then
discover that its prequel, takna, resolved. The prequel of a copy of a name-marker is that
portion of the embedding breathgroup that lies to its left. A prequel resolves if the resolver
can resolve it completely into regular words, that is, into structure words and/or predicates.
Obviously it can do this with /TAKna/.)
So it is clear why this restriction is necessary. Indeed if we wanted to make a name out of
the utterance Takna la Djan–as we are free to try to do in Loglan–all we have to do is
remove that offending sequence /la/. Is ?Taknadj'n then a name? Yes it is. It meets all the
requirements for names including the name-marker restriction. For no copy of any of the
sequences /.i… lo hoi loa loi sia siu/ occurs within its production as /taknaDJAN/. We might
translate such a name into English as 'Talkerjohn'…which opens up some interesting
possibilities.
2.7 Working Around the Name-Marker Restriction: The name-marker restriction
sounds as if it might have eliminated a large proportion of the objects otherwise useable as
names in Loglan. This is apparently not the case. In the many years I have been living with
this restriction, I have found only two proscribed sequences which occur in natural names
with sufficient frequency to justify a routine response. These are /i/ initially and /la/ either
initially or in the context /VlaX/; and both problems are easily dealt with. All other proscribed
sequences are exceedingly rare. In fact I remember only two occasions on which a
transcription of a natural name had to be rejected because a copy of some name-marker
other than /i la/ was resolvably found in it; but the transcriptions were easily modified and I
have now forgotten what the problem words were.
The routine solution I use for modifying /i/-and /la/-containing transcriptions of natural
names are as follows. In names like 'Ibañez' 'Isabel' and 'Ibiza'–Spanish is especially rich in
/i/-initial names–I replace the /i/ (ee) in the transcription with /ii/ (yee). Thus /iBANieq/ /isaBEL/
and /iBIQa/ are the transcriptions and Iibanieq (yee-BAAN-yeth), Iisabe'l (yee-saa-BEL) and
Iibiqas (yee-BEETH-aas) are the Loglan names. /la/-containing names are perhaps a little
more common and many come from French. I used to replace the /a/ in /la/ with /e/; but these
days I find the /la/ to /ly/ ((laa) to (luh)) as somehow closer to the French. So I now import
French names like 'La Fontaine' (laa-fon-TEN) and 'de la Roche' (duh-laa-ROSH) as Loglan
Lyfone'n (luh-fon-TEN) and Dylyro'c (duh-luh-ROHSH).
No doubt other languages and problems will inspire other solutions.
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2.8 Derivations of Names: All Loglan names that have been coined so far have been
derived from some pre-existing linguistic source. Some sources have been internal, from
within the Loglan language; others external, from outside it. Internal names are discussed in
the next section; external ones in Sec. 2.10.
2.9 Internal Names: These are the names that have sources within the language. For
example, our family has long had a dog named Cimr (SHEEM-rr); her name is derived from
the Loglan word for 'summer', which is cimra, and certainly fits her disposition. (Cimra means
'is the summer of year…'.) So a predicate was converted into a name of a puppy by dropping
its final vowel, following it with a pause in speech or a comma in test, and capitalizing its initial
letter in text. The result is Cimr as in Cimr, kamla (SHEEM-rr . KAAM-laa), or, for that matter,
in 'Cimr, come!' Another example. We once had a cat with the uninspired Gro'katm, which
means Big Cat (from groda katma). We pronounced it (GROH-kaat-mm); but we probably
shouldn't have. We were deriving the name from the complex grokatma (groh-KAAT-maa) in
which (KAAT) is the stressed syllable; so the name could have been regularly stressed as
Grokatm (groh-KAAT-mm). Still, the apostrophe Gro'katm would have made it clear in text–
had it ever gotten into text–that we were stressing it irregularly…as one is free to do with
names.
Any predicate may be used to yield a name in this way. Thus, if one wants to imitate the
Caribbean custom of saying 'Man!' vocatively, Loglan Mren, used in such expressions, as
Mren, ea mu safgoi /MREN.eAmusSAFgoi/ = 'Man, let's sail!', does the job nicely. (Safgoi is
derived from salfa godzi, which means 'sail0go'.) Fum is an equally useful vocative, coming
as it does from fumna = 'is a woman'. Some other internally derived names come from
structure words. These usually require that a consonant be added to the V-final word to make
the name, and by convention the consonant added to make internal names in /n/. Thus Tun
comes from tu, which, when used as a vocative, has the sense of 'You!' or 'Hey, you!'.
2.10
External Names: Externally derived names are the closest possible imitations
in Loglan of either (a) the sounds or (b) the appearances of certain natural language names
which are to be imported into Loglan. It is generally not possible to do both.
2.11
Auditorily-Modeled External Names: When the things named are persons or
places, it is conventional in Loglan to imitate the sounds of the natural name as closely as this
may be done in Loglan phonetics. The preferred auditory model is the name in question is, or
would have been, pronounced by the person named, or by the people who live in the place
named. If that natural pronunciation does not end it a consonant, then it is conventional to
add the phoneme /s/ to external names. Thus if Peter is an Englishman, his own
pronunciation of 'Peter' will sound something very like (PEET-uh) in Loglan phonetics;
whence Pitys is his Loglan name. But if Peter is an American, we will hear (PEED-rr) when
he tells us who he is, so no /s/ will be required to complete his Loglan name. Pidr and Pitus
are two very different-sounding names; and in Loglan they are spelled differently as well.
The procedure is similar for names of places and famous personages. 'Bach' is Bax
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and 'Berlin' is Berli'n in Loglan because (bahkh) is a good copy of the German name of
that German composer and (behr-LEEN) is an almost perfect reproduction of how Berliners
speak the name of their city. 'London', on the other hand, is Lyndn because (LUHN-dnn) is
another very good copy of the sounds one hears on the lips of Londoners despite the
unsettling departure from English spelling that is caused by writing it phonetically. (English, as
everyone knows, is an unphonetically spelled language.) 'Paris' suffers hardly any visual
change because in being phonetically rewritten as ?Pari' (paa-REE) it becomes clear to the
word-maker that it requires the conventional addition of final /s/; thus Pari's is Loglan for
'Paris", an adventitious similitude. 'Roma' is Romas because again the local pronunciation
(ROH-maa) is V-final and again /s/ is conventionally added to the original, this time without an
adventitious matching of the local spelling.
In general, when borrowing place and person names, loglanists try to make the best
imitations possible with their limited phoneme kit unless the result is thought to be too difficult
for loglanists to use on a world-wide basis. Thus, should German 'München' (Munich) be
exactly reproduced as Mwnxen (MEUN-khen) (as it can be by using the irregular phonemes
/w/ = (eu) and /x/ = (kh) which happen to be German)? Or should we adopt the more forgiving
Muncen (MOON-shen), which although quite close to the original is still pronounceable by
that large population of potential loglanists whose tongues could not reproduce the German
sounds exactly? This is not a morphological question but a broader linguistic one on which
The Institute has no policy at present. Until it is settled by an international congress of
loglanists, current loglanists are free to adopt whatever degree of imitation they can manage.
Thus either Mwnxen or Muncen but certainly not *Miunek.
2.12
Visually-Modeled External Names: When the name to be imported is a
scientific or scholarly one, and a certain method of spelling it is in wide international use, then
the model to be most closely copied is the visual appearance of the internationally shared
portion of that name as spelled (or respelled) in the Latin alphabet. Take the names of the
planets in the five major European languages:
Engli
Russi
Spani
Fren
Ger
sh
an
sh
ch
man
Merc
Merku
Merc
Merc
Merk
ury
rie
urio
ure
ur
Venus
Venera
Venus
Venus
Venus
Mars
Mars
Marte
Mars
Mars
Jupiter
Yupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter
Saturn
Saturn
Saturno
Saturne
Saturn
Neptune Neptun
Neptuno
Neptune Neptun
Uranus
Uran
Urano
Uranie
Uranus
From the appearances of these words, the choices all seem obvious. The only question
would appear to be: Should we add /s/ or subtract the few final vowels when there are any?
Clearly we should do the latter. The greatest variation in these natural names is precisely in
these final vowels when they exist at all. This decision gives us either ?Mercur or ?Merkur
for 'Mercury'; Venus for 'Venus'; Mars for 'Mars'; Jupiter for
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Notebook 3-Phonology
'Jupiter'; Saturn for 'Saturn'; Neptun for 'Neptune'; and ?Uran or perhaps ?Uranus for
'Uranus'. Only the choices between ?Mercur and ?Merkur and between ?Uran and
?Uranus remain. ?Mercur would appear to imitate the slightly more widespread spelling. On
the other hand, the pronunciation of [c] in the [Mercur-] sequence in all the languages that
use it is Loglan /k/. This consideration tips the balance, in my opinion, in favor of Merkur. As
for Uranus, Uran is clearly the best choice; it is the internationally-shared portion of these five
written names, and its sequelae are extremely variable.
But now let us consider the pronunciation of these visually good copies of these lowvariance portions of these six international words. The copies are so good, in fact, that in the
astronomic or mythological contexts in which they are most likely to appear in print, they will
surely remind any scholarly reader of what they mean. But how do they sound? Quite
Loglandical, it turns out: (MEHR-koor), (VEN-oos)–not (VEEN-uhs) or (VEIGHN-oos)–(mars)–
that's an /s/, not a /z/–(zhoo-PEET-her), (SAAT-oorn), (NEP-toon), and (OOR-aan). Only one,
Neptun, sounds like the English word. But that is just as it should be. These words are
international words. They have, like all the tools of shared scholarship, only international
looks, not international sounds. If we in the Loglan community pronounce them in our special
way, we are only doing what the rest of the international community of scholars has been
doing all along.
2.13
The Linnaean Polynomials: The Linnaean "binomials"–actually, polynomials
because some of them have three parts–are a huge body of zoological and botanical
terminology–probably numbering well into the early millions by this time–that have been
made standard in spelling by international covenant among biological scientists. The
covenant is very simple. Provided a proposed new Linnaean name is unique, then however it
is spelled on its first appearance in print (including any adventitious errors) is the way it will
then be spelled by all who use it afterwards. Even Japanese and Chinese scholars, including
those who use the Latin alphabet in no other way, use Latin letters and Linnaean spellings to
represent species and/or genera in the text of their own scientific writing…even if that writing
is intended only for domestic consumption.
This stern system is called "Linnaean" after the great Swedish naturalist Carl von Linne
who proposed this remarkably enduring system of biological nomenclature several centuries
ago. Loglan has no choice but to follow it exactly. It is clear that the names of Homo sapiens
neanderthalensis, Escherichia coli and Australopithecus afarensis must be at least
written identically in all languages…even if they are pronounced in a great variety of ways.
Phonological diversity doesn't matter; what matters is that readers will continue to be
presented with the same words. So here is the job of The Institute is to find a way of
pronouncing these letters that is (1) consistent with the phonology of Loglan, (2) modeled on
some natural language way of pronouncing these polynomials that is imitable by speakers of
the widest possible group of other languages, and (3) does not–as far as can be foretold by
examining reasonably large samples–render any two Linnaean words identically in speech.
Once that is done, then a way must be devised for transforming the binomials spoken by
loglanists into Loglan text that will not cause us to deviate from the audio-visual isomorphism
of the language.
As far as pronunciation is concerned, the habits of Romance-speaking scholars,
especially Italian and Spanish ones, commend themselves on three counts. Except for the
pronunciation of [C c], Romance pronunciation is consistent with Loglan phonology–which is
a phonological close relative–and it employs, like Loglan, a minimum set of widely used
phonemes. Moreover, the Spanish and Italian communities
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of biologists have been pronouncing Linnaean words for several centuries; and it is
unlikely that the pronunciation habits they have developed for that purpose produce
homonyms with detectable frequency.
First, we will estimate this Romance-based pronunciation pattern; then in Sec. 14, we will
consider how isomorphism in the neighborhood of Linnaean words may best be preserved.
2.14
Pronunciation of the Linnaean Polynomials: Here is our current estimate of
how an Italian or a Spanish biologist, with some knowledge of how the French, German,
English or Slavic proper names that are often celebrated in the polynomials are "really
pronounced", as well as some feeling for the spelling peculiarities of Loglan, would try to
regularize the pronunciation of the Linnaean vocabulary:We suppose that such a scholar will pronounce every letter and letter combination as in
standard Loglan except these:[a
(pronounced
as
/
(e
e]
Loglan)
e/
h)
[a
/
(o
u]
o/
h)
[a
/
(a
w]
o/
w)
[a
/
(a
y]
ei/
y)
before [a o u] or C
/
[c]
not h
k/
[c
/t
(c
Initially & finally
h]
c/
h)
[c
Medially except in
/
h]
[sch]
k/
[e
/i
(e
except final & in [eau]
a]
/
e)
[e
/
(o
au]
o/
h)
[e
/i
(e
e]
/
e)
[ei
/
(ei
gh]
e/
gh)
[e
/
(o
u]
oi/
y)
[e
/
(o
w]
u/
o)
[ig
/
(ig
h]
ai/
h)
/
(j/
[j]
dj/
dg)
[h]
before any C
/
(h
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hy/
[lh
uh)
/l
]
/
[o
/
e]
o/
[o
(o
h)
/
u]
u/
[o
(o
o)
/
w]
ao/
[p
(o
w)
/f
h]
/
[p]
before [n s t]
/
py/
[s
(p
uh)
/
h]
c/
[s
(s
h)
/
ch]
c/
(s
h)
/
[q]
k/
[r
/
h]
r/
[th
/t
]
/
[w
]
before V
[x]
initially
[x]
non-initially
/
u/
(w
)
/
z/
/
ks/
/i
(e
/
e)
Note that, in deference to our Loglan habits, our standard-setting Romance-speaking
scholar will pronounce [C c] before [e i y] as Loglan /c/, that is, as written, and as /k/
[y]
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elsewhere. Thus 'Cephalapoda' is to be pronounced (sheh-faa-loh-POHD-aa), while
'Coelenterata' is pronounced (koh-len-tehr-AAT-aa). This follows half the European custom of
pronouncing [c] before "strong vowels" ([a o u]) like Loglan /k/, and before "weak vowels"
([e i y]) like /s/. Instead of /s/ we will ask out standard-setter to use our "native" Loglan /c/.
Double consonants, that is, pairs of identical consonant letters, will be pronounced as if
they were a single instance of that consonant.
2.15
Writing Linnaean Names: Once Linnaean names are being pronounced in a
standard way by loglanists, then the problem arises of how to furnish Loglan readers with
clear indications of which names are Linnaean in a given text. Since some Linnaean names
are vowel-final (Homo) and some are not (sapiens), their endings cannot be our clue; and
while we are obliged like the rest of the scientific community to italicize, bold or underline
Linnaean names in text, even these textual indication are not unique and are in any case
difficult to represent unequivocally in speech. So in the interests of preserving isomorphism, a
special Linnaean name operator is required. Instead of la we will use laa (LAA-aa) for
announcing Linnaean names. We will further specify that laa always be followed by a pause
in speech and that Linnaean names never be used without this operator, that is, as vocatives.
(So you may not address your visitor as *Hoi Canis lupus even though da is one.)
Moreover, the variable number of terms in these polynomials–sometimes monomials
(Australopithecus), most frequently binomials (Escherichia coli or E coli), but sometimes
trinomials (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis)–would mean that we could not tell when a Vfinal breathgroup following a Linnaean term was simply another Linnaean term or a string of
regular words. The threat of this ambiguity forces us to treat all Linnaean names as
monomials in speech, looking to a separate algorithm to partition these transitional monsters,
e.g., Homosapiensneanderthalensis (hoh-moh-saa-PEE-ens-neigh-aan-dehr-taa-LENsees), Kanislupus (kaa-nees-LOOP-oos), back into their proper, and properly-spelled,
polynomial parts. Because of their length we anticipate that some of these transitional
monomials will be multiply stressed; but it is doubtful that the existence of these occasional
multiple stresses will be more than adventitiously useful in partitioning.
The algorithm that will complete the isomorphism has not been written. And when it is
written it will probably involve repeated lookups in extremely long tables. But the principle of
that algorithm is clear. Loglan can continue to be isomorphic, even in the region of the
Linnaean polynomials, if a machine can be programmed the performance of the
microbiologist (or the ichthyologist, or the botanist, or whatever, who hear Linnaeans from
their specialties) who can listen to /eceRIKiaKOLi/ and know that da has heard a Linnaean
name that da can confidently type as [Escherichia coli], including the bolding that is now
conventional.
We know that such programs can be written; it is just a question of waiting for some
competent loglanist with a biological bent to find the time.
2.16
The Post-Nominal Pause: Many loglanists have misunderstood the
requirement that there be a pause after names to mean that, in order for Loglan speech to be
understood at all, these "obligatory pauses" must be carefully produced every time. Not so.
Sloppy Loglan has about as good a chance of being correctly understood–at least by a
sympathetic human listener–as sloppy speech in any natural tongue…which is
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Notebook 3-Phonology
to say that the chances are pretty good. The difference is that non-sloppy Loglan speech
can be impeccably understood by any properly instructed listener…even a machine.
2.17
Resolving Names: The resolution of a Linnaean name from the speechstream
is trivial. One comes upon the Linnaean operator laa followed by its pause; one scans right
for the next pause or the end of the utterance; all that lies between the two pauses, or
between the pause and silence, will be the Linnaean name. Partitioning the monomial thus
generated into its proper Linnaean parts, and respelling those parts in ways that recapture
the original spellings exactly, are non-trivial steps but beyond the scope of this book.
The resolution of non-Linnaean names is also non-trivial but quite easy to follow. Before
the resolver can resolve names from the speechstream it must know how to resolve regular
words from it; for a crucial step in the resolution of most names is the resolver's attempt to
resolve as regular words the prequel of some copy of a name-marker that has been found in
it; see Sec. 2.6. Thus the algorithm described in this section presupposes the existence of
algorithms like those that will be described later for little words and predicates; Secs. 2.33
and 2.59-60. However, our discussion of the name-resolving algorithm can be followed
without reference to those later algorithms. All that is required is the suspension of disbelief
that they can be written.
Given that a regular-word resolver exists, then, the first step in the resolution of a name is
to:
1. Find the first (or next) breathgroup in the utterance that is C-final. If there are none,
then there are no names. (Being followed by obligate pauses, all non-Linnaean names are
either right portions of their breathgroups or occupy them entirely. So all and only consonantfinal breathgroups have resident names.) Suppose we locate a C-final breathgroup.
2. Search the first N-2 phonemes of the breathgroup for all copies of the sequences
/.i la hoi loa loi sia siu/. If none are found, the entire breathgroup is a name and may be so
resolved. (The last 2 phonemes in the breathgroup do not have to be searched; they will
always be either part or all of the resident name.)
3. If one or more copies of the specified sequences are found, select the rightmost and
discover whether its prequel will resolve into regular words. If its prequel does resolve, the
name commences just to the right of that copy and stretches to the end of the breathgroup
and may be so resolved. If the prequel of some copy does not resolve, select the next
rightmost copy if any remain and repeat this step until no copies remain.
4. If no copy with a prequel that resolves into regular words can be found, then the entire
C-final breathgroup is a name. Return to step (1) for further breathgroups until all C-final
breathgroups have been processed in this way.
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B. THE MORPHOLOGY OF STRUCTURE WORDS
2.18 The Functions of Structure Words: The shortest words of any language are its
logical, numerical or grammatical words. These are words like 'or' 'of' 'is' 'a' 'if' 'one' 'two' 'the'
and endings like '-s' '-ed' '-ing' and '-hood' in English. In Loglan short morphs of this kind
include all the grammatical particles (tense words, articles, etc.), the connectives (logical and
causal), all the prepositions that are not predicates, the case-markers, the pronouns, the
other variables and all the number-and letter-words.
Clearly, structure words are the words that shape the structure of an utterance, and into
which the less frequently-used and typically longer content words, the predicates and
names, are fitted as pictures into frames. Thus, Le _____ pa _____ is a sentence-frame. Its
nature is completely determined by two structure words. But any two predicates we care to
use can complete the picture so-framed. For example, let us use mrenu and fumna. If we
drop these two predicates into the empty places in the frame in both possible orders, we will
make two sentences our of them: Le mrenu pa fumna = 'The man was a woman' and Le
fumna pa mrenu = 'The woman was a man'. If there are 10,000 predicates in the language,
then there are 100,000,000 ways of filling this one frame. Each structural frame is therefore a
set of possible sentences.
This is the function of structure words: to build the structural frames which the content
words then fill out, thus creating the utterances of the language.
2.19
The Four Little-Word Forms: All simple structure words in Loglan are
short; the longest have only three letters. Since the shortest predicates are four letters long,
there is a complete visual and audible separation of these two kinds of regular words in
Loglan. Therefore we will occasionally call the simple structure words little words, for in
Loglan they are genuinely little. It is the compound little words described in the next section
that attain substantial lengths.
The four forms of little words are .V VV CV and CVV. Using a typical member to represent
each form-class, we can call them the A-form words, the Ia-form words, the Da-form words,
and the Tai-form words.
The complete set of A-form words are a e i o u. In ordinary contexts, these are the five
simple logical connectives 'or' 'and' 'if and only if' and 'whether' etc., although they are also
used as letter words in spelling contexts; see Sec. 2.25. These five tiny words, as well as any
compounds which commence with them, must always be preceded by pauses in speech and
commas in text, For example, in Da, a de pa camla /DA.aDEpaKAMla/ ('X and Y came') the
pause-comma is obligatory.
There are 25 Ia-form words and all of them are attitude indicators. Examples are ia and io
('Certainly' and 'Probably'). No pause need accompany these Ia-form words or their
compounds: Da ia, e de io pa kamla /daIA.edeIOpaKAMla/ (daa-YAA . eh-deh-YOH-paaKAAM-laa) = 'X certainly, and Y probably came'.
Next are the 85 Da-form words formed of the 5 primary vowels combined with the 17
regular consonants. All possible Da-form words have currently assigned meanings. Indeed,
the CV form is perhaps the hardest-working morphological form in the language, in the sense
that more CV morphs occur in Loglan utterances than morphs of any other form. The best
examples of Da-words are da itself and its four companions, de di do
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Notebook 3-Phonology
du. These are often well-translated into a sort of "mathematized" English by the genderless, number-less, case-less mathematical variables 'X' 'Y' 'Z' 'W' 'Q'. For example, Da kepti
de di do du means 'X is a ticket to Y from Z on carrier W for price Q'.
Finally, there are the more numerous but less frequently used Tai-form words. There is
morphological space for more than 400 of these CVV-form morphs, and only about half of
them have been assigned; so we still have plenty of room for growth.
[It is a widely believed myth among loglanists that we are "running out of CVV space."
This is not true. The last 12 years of active lexical development have added only a few dozen
Tai-form words to the 148 words of this form that had meanings in 1975. More than a few
dozen empty places, namely 85, have been added morphologically to the CVV word-space
since that time. Five new phonemes /h y x q w/ were added to the language–even though
four of them, /y x q w/, added only letter-words to the CVV space, and then promptly occupied
it–and the previously unused vowel-pairs /aa ee oo/ have been discovered to have uses and
so have augmented the rows of the CVV table. Since the number of Tai-form words that have
actually been added to the language, including the new letter-words, is far less than 85, we
have even more open CVV-space now than we had in 1975.]
The best examples of Tai-words are the letter-words Bai Cai Dai etc. [B C d etc.] of which
Tai [T] itself is one; but many of the prepositions and adverbs of the language are also Taiform. For example, dio is a "case tag" that means 'to/toward' and sui is a "discursive" that
means 'also'.
As we shall see presently, the 4 irregular sounds /q w x/ and /y/ are fully represented
morphologically only among the letter-words. In fact, CVV is the only little-word form in which
/q w x y/ may occur. All other little words are made from the 5 primary vowels and the 17
regular consonants.
2.20
Compound Little Words: A compound little word is a string of simple little
words concatenated pauselessly in speech and printed without spaces in text. Thus,
pacenoina is a compound little word, or simply a compound. It is composed of
pa + ce + noi + na. Most combinations of little words are permitted in compounds. One
exception is that VV-form words may be compounded only with each other. For example,
uaui expresses a satisfied kind of happiness and uiua expresses a happy kind of
satisfaction, and both are compound attitudinals. Compound attitudinals may be of any
length; but they are the only kind of compound in which VV word may occur.
There is one more restriction. While V, CV and CVV words may be mixed together in a
compound, two orders are proscribed: V words may not follow other V words (the result
would look like a VV word), and they may not follow CV words (which result would simulate a
CVV word). So V words may in fact only follow other CVV words, which they do only rarely
and only when the Tai-word is of Cvv-form, that is, only when it contains a monosyllabic VVpair like Tai itself. When V words do follow Cvv words in a compound, they lose their leading
pause. That pause is retained when a .V word is used initially in a compound. Thus .V + CVV
puts the obligatory pause in front of the compound where it belongs. For example, anoi = 'if'
is such a word, and the leading pause is preserved in use: Da, anoi de /DA.anoiDE/ = 'X if Y'.
*Cvv + .V, in contrast, would put the pause in the middle of the word if the pause were
retained. So it is not retained. (Words may have no medial pauses, of course; see Sec. 2.28.)
An
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Example of a Cvv + V compound is MaiA (MIGH-aa), the acronymic word for [MA], the
US Postal Service's acronym for 'Massachusetts'. Note that /MAIa/ (MIGH-aa) is audibly
distinct from /Maia/ (MAA-yah). This phonological distinction will be employed in the
resolution of little words; Sec. 2.33.
There are also some "false compounds" that we must look at. Derivations of the CV + V
kind do exist semantically even though morphologically they are proscribed. For example the
CVV word noa has a meaning which is derivable from no followed by a ('not and/or' or 'only
if''). But the resulting noa is not a compound. It is a simple CVV word chosen with that
semantic derivation in mind. This kind of derivation applies to the Tai-form letter-words as
well. Thus Tai itself is semantically derived from the letteral [T] plus the suffix [ai]. But Tai is
nevertheless a simple CVV word, and so is morphologically not subject to further resolution.
2.21
Letter-Words: These are a kind of structure word which have a very special
morphology in Loglan. By a letter-word is meant a word like English 'em', 'eff', or 'dee' by
which letters are spoken or read aloud from text in a given language. That they are words in
the spoken forms of languages which have written forms, and therefore have characters of
some kind–and of course, not all languages do–is clear. We can say 'There are nineteen effs
on this page' in spoken English. But words like 'eff' seldom appear in English text. Instead, in
writing such a sentence we would probably use the letteral [f] and type ]There are nineteen f's
on this page]. In Loglan, letter-words appear as frequently in the written language as in the
spoken one. There are also a great many Loglan letter-words, since there are separate words
for the upper-and lower-case versions of each letter in the Greek and Latin alphabets. That
makes 100 letter-words in all, as there are 26 letters in the Latin alphabet and 24 in the Greek
one.
Each Loglan letter-word is formed by combining the Loglan phoneme associated with that
letter with a suffix. If the letter is Latin, the association is automatic. The phoneme associated
with a given letter is the sound that letter is given in reading Loglan text aloud. If the letter is
Greek, however, some of the associations between characters and sounds are obvious and
some are arbitrary. So the entire list of associations between Greek characters and Loglan
sounds will be given presently.
2.22
Suffixes for the 52 Latin Letter-Words: Some of these words are Tai-form;
some of them are Ama-form. The four suffixes required to generate all 52 Latin letter-words
are as follows:
For the 7 lower case Latin vowels, add -si; thus asi, esi,…, ysi.
For the 7 Upper Case Latin vowels, add -ma; thus Ama, Ema,…, Yma.
For the 19 lower case Latin consonants, add
-ei; thus bei, cei,…, zei.
For the 19 Upper Case Latin consonants, add -ai; thus Bai, Cai,…, Zai.
In addition, there are the 7 single-letter abbreviations of the vowel letter-words provided
by the 7 vowels a e i o u w y used as one-letter words. These, too, are letter-words. But
unlike the Ama-and asi-form vowel-words, to which they are alternatives (allomorphs), the
single-letter words are ambiguous with respect to both language and case. As we shall see
later, the single phoneme /a/ may stand for the upper case Latin letteral A, for the lower case
Latin a, for the upper case Greek alpha Α (we cannot
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display the Greek letterals on our font, so will be content to name them), or for the lower
case Green alpha α. Which letteral the vowel /a/ is representing in any given case will depend
entirely on the context in which we find it; see Sec. 2.24.
The reason there is a single-letter abbreviation for each of the Latin vowel-words is that,
in many contexts in which the Latin letter-words are used, the preferred vowel-word is the
vowel itself. Thus in spelling the Loglan word ba we wish to name the characters; so we say
bei, a (bay . aa). We could say bei asi (bay . AA-see) if we chose, thus specifying the lower
case Latin [a]; but that much univocality is not required in the spelling context and is seldom
used. See Sec. 2.25 for more on spelling practice. In fact, the 7 single-letter vowel-words, a,
e, i, etc., are used either in or as letter-words whenever the loss of case and language
information is unimportant; for example, in making acronymic words; see Sec. 2.29.
Consonants cannot, of course, be spoken alone. Therefore they always require a vocalic
suffix.
2.23
Suffixes for the 48 Greek Letter-Words: These words are also of either Taiform or Ama-form, but of course four different suffixes are used. The suffixes required to
generate the 48 Greek letter-words are as follows:For the 6 lower case Greek vowels, add -fi; thus afi, etc.
For the 6 Upper Case Greek vowels, add
-mo; thus Amo, etc.
For the 18 lower case Greek consonants, add -eo; thus beo, etc.
For the 18 Upper Case Greek consonants, add -ao; thus Bao, etc.
Two phonemes in the Loglan phoneme set have no corresponding letters in the Greek
alphabet. These are /c/ and /w/, (sh) and (eu). The remaining 24 Loglan phonemes have
been tentatively assigned to the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet as follows. There are four
with arbitrary associations and these are marked with a pound-sign [#]:
a
a
b
d
a
e
lon
f
g
ma
alph
h
#
beta
i
delt
phi
gam
n
nu
t
iota
om
o
ega
u
j
#
epsi
eta
xi
(ksi)
kap
k
pa
lam
l
bda
m
mu
p
q
ta
r
s
ma
pi
sig
upsil
on
v
psi
#
the
rho
tau
x
chi
y
omicr
#
on
z
zeta
As I say, these assignments are tentative. The Institute would be please to consider any
proposal based on a better understanding of Greek phonemics than this one displays.
To use the tables to build a Greek letter-word, proceed as follows.
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(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Notebook 3-Phonology
Suppose we want the word for lower case Greek gamma.
The suffix for l.c. Greek consonants is-eo.
Gamma is associated with the Loglan phoneme /g/.
So the required letter-word is g + eo = geo, a Tai-form word.
2.24
Uses of Letter-Words: Letter-words are currently being used in five contexts:
(1) In spelling, see next section. (2) In making acronymic words like CaiIzA (shai-EEZ-aa)
for 'CIA' (see-igh-EIGH), see Sec. 2.29. (3) In forming dimensioned numbers
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Notebook 3-Phonology
like nenemei (neh-NEE-may) [10m] for '10 meters', see Sec. 2.31. (4) As letter-variables
both in mathematics (toXai [2X]) and in ordinary discourse (Bai groda Cai = 'B is bigger than
C', which is often abbreviated in text to [B groda C]). (5) To form scientific predicates, for
example, geoykreni (geigh-oh-uh-KREH-nee) for 'gamma-ray', which is made from the letterword for lower case gamma, geo (GEIGH-oh), the hyphen /y/ (uh) (see Secs. 2.48 and 2.55),
and the predicate kreni (KREH-nee), which means 'ray'.
2.25
Spelling Aloud: To spell a word aloud in Loglan, one uses Tai-words for the
consonants and either A-words or Ama type words for the vowels at the speller's option.
Normally da will use A-words for the vowel-letters. But if capitalization is to be reported, or
there is any other source of confusion in the context, da may choose to use Ama words for
greater explicitness. Thus the string of utterances (for so the grammar will perceive it) Tai A I
/tai.a.i/ (tigh . aa . ee) will be taken by the Loglan auditor to spell the word [Tai]. In English, we
would say 'Capital tee. Eigh. Eye.' More explicitly da might with to say Liu Tai nu leasri li, Tai
A I lu = 'The word 'Tai' is spelled (character-written) 'Tai. A. I.'.' A guide for this string is (leeoo-TIGH-noo-leigh-AAS-ree-lee . tigh . aa . ee). There is more on spelling in the grammar.
2.26
Little Word Predicates: There are three series of words in Loglan that
considered morphologically are compound little words but which are treated by the grammar
as predicates. These are (1) mathematical predicates, (2) acronymic predicates, and (3)
identity predicates. Identity predicates are bi and its analogs and compounds (see Lexeme
BI in the Lexicon) and require no special morphological treatment. The other two series of
little word predicates do require special treatment and will be discussed in the next section
and in Sec. 2.29.
2.27 Mathematical Predicates: There are the two series of these words: the cardinals
and the ordinals. They are generated by attaching either the cardinal suffix /-ra/ or the
ordinal suffix /-ri/ to any number words or other quantifier; see Lexeme PREDA for the
complete list of non-numerical quantifiers. Examples are tora = 'is a dyad/a twosome' and
rari = 'is the "all-th" or final member of sequence…'. Like other predicates, mathematical ones
are stressed penultimately. So they must be separated from any preceding number-word or
quantifier by a pause in speech or a comma in text. (Such commas are not strictly necessary
in text, but it is considered good writing style to use them because they contribute to the
isomorphism of the language.) Thus Kambei leva fe, fefera galno veslo mi
/KAMbeilevaFE.feFEraGALno VESlomi/ = Bring those five fifty-five gallon containers to me'
must be partitioned into (at least) two breathgroups at the juncture between the quantifier and
the cardinal predicate to prevent /KAMbeilevafefeFEraGALnoVESlomi/ from being heard. The
pauseless production would mean 'Bring that five-hundred-and-fifty-five gallon container to
me'.
[This stress rule is new since 1983. It was decided to bring the stress in mathematical
predicates–once initially stressed–into line with that of all other predicates. The cost of this
rectifying move is phonologically a modest one: the occasional use of a quite naturallyoccurring pause. Morphologically it eliminates an exception. It allow us to say that all
predicates are stressed penultimately.]
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2.28
The "No Pausing Inside Words" Rule: The preceding resolution
demonstrates the necessity of not pausing inside a word…especially not inside a compound
one, which will often have some other resolution if the speaker does inadvertently pause. This
is because no Loglan words legitimately contains a pause and so the resolver makes good
use of whatever pauses it hears. (This means that the tiny stops that do occur acoustically in
some vowel disyllables, e.g. in /a,o/ will be measured by the machine–and by the human
auditor, for that matter, who is usually unaware of them–as "too brief to be a pause".) New
loglanists frequently object to the rule: 'But sometimes I don't know the word, and I have to
hesitate until I remember how it goes!' That is true; and human auditors–your teacher, for
example–will understand this…and probably you. But the machine will not understand you
until your Loglan speech become "fluent". That, in fact, is what any increase in fluency largely
is. It is the elimination of just these morphologically unnecessary (and sometimes downright
misleading) pauses from the hesitant speech with which you and every other learner will
inevitably begin.
2.29
Acronymic Predicates: Morphologically, acronymic words are compound little
words; but grammatically they are predicates. They are one of several classes of little word
predicates (see Sec. 23) which have this slightly misleading morphology.
But what are "acronymic words"? Just as a letteral, let's say [T], is a representation in
writing of the "spelling-form" 'See-see-see'; but this form never occurs in written English. So a
closer parallel with Loglan acronyms is the use of compound numerals in both languages.
Thus, [123] is a shorthand written notation for the spoken expression 'one-hundred-twentythree' in English just as [123] is a shorthand written notation for netote in Loglan. Both
"longhand" forma may occur in writing as well as in speech. Just so, [[CCC] is shorthand for
CaiCaiCai; and CaiCaiCai is not only the "spelling aloud" of [CCC] but is a written word as
well.
Conventionally, the acronyms of Loglan are restricted to Latin letterals, both upper and
lower case. The variety of internationally-used acronyms that can be "spelled out" as
acronymic words in Loglan includes not only common sequences of Latin upper-case
letterals, like [USA UN DNA], but also alphanumeric sequences like [U234] and chemical
formulas like [H2SO4]. Also, chemical symbols containing both lower-and upper-case
letterals, such as [Fe] (Iron) and [As] (Arsenic), are also uniquely spellable as Loglan
acronymic words once certain decoding conventions are taken into account. But first let us
look at the rules for turning such acronyms into Loglan words. These "spelling-out" rules are
as follows:1. All consonant-letterals in an acronym are represented in the acronymic word by their
full 3-letter words. Thus peicei is the word of which [pc] is the written abbreviation; and both
expressions are pronounced /PEIcei/ (PAY-shay).
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2. With a very few exceptions to be noted later, each Latin vowel-letteral in an acronym
is represented by that single vowel phoneme in the acronymic word. Thus
DayNaiA = /dai + nai+ a/ is the reading-aloud, or spelling out, of DNA; and both expressions
are pronounced /daiNAIa/ (digh-NIGH-aa).
3. If a pair of Latin vowel-letterals are adjacent in an acronym, the vowel phonemes by
which they are read aloud are hyphenated with /z/ in the acronymic word. Thus
CaiIzA = /cai + i+ + z + a/ is [CIA] read aloud. Both are pronounced /caiIZa/ (shigh-EEZ-aa).
Similarly, AzAzA (aa-ZAA-zaa) is [AAA] written aloud.
4. If there is a 2-letter element symbol in a chemical acronym which, like [Ca] (Calcium),
is composed of an upper-case consonant-letteral plus a lower-case Latin vowel-letteral, the
two are hyphenated with /z/ in the acronymic word. Thus, [Ca] itself is read as Caiza (SHIGHzaa) while [CaCO3] (Calcium carbonate) is read as CaizaCaiOte (shigh-zaa-shigh-OH-teh).
Note that [O] is not hyphenated to the second [C]. Thus [O] is not a lower-case appendate of
that [C].
5. To read an acronym containing Greek vowel-letterals as a Loglan word, those vowel
letters must be read aloud by their full three-letter words, e.g. /AMo/ or /AFi/. Any Greek
consonant-letter in an acronym must be hyphenated with /z/ to any immediately following
vowel of either nationality.
6. All non-initial numerals in an acronym are pronounced as number-words in the
acronymic word. Thus Utotefo = /u + to + te + fo/ is the word of which [U234] is the
abbreviation. Both are pronounce /utoTEfo/ (oo-toh-TEH-foh)
7. Acronyms with initial numerals–rare forms at best–are not allowed to be transformed
into Loglan acronymic predicates. If they were, they would be taken for dimensioned
numbers, e.g. temei [3m] (THE-may) 'three meters'.
8. Dimensioned numbers may have acronyms as their right-hand parts. Thus [100USD]
might be the written form for 'one hundred US dollars', in which [USD] is an acronym. The
whole expression, then, would be pronounced /nemauSAIdai/ (neh-maa-oo-SIGH-digh) in
which the resolver would detect the /u/ as part of the acronym [USD] and therefore not pair it
with the preceding /a/. Written out, the compound word for [100USD] is nemaUSaiDai.
9. Acronymic words whose acronyms would imitate existing or even possible Loglan
words are not permitted. Thus *peia is not permitted because its acronym is [pa] which
imitates pa; see Sec. 28 for the acronym recovery rules. In speech /PEIa/ and /pa/ would be
quite distinct, but in written text the acronym [pa] would be indistinguishable from the word
[pa].
2.30
Pause and Stress Around Acronymic Words and Letter-Words: Stress is
always penultimate in acronymic predicates, that is, stress falls on the syllable that is second
from the last, as indeed it does in all predicate words.
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Given the penultimate stress rule, Rule 5 in the preceding section requires that the
juncture between single-vowel connectives and a quantifier, as in U totefo le mrenu
('Whether 234 of the men'), be protected by either a pause or by final stress on the quantifier:
thus either /u.totefoleMREnu/ or /utoterFOleMREnu/ would be morphologically distinct from
the production with the penultimately stressed acronymic namely /utoTEfoleMREnu/ ('Be
U234 (to/at/about) them men(?!)' whatever that would mean). My prediction is that usage will
follow the second, more economical route. But let us see.
The fact that acronymic words, being predicates, are always penultimately stressed may
also be used to force the resolution of a string of separate letter-words (which otherwise
might imitate an acronym) by stressing their final member. Thus, in /VEDmabaicaiDAI/ the
sequence /baicaiDAI/ cannot resolve as the acronym BaiCaiDai [BCD], for that would have to
be penultimately stressed: /baiCAIdai/. Thus the resolver can write Vedma Bai Cai Dai = 'Sell
B to C for D', or even [Vedma B C D], from the production /VEDmabaicaiDAI/ without benefit
of pauses. Pauses may of course be used to separate acronymic words from each other and
from the number-and/or letter-words they might otherwise absorb, or optionally (never
obligatorily) to separate letter-words from one another. Thus Bai, DaiNaiA Cai = 'B is the
DNA of C (that is, part of C's genome)' may be univocally produced with only that one pause:
/BAI.daiNAIacai/ or, just effectively, /BAI.daiNAIaCAI/. However, if we drip the pause, the
resulting production /BAIdaiNAIacai/ resolves as BaiDai Naia Cai ('Be a BD type of NA
to/of/about, etc. C'), and if at the same time the stress is dropped from /BAI/, then the
resulting production /baidaiNAIacai/ resolves as BaiDaiNaiA Cai = 'Be a BDNA to/of/about,
etc. C'. So stress is an important feature of the speechstream in the neighborhood of letterwords.
As we've just seen, /VEDmbaicaiDAI/ will resolve as Vedma Bai Cai Dai without benefit
of pauses. But if we put the stress on the middle term in suck a set, we get something that
appears at first sight–that is, before we rule on it–to be resolutionally ambiguous:
/BEDmabaiCAIdai/). There's an acronym here, alright, but it might be either BaiCaiDai
(/baiCAIdai/), or CaiDai (/CAIdai/) with the letter-word Bai coming before it. Clearly we must
rule on this case. The best morphological ruling is to let the resolver take such a pauseless,
penultimately stressed string of letter-words as the longest acronym it can be; and then use
pauses to mark off other cases. Under this rule, the sense of 'Sell B to CD' is given by Vedma
Bai, Caidai; and this will be uniquely resolved from either /BEDmabai.CAIdai/ or
/VEDmaBAI.CAIdai/; but /VEDmabaiCAIdai/ uniquely resolves as Vedma BaiCaiDai and
means 'Sell BCD'. Similarly, 'This is a ticket from B to C on DF for (price) G' is Ti Ketpi Bai
Cai, DaiFai Gai, which is uniquely given by /tiKETpibaiCAI.DAIfaigai/ (and some other
variations). But again, only a single pause is obligatory.
2.31
Pause and Stress Around Dimensioned Numbers: There is a final problem
involving acronyms, and that is how to protect the junctures around the acronym-bearing
dimensioned numbers of Rule 8, Sec. 29. Out example was [100USD]. This is spelled out in
text as [nemaUSaiDai], and partially spelled out as [100USaiDay]; but in any case it is
produced in speech as /nema,uSAIdai/, the close-comma indicating the /a,u/ is disyllabic. The
problem is how to prevent these objects from being misheard as "indefinite descriptions", that
is, with the same grammar as Ne mrenu = 'One man'. Like mrenu, USaiDai is a predicate.
How is it that the resolver does not hear Nema USaiDai–which would mean 'Some one
hundred instances of U.S. dollars
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(i.e., things worth one U.S. dollar, e.g., the bills or coins themselves)'–in this production?
Again, the default rule is to let the resolver hear the longest dimensioned number it can hear,
and use pauses to mark off other cases. So the resolver is instructed not to resolve
pauseless productions like /nema,uSAIdai/ as two words when it can resolve it as one.
Indeed, the two-word phrase Nema USaiDai would be parsed as an indefinite description. So
when indefinite descriptions involving acronymic predicates are intended, the speaker must
pause between the quantifier and that predicate. Thus Nema USaiDai /Nema.uSAIdai/ gets
the now-intended meaning of 'Some one-hundred U.S. dollars' exactly. Even consonant-initial
acronyms require this protection. Thus, Nema NaiZaiDai = 'Some 100 New Zealand Dollars'
must also be pause-bearing (/NEma.naiZAIdai/) in order to distinguish it from the
dimensioned number nemaNAIZAIDAI /nemanaiZAIdai/. This last expression is a single
word, a quantifier, and might be the measure of some quantity, say '100 New Zealand dollarsworth of wool' = /NemaNaiZaiDai lunli. No pause is needed in this indefinite description. The
two stressed syllables in the pauseless production /nemanaiZAIdaiLUNli/ will effect the
desired resolution.
Notice that /NEma.uSAIdai/ differs from /nema,uSAIdai/ in two respects: there is a pause
and a stressed /NE/ in the first production but not in the second. The extra stress in the first
production does help the human auditor resolve these two productions correctly; but it may
not be relied on by the machine's resolver. For example, if the quantifier is monosyllabic, the
natural tendency to stress one syllable relative to another vanishes. So/ne.uSAIdai/ requires
the pause to distinguish it from /ne,uSAIdai/. Between this last pair of productions the
phonological difference is now minimal; but it works.
One final note about stress in the neighborhood of dimensioned numbers. When such a
number is of minimal length, consisting of only one letter-word, say, with a default ne
assumed, and is being used in a numerical description–as in Ti langa ta lio mei = 'This is
longer than that by (one) meter'–then the description lio ('the number…') must be pronounced
disyllabically and its second syllable must be stressed. This pattern will always give the
desired resolution. Thus /liOMEI/ will resolve as lio mei, while the ambiguous production
*/lioMEI/ is in danger of picking up any following letter-word as the final syllable of the
number: /lioMEImei/ => lio meimei = 'the number (one) millimeter'. True; such a sequel is
rare. But pronouncing lio disyllabically and stressing its final syllable offers complete
protection against this accident; for then the one-syllable number is in effect the ultimate
syllable of a quasi-compound, the phrase lio mei, which is in effect being stressed
penultimately. This determines the right juncture of mei and prevents it from being heard as
part of anything else.
2.32
Acronym Recovery Rules: The word-formation rules of Sec. 26 are sufficient
to transform any (allowable) acronym into an acronymic word. But they are not sufficient to
allow the recovery of every (allowable) acronym from its sound in speech. The consonantwords will decode uniquely, of course; but the single vowel-phonemes to which the vowelwords have been (nearly always) reduced will not. So to enable unique decoding of the single
vowel phonemes in spoken acronymic words, certain already widely-used international
conventions have been adopted. These are:a. "Nationality": the default assumption is that all the vowel-letterals in an acronym are
Latin. If Greek vowels are used, they must be spelled out. If
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all the letter-words are single vowels, it is assumed that the entire acronym is Latin and
upper case. Thus /aZAza/ is [AAA]; and the written word is AzAzA.
b. Case: It can be inferred from the word-formation rules that every single-letter vowelword which is joined by a hyphen to a preceding upper-case consonant-word represents a
lower-case Latin letteral. Thus /FAIze/ is [Fe] and the acronymic word is Faize. But let's go
further. Let's also assume that every single-letter vowel-word that is not hyphenated to a
preceding Latin consonant-word has the same case as that word, or as any following
consonant-word if the vowel-word in question happens to be initial. Then /CAIo/ will decode
as [CO] and /Unai/ as [UN]; and the two words will be spelled out as CaiO and UNai,
respectively. (It is quite a different matter whether [UN] will regularly refer to the United
Nations in Loglan, or to the (impossible) diatomic compound of Uranium and Nitrogen; we
trust the former…although discussion of the latter is not of course impossible.) /FAIe/ of
course will then be [FE]; /FAIze/ would still be [Fe]; and /FEIze/ (FAY-zeh) might well be
taken to be [fE] if such a curious acronym is ever needed. (At the rate at which acronyms are
proliferating in the modern world, it may soon be.) But /FEIe/ (FAY-eh) would always have to
be written out as feie, for its acronym *[fe] would imitate the number-word fe.
The case convention will not allow the symbols for the two V-initial words Au (Gold) and
Eu (Europium) to be read aloud in the usual way. The problem is that both the letterals in just
these two chemical symbols are vowels. So the above conventions would apply the default
rule wrongly and decode the spoken words /AZu/ and /EZu/ as [AU] and [EU]. (One of these,
[AU], as it happens, predicates another impossible diatomic compound, this one involving
Argon. The other, [EU], is not a possible chemical acronym for [E] is not an element symbol.)
So these two exceptional chemical acronyms will have to have their lower-case second
vowels "spelled out" when spoken aloud, namely as /aZUsi/ and /eZUsi/, respectively. They
can then be written [Au] and [Eu] as required. Elements whose symbols are single letterals
are, of course, referenceable by the corresponding letter-words: thus Nitrogen by Nai and [N]
and Oxygen by Oma and [O].
Interestingly enough, the symbols composed of single letter-words have the grammatical
status of "arguments", that is, they function as designations; while acronymic words
composed of two or more symbols–not necessarily all alphabetic–have, as we have noted,
the grammatical status of predicates. Thus Ta U235 /ta.utoTEfe/ means 'That's U-235'; while
it takes "predification" (with Lexeme ME) to turn the argument Uma into a similar predicate:
Ta meUma = 'That's U (in the sense of Uranium)'. The reason for this lack of parallelism
between letter-words and acronyms is explained under Lexeme TAI in the Lexicon.
2.33
Resolving Structure Words: All structure words, whether simple little words
or compounds, are resolved in a two-pass operation. On the first pass, the resolver reduces
some part of some production that contains only little words to a string of simple little words,
preserving whatever pauses and stresses it may find among them for use on the second
pass. On the second pass, the resolver acts as a compounder. It places junctures (wordboundaries) around certain substrings of the string of little
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words which the reducer has identified (in this way, it "compounds" them), thus isolating
those which are left as simple little words. It then turns both kinds of "lexes" (words) over to
the lexer for classification as "lexemes". (The terms 'lex' and 'lexeme' are defined in the next
chapter; for the moment you can think of a lex as a word, and its lexeme as the part of
speech to which it belongs.) Well-formed text has had all this morphological work done for it
by the writer; so text is turned over to the lexer directly.
[The "compounder" that will perform the second pass has not yet been written…although
the lexer that will use its output has been. The latter is part of the preparser of the machine
grammar which has, so far, been tested on textual input only. There is no doubt in my mind
that a compounding algorithm to work with acoustic productions can be written, even if it
might require a somewhat more elaborate array of pauses and stresses than are now thought
to be sufficient. It is even possible that, to make the compounder work, some additional
usage restraints on grammatical productions may also be found necessary; but these will
almost certainly be minor adjustments in the usage rules which will have no large effects on
the grammar.]
The reduction pass works as follows. For unconditional resolution the little-word
resolver requires that it be given a segment of a production that is known by other resolutions
of the resolver to contain only little words. Such a segment or segments could be (a) all of a
V-final breathgroup which contains no CC's and hence no predicates; (b) those parts of a Vfinal breathgroup which does contain one or more CC's but in which the region or regions
occupied by predicates have been marked (this will have been done for it by the predicate
resolver in Sec. 2.60); or (c) a C-final breathgroup in which the regions occupied by the
predicates, if any, and by the resident name have all been marked, and in which there is one
or more residual segments known to contain only little words. Thus in unconditional
resolution, the little-word resolver is the last of the three resolvers to go to work on some
breathgroups, namely on those parts of it which have been set aside for it by the other
resolvers.
But there is a complication. The little word resolver is also required to perform
conditional resolutions. The reader may recall that before the name-resolver of Sec. 2.17
could locate the left edge of the name that it knows is always resident in a C-final
breathgroup, it had to have the "regular word resolver" (evidently a joint effort of the little word
and the predicate resolvers) attempt to perform a conditional resolution of the prequel of any
apparent name-marker that it found. This resolution was conditional because it could fail.
Only when it found a name-marker whose prequel did resolve could the name-resolver mark
off the region of the C-final breathgroup that was not occupied by the resident name. But not
all prequels of apparent name-markers resolve. (The few that don't are, as we will see, easily
identified.)
This seems circular, but is not. The segment of a production which the name resolver
calls a "prequel", and which is the string of phonemes that is given to the little word and
predicate resolvers for conditional resolution, is definitely marked. In particular, it is the string
that lies between the copy of a name-marker whose prequel it is and the left edge of that
breathgroup. In fact the only difference between these prequel strings that the resolver is
asked to resolve conditionally, and those more confidently marked portions of a breathgroup
which are known to contain only regular words, is that the attempt to resolve the former may
fail. The latter will resolve…if the utterance from which it is taken is well-formed. But the
answer to the conditional
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Resolution question may occasionally be no. The resolver must be able to provide that
sort of information as well as give the results of a successful resolution which it knows
beforehand will succeed.
Let us commence with unconditional resolution. We will assume that the name-and
predicate-resolvers have done their work, and that we now have a pauseless segment of a
breathgroup that is known to consist entirely of little words. Such segments may be initial or
non-initial in their breathgroups. We recall that strings of little words will consist only of V VV
CV CVV elements; that if V elements can only be initial in breathgroups or follow CVV
elements; that that if a V element does follow a CVV element pauselessly the latter must be
of Cvv form (as for example in the acronymic word MaiA); see Sec. 2.29. This detail is used
in Step (3c) of the resolution procedure given below.
We proceed as follows:
1) We ask first if the segment is breathgroup-initial, that is, immediately preceded by a
pause. If it is, continue. If it is not, go to Step (4).
2) If the first sound in the pause-preceded segment is V, the first word is either a V or a
VV. To find out which, count the consecutive V's. If the number is odd, the first V is a word,
and the remainder of the string of V's, if any, is composed of one or more VV words and are
so resolved. If the number is even, the entire string of V's is composed of VV words and are
sol resolved. In this way, we arrive at the first C, if one exists in the segment, or at the end of
the segment.
3) If the first sound (or the sound now being examined) in the segment is C, the next
sound is a V; for, by construction, there are no CC's in this segment. So examine the next two
sounds. Of the three possibilities, namely CVCV, CVVC, CVVV–CVCC is again impossible by
construction–the first two resolve immediately:
3a) If CVCV, the first CV is a CV-word, and it is followed by the unresolved sequence
CV… This returns us to (3).
3b) If CVVC, it can only resolve as CVV plus sequence C… (Recall that *CV + V is
proscribed.) This too returns us to (3).
3c) If it is CVVV, we must listen to the first two V's and proceed as follows.
3c1)
If they form a monosyllabic pair, giving CvvV, then Cvv is resolved as a word
and we go with a V-initial sequence to (4), which handles V-initial segments that are not initial
in their breathgroups.
3c2)
If they are disyllabic, giving CV,VVV, then this sequence can resolve in two
ways. First, as CV + VV; second as a disyllabic CV,V + a V-initial sequence. To discover
which, count the consecutive V's if any exist beyond CV,VV. If the number is zero or even,
then the sequence resolves as a CV word followed by one or more VV words. If the number
is odd, it resolves as a disyllabic CV,V word which is also followed by one or more VV words.
(There can be no V-form words in the string of consecutive V's.) This brings us to the end of
the segment or to the next C, which returns us to (3).
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4) We know that the segment is not initial in its breathgroup. Therefore if it is V-initial,
then it can only commence with a string of one or more VV elements; and these are so
resolved. This takes us either to the end of the segment or to the first C; and the latter returns
us to (3). If the non-initial segment is C-initial, we also return to (3).
In this way, all little words in well-formed utterances are unconditionally resolved.
We now consider the conditional resolution of a segment which is the prequel of a
possible name-marker.
a) We ask first if the segment is C-final. If it is, it will not resolve into regular words and is
so reported. If the segment is V-final, continue.
b) Is it breathgroup-initial? That is, is the segment preceded by a pause? Then any
number of V's may lie between its C's, or before the first C, or after the last C. So resolve it
unconditionally; for it will resolve into regular words.
c) Is it C-initial? If it is, every possible C-V pattern will resolve, so resolve it
unconditionally. If it is V-initial, count the V's before the first C, if there is one, or in the
segment if it contains no C. If there is an even number of V's, it will resolve unconditionally. It
either is, or its head is, a string of VV-form elements. But if the number of V's is odd, it will not
resolve and is so reported.
In sum, only if a segment is (i) C-final, or (ii) breathgroup-medial and commences with an
odd number of V's will it fail to resolve. All other prequels of apparent name-markers will
resolve unconditionally.
C. THE RESOLUTION OF PREDICATES
2.34
The Functions of Predicates: Predicates are the words with which claims are
made and objects described in any language. Thus Da mrenu = 'X is a man' and Ta blanu
bakso = 'That's a blue box' as well as Le mrenu = 'The man' and Leva blanu bakso = 'That
blue box' essentially involve the predicates blanu, bakso and mrenu and 'is blue', 'is a box'
and 'is a man' in each language. Predicates are also the most numerous words in any
language, and in Loglan they belong to a single part of speech. But this is a grammatical
matter which will be discussed more fully in Chapter 4. Morphologically, Loglan predicates
are of two kinds, (a) the little word predicates–like the cardinals, ordinals, acronyms and
identity words that have already been described as compound structure words–and (b) the
morphological predicates that remain to be described. These are the words which are
immediately detectable morphologically as predicates and are the subject of the present
chapter. In this chapter the term 'predicate' will refer only to words which are immediately
detectable as such unless it is specifically qualified to include little word predicates.
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2.35
A Temporary Stress-Marking Convention: As we have already seen, stress
is an important datum in resolving all varieties of predicates. So in this chapter, I will
conventionally use an apostrophe ['] to mark the stressed vowel in most predicate words.
Thus, mre'nu is merely a swifter way of writing mrenu /MREnu/. My use of this convention
does not mean that stress is now to be marked with apostrophes in written Loglan. Quite the
contrary. Stress in predicates is still regularly inferable from the structure of the word, and so
is omissible from the written form. It is to familiarize the reader with the inferable pattern of
stress among predicates that I shall be marking it here.
2.36
The Post-Emphatic and Intervocalic Pauses: Two occasions require that the
speaker pause before a predicate. One is after emphasis; the second is when the predicate
itself commences with a vowel. Neither is marked by a comma in text.
Occasionally an emphatic or stressed little word or syllable comes just before a predicate:
/leTO.MREnu/ = 'the two men!' If a pause were not used at this juncture, the production
/leTOMREnu/ would resolve as le to'mre nu. At the present writing (1987) to'mre is not a
word; but it is a legitimate word-form and would be heard as a new word by a novice or a
computer.
Occasionally some non-initial predicate in the speechstream commences with a vowel.
[None could in 1975; but some borrowed predicates now do.] Unless the preceding word is a
name, which requires its own post-nominal pause, the preceding word will be regular and so
end with a vowel. So in all such cases the required pause will be intervocalic. Intervocalic
pauses are very brief, a mere glottal stop. Nevertheless, the pauses in lo a'tmo
/lo.ATmo/ = 'atoms' and le albumi (le.alBUMi/ (leh . aal-BOOM-ee) = 'the albumin' are
distinguishable from the same pairs of vowels pronounced pauselessly but disyllabically:
/loATmo/ and /le,alBUmi/ (leigh-aal-BOOM-ee). These last productions contain audible glides
between the adjacent vowels and would resolve not as phrases but as the single predicate
words loatmo and lealbumi. Since these are also permissible borrowings they would be
heard as such.
So it is important for the accurate resolution of predicates that both the post-emphatic and
the intervocalic pauses be observed. Fortunately, they are both easy to observe, being quite
common in natural speech.
2.37
Stress in Predicates: Stress is on the penultimate syllable in all predicate
words including the numerical ones and acronyms. Some complex predicates like saa'dja
have disyllabic terms; so the penultimate stress rule does not mean that stress will always fall
on–or even in–the penultimate term. In saa'dja (saa-AA-djaa) it does, or at least in it; in
matso'e (maa-TSOH-eh) = 'mother's-sister' it doesn't. Similarly, if rie in casrie taken to be
monosyllabic (as it may be; see Sec. 1.14), stress will fall on the first, or penultimate, term:
(SHAAS-ryeh). If it is pronounced disyllabically–and currently it may be, at the speaker's
option–then stress will fall on the first half of the last term: (shaas-REE-eh).
Neither hyphens not buffering vowels are counted in fixing stress. Thus mekykiu is
(MECK-uh-kyoo), and matyma is (MAAT-uh-maa).
Stress in other compounds and disyllabic little words has not yet been fully
regularized…and indeed may never be, since as we have seen word-resolution does not
depend on uniform stress production in these regions of the Loglan speechstream. (Will this
remain a free area in Loglan morphology? Let's watch and see.) Thus, indicators
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When disyllabic and initial in an utterance tend to be stressed on their second syllables
(eigh-AA-moo-GOHT-soh) but need not be, and on their first syllables when alone or final:
Eo = "Please!" is "EH-oh"; and Mu gotso eo = 'We go, please!' is "moo-GOHT-soh-EH-oh".
But again, these patterns are not involved in resolution, and so are strictly optional.
2.38 The Forms of Predicates: Predicates are distinguishable from strings of little words
by one major feature and two minor ones. The major feature is that, among the regular words
of the language, that is, among non-names, all and only predicates contain adjacent
consonants. One of the minor features is that, unlike little words, predicates may contain the
sound /y/; where /y/ does occur in the predicates of unbuffered dialects (see Sec. 1.8) it is a
hyphen. The other is that all predicates but not all structure words are stressed penultimately.
Predicates share vowel-finality with the other regular words, the structure words.
Predicates may be of any length greater than three phonemes. Indeed any 4-letter of
longer word is a "resolvable predicate"–although not always an allowable one–if it meets the
following five requirements:
1. It must be uniquely resolvable as a single word.
2. It must be non-monosyllabic.
3. It must have at least one consonant-pair.
4. It must be penultimately stressed.
5. It must be vowel-final.
It will repay us to consider the first two requirements carefully.
First, nothing is a predicate that resolves as a phrase. Thus *tokli'ni is not a predicate,
because it is the phrase to kli'ni. Similarly, *tosma'bru is not a predicate because it breaks
up into an operator, to, and something that does resolve as a predicate, namely sma'bru.
The second requirement is related to the first. Consider the monosyllabic pseudo-word
*spai, once thought to be a permissible borrowing. But if *spai were a predicate, whenever it
happened to be stressed relative to its sequel, it would join with the first V-or vv-final syllable
of that sequel to create something that would always be another predicate. For example,
suppose someone wanting to use *spai as a predicate said /SPAIleMREnu/ intending to say
*Spai le mrenu = 'Spy on the man'. But what da's auditors will actually hear is Spaile mrenu;
for spai'le meets all the requirements of a resolvable predicate. (Check them out.) Thus no
monosyllabic predicate will always resolve uniquely. Whenever it was non-final and stressed,
it would absorb the next syllable and create a word that would run beyond itself. Therefore
there can be no monosyllabic resolvable predicates.
The three final requirements guarantee that we are talking about predicates and not little
words or names. That there should be at least one consonant-pair, and that stress be
penultimate are the two discriminators of predicates in Loglan; and that they be vowel-final is
a property of all non-names. But because of the intervocalic pause rule, that first CC need not
be early in the word. Indeed, it may be among the last three letters of a predicate and
preceded by an indefinite number of vowels. For example aoaoaoaoao'sti (ow-ow-ow-owOW-stee), though improbable, is a resolvable predicate. (Check it out.)
Suppose the speaker didn't say what da meant. Suppose one of those ao's was
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intended as an attitudinal, say the third one. Then all the ao's to its left would also resolve
as attitudinals, and the predicate would start immediately to its right, thus requiring that
intervocalic pause: /aoaoao.aoAOsti/. Once da corrects da's error and the pause is spoken in
this way, the new utterance resolves as Ao ao ao aoaoasti; and aoao'sti is the resolvable
predicate. Notice that no comma is used in text to announce this intervocalic pause.
The portion of a resolvable predicate that comes before its first CC (its prequel) must be
composed entirely of vowels except that its first element may be a consonant. Thus taoao'sti
is also a resolvable predicate.
There is one category of resolvable predicates which are not allowable. These are the
borrowings that fail the "Slinkui Test"; of these, *sli'nkui itself is an instance; see Sec. 2.58.
[The domain of possible predicate-forms has been hugely expanded over the limited 2
mod 3 sequences of 1975. Most of the new word-space is reserved for borrowings. Not only
will some of this space be sparsely occupied, but as we will see later (Sec. 25), only some of
that space is allowable.]
2.39
Three Kinds of Predicates: Predicates may be partitioned morphologically
into three main types: primitives, which are of the two 5-letter forms [CV'C/CCV'] + CV;
complexes which have–unremarkably–a fairly complex pattern of forms which we will
discuss presently; and borrowings, which are the residual of the other two. That is to say,
anything is a borrowing that is an allowable predicate and not a primitive or a complex.
2.40
Primitives: These are the 5-letter words like ma'tma and bru'di ('mother' and
'brother'). There is no other form of primitive predicate. Some words that are morphologically
primitives are derivationally borrowings. For example, samba (SEEM-baa) 'lion' is primitive in
shape but was borrowed unchanged from Swahili, where it also means 'lion'. Similarly, the
international word for 'meter' is metro in Loglan. This word too has been borrowed, but this
time from the international scientific community where both the concept and some form of the
word are all but universal.
Thus, derivationally considered there are S-Prims (taken from the international
vocabulary of science), N-Prims (native or local words for things or concepts that originate in
that place), I-Prims (international words, like telfo for 'telephone', that have spread
internationally from a single origin), and finally, C-prims, or those composite primitives which
have been derived from as many of the eight target languages as possible and which are the
"semantic primes" of the language.
2.41
Complexes: These are words like furve'a (foor-VEIGH-aa) = 'buy', derived
from the phrase fu ve'dma = 'the one who is sold something'; me'kukiu (MEK-uhkyoo) = 'ophthalmologist', derived from menki kicmu = 'eye doctor', and geoykre'ni (goy-uhKREH-nee) = 'gamma-ray'. Like compounds, complexes are composed of separately
identifiable, meaning-bearing parts. These parts are called affixes. Unlike the parts of
compound little words, however, all of which are intact little words, the affixes of which
complexes are made are often, but not always, foreshortened versions of their source words.
Thus-kreni is not foreshortened; but mek-,-kiu and-vea are. The
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Sources of the foreshortened words or affixes found in complexes are usually, but not
always, primitive predicates. The sources of mek-,-kiu and-vea are primitives, namely
menki, kicmu and vedma; but some are not. The sources of geoy-and fur-are the little
words geo 'lower-case gamma' and fu, which is usually a sort of generalized passive. Fu has
to be lengthened to become an affix; so the lengthener /r/ is used. Unlike /y/, which is a
buffering hyphen–in me'kukiu, for example, /y/ buffers the two /k/s, which if allowed to come
together would shorten the production to /MEKiu/, which would resolve as the little word string
me kiu–/r/ is a kind of "morphological glue". It keeps things from falling apart. Without /r/
/fuVEa/ would resolve as f uvea, a meaningless little word phrase.
There is a defining metaphor standing behind each complex predicated. That metaphor
or phrase constitutes the derivational source of the complex word. Thus, the metaphor behind
furvea is the phrase fu vedma, which means 'the 3rd place of the predicate vedma'. Vedma
in turn means '…sells…to…for price…'; so its 3rd place designates the buyer. From this we
may infer that furve'a means '(to) buy'; and indeed it does. Behind mekukiu, as we have
already learned, stands the phrase menki kicmu 'eye doctor' and behind geoykreni stands
the standard international scientific metaphor 'gamma-ray'. Complexes thus come in a wide
variety of shapes and sizes. All of them, however, resolve into a unique string of affixes with
or without linking hyphens; see Sec. 2.46 for the contexts of hyphenation.
A final characteristic of every well-made complex of *tosmabru-shape is that it has
passed the Tosmabru Test; see 2.56. (*Tosmabru didn't; therefore we are obliged to star it.)
There is more on complexes in Secs. 2.48-56.
2.42
Borrowings: This is the residual class composed of all the words that are
resolvable as predicates–that is, that have the properties of predicates listed in Sec. 2.38–but
which are not primitives and not complexes, and which have also passed the Slinkui
(SLEENG-kwee) Test given in Sec. 2.58. It happens that all such words, or nearly all of them
, have been borrowed from some natural language or groups of languages. Thus i'glu is
identifiable as a borrowing because it is a legitimate predicate that is neither a primitive nor a
complex. Derivationally we know it comes from the Innuit (Eskimo) word of identical
pronunciation. But even if we didn't know that, if we just looked at its sounds and soundsequences alone, we would know that i'glu was a predicate of some kind. It has the required
consonant-pair in /gl/; it is vowel-final; it is not a monosyllable; it is penultimately stressed
(/IGlu/); and it cannot break up as a string of words or absorb parts of its environment to
make a larger word (which is what words that fail the Slinkui Test unfortunately do).
Furthermore, we know that i'glu is not a primitive because it is not like either matma or brudi
in form. And finally, we know it is not a complex because it cannot be "parsed" into a string of
affixes with or without hyphens; see Sec. 2.61. Some of these claims are certainly not
obvious. But they are all true of i'glu; and your own developing morphological sense of the
language will soon assure you that all these claims are true whenever they are true of some
borrowing that you are considering putting into the language.
Derivationally, borrowings are as diverse as the languages and cultures from which they
come. Thus i'glu comes directly from the languages of the Innuit, alkurcu'fa (aal-koorSHOOF-aa) from the Arabic for artichoke; anthropology buffs will certainly be able to guess
that atla'tli (aat-LAAT-lee) comes from the same Nahuatl word 'atlatl' (aht-ll-AHT-ll_ for
'spear-thrower' that has been adopted by anthropologists for spear-throwers the world over;
pro'a (PROH-aa) comes through English from the Malay
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'perahu'; and proto'ni (proh-TOH-nee) imitates the Italian pronunciation of that word
exactly but is really derived from all the European words for 'proton', including Italian 'protoni',
inasmuch as they are all cognate borrowings of this Greek word for 'first'. Indeed the largest
stock of borrowed words in Loglan comes from the international vocabulary of science. Thus
words like I'glu and atla'tli are borrowed from natural language words in Loglan because
cognate forms are widely used in an international scholarly discipline, namely anthropology;
the Loglan word for 'flourine' is fluori'ni (floo-aw-REE-nee) because of the nearly universal
use of this word, or something very much like it, in international chemistry; and proto'ni
(proh-TOH-nee) is our word for 'proton' because, by what amounts to an international
agreement, Greek 'proton' has been borrowed for this concept by all the cultures which do
physics except those of China and Japan, in which a local metaphor of similar meaning is
used.
There is more on borrowings in Secs. 2.57-58 and 2.62-63.
2.43
Consonant-pairs: Any predicate word must have at least one CC. Long
predicates often have several such pairs, and in some borrowings there are strings of 3 or
even 4 adjacent consonants. Any adjacent pair of such consonants may be regarded as
either an initial pair, like /br/ in brudi, or a medial pair, like /tm/ in matma. A different set of
pairs is permissible in each position. The permissible initials are a proper subset of the
permissible medials.
In an initial triple (e.g., /str/) both pairs (/st tr/) must be permissible initials. In a medial
triple in a complex (e.g., /ntr/) the first pair (/nt/) need only be a permissible medial, but the
second pair must be a permissible initial. In borrowings, both pairs in a medial triple (e.g., in
/ntl/ both /nt/ and /tl/ need only be permissible medials.
2.44
Permissible medials: Intelligibility studies of the consonant-joints have shown
that the lift of permissible medials that limited the predicate-forms of the 1975 language can
be considerably lengthened. Any C1C2 is now permissible in mid-word unless:
(a
C1 = C2
E.g.,
*kk
)
C1 is h
(b
*ht
)
(c)
C1 is the unvoiced variant of
*pb
C2
(d
both are any of /c s j z/
*cs
)
C1 is p t k or f and C2 is j or
(e
z
)
they are *bj or *sb.
or
(f)
The need for the first two restrictions is obvious. The other exclusions are permutations
which have been found to be frequently, or even always, unintelligible…even when medial. If
any impermissible medial occurs at the C/C joint of a complex predicate, it must be
hyphenated or avoided: me'kukiu, cu'cysta, re'byjao. Even hyphenated, however, the h/C
permutations are proscribed.
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2.45
Intelligibility at the C/CC-Joint: Complex predicates often have joints
between a CVC-form affix and a following CCV-form affix, e.g., m/br in ma'mbru = 'mother'sbrother'. The intelligibility of all possible joints of this kind has been studied. It was found that
19 unintelligible 3-letter permutations might occur at this joint were they
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not proscribed. So these too must be hyphenated or avoided:
c/dz, vl
d/cm,
g/ts,
ct, ts
zb
j/dj, tc, ts,
k, p/dz
m/z
vr
b
n/dj, dz
s, t /vl
v/ts
Fortunately, all but n/dj are vanishingly rare in Loglan. N/dj occurs but can usually be
avoided. Thus the hyphenated sa'nydja by using saa'dja. (*Sa'ndja is heard as the apparent
primitive sa'nja and may not be used.)
2.46
Hyphenation: Intraverbal hyphenation occurs in six contexts, all of them
between the affixes of complex predicate words: (1) when the C/C joint in a complex is a
proscribed medial (e.g. the k/k in *mekkiu, which must thus be mekykiu; see Sec. 2.44); (2)
when the C/CC joint in a complex is proscribed (e.g., n/dj in *sandja, which must thus be
sa'nydja (or saa'dja; see Sec. 2.45); (3) to attach a 4-letter affix to its sequel (e.g., sanp-tosensi, which must thus be sanpysensi = 'sign-science'; see Sec. 2.51); (4) to keep an initial
Cvv or CVV affix that is not representing a letter-word from "falling off" a word (e.g., hai from
*haihoi, which must thus be hairhoi = 'happy-drinker'; see Sec. 2.55); (5) to attach a letterword to the front of a complex which already has at least one CC (e.g., to attach Xai to Kreni
to make Xaiykre'ni = 'X-ray'); and (6) to spoil one of the "bridges" in a word that has failed the
"Tosmabru Test" (e.g., the permissible initial s/m in *tosmabru itself, which must thus be
tosymabru, or remade; see Sec. 2.56).
The primary hyphen is /y/; it is used in all of the above contexts except (4). /r/ is used in
context (4) so that the complex that results from joining two or more CVV affixes will have at
least one CC. In case an /r/ is already present at the V/C joint, its allomorph /n/ is used. Thus
'happily-angry' is hai'nroi /HAInroi/. 'Gamma-angry', if such a notion is ever required, would
have to employ the full 5-letter affix of groci, yielding geoygro'ci.
2.47
Permissible Initials: The 1975 list of permissible initial CCs has actually been
shortened. We will see later how this facilitates the recognition of borrowings. The list now
includes only those pairs actually used initially in primitives. There are 36 of these:
b b c
c c
c
c
c
c
d d
d
l
r
k
l
m
n
p
r
t
j
r
z
f
f
l
r
g g
l
r
k k
j
m
l
r
m
r
p p s
s s
s
s
s
s
t
t
t
l
r
k
l
m
n
p
r
t
c r
s
v v
z
z
l
r
b
v
In 1975 permissibility far exceeded use. The only no-longer-permissible initial CC which
was actually used in 1975 is nr. Its elimination was required to make an earlier version of
hyphen r work, but with the addition of hyphen y, nr is possible again and could be added.
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The restrictions on both initial and medial consonant-pairs apply only to predicates. In
names, anything even vaguely imitative of the natural word is permissible: e.g.,
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Xrucof, Strndl.
New permissible initials may be added from time to time; for example, sf is now being
considered.
2.48
The Decipherability of Complexes: Deciphering a Loglan complex predicate
like mekukiu is always possible because the affixes and hyphens of which complexes are
made are always resolvable; that is, their joints can always be found out. Moreover, once an
affix has been resolved in this way it can always be associated with exactly one predicate or
little word, which means that the predicate can always be uniquely deciphered by the listener
or reader who knows the meanings of all the affixes. Thus, while some predicates have been
assigned more than one affix, no affix has been assigned to more than one predicate.
Moreover letter-words, which imitate some affixes, never appear in the same contexts as the
predicate-derived affixes. So if mek means menki 'eye' in one word, as it does in mekykiu
'eye-doctor', it will always mean menki in whatever other words it may appear. In this way,
the defining metaphor underlying every complex can always be recovered.
The potentially ambiguous cases are those predicate affixes which happen to duplicate
letter-words, mostly Greek ones, in current scientific usage. Thus beo is the CVV-form affix of
the predicate begco = 'beg' or 'request'. But beo is also lower case beta, and is occasionally
used in such technical terms as beoytse'ro (beigh-oh-uht-SEHR-oh) = 'beta-error'. By
convention such letter-word affixes are always prefixes and always attached by hyphen /y/,
not /r/, to words which are recognizable as predicates without them (as tse'ro, for example,
is). In a similarly initial position a predicate affix would be attached by hyphen /r/. Thus
beordo'u (beigh-awr-DOH-oo) means 'beg-give' or '(to) grant a request'. CVV-form predicate
affixes may also be final in complexes, where they bear no hyphen. Thus gadbe'o (gaadBEIGH-oh) means '(to) pray', being derived from gandi begco = 'god-beg'. In sum, the letterword or "beta" sense of beo is always expressed by beoy-(beigh-oh-uh), while the "beg"
sense of beo is expressed in complexes either by beor-(beigh-awr) or by-beo alone. By
marking them with a distinctive hyphen, the ambiguity that might otherwise arise from using
letter-words in complexes is avoided.
The affixes currently assigned to predicated are shown in List 3. The affixes currently
assigned to little words are given in Sec. 2.54. Any letter-word is a potential affix provided it is
used prefixively and hyphenated with /y/.
2.49
Affix-Length and Frequency of Use: Two types of affixes are used in the
construction of complexes: "long" ones and "short" ones. Long affixes are either 4 or 5
letters long; short affixes are all 3 letters long. By judicious selection of the lengths of the
affixes the word-builder chooses, da can adjust the length of the resulting complex to be
(roughly) inversely proportional to its expected frequency of use, thus satisfying the Zipf
principle of bio-linguistical efficiency; see the reference to Zipf's work in Loglan 1.
2.50
Term-Reduction: When a complex like ni'lboi ('child') is composed entirely of
short affixes (nil + boi) it is called fully reduced. The words in the defining metaphor of a
complex (in this case nilca botci) are called its terms. To replace a term in a metaphor with
a short affix is to reduce it; to replace it with a long affix is to leave it
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unreduced. The set of short affix has been designed to be an efficient "reduction
machine". Currently, the efficiency of this machine is 95% in the exact sense that 95% of the
terms of complex predicates in the 1975 dictionary could be reduced to short affix if we
wished them to be. The efficiency of the Loglan short-affix set–which is probably the largest in
any language–will probably diminish as the semantic range and variety of complex predicates
in the language increases. What this means is that complexes which are late additions to the
language are less likely to be reducible than early ones…which is, of course, a fitting
outcome since the early ones are those which are used more frequently.
2.51
Long Affixes: Every primitive has two long affixes. The one used in final
position is the 5-letter primitive itself, e.g.,-kre'ni in geoykre'ni. The one used in non-final
positions is the unique 4-letter affix that may always be obtained by removing the final vowel
of a primitive. That is to say, primitives have been constructed in such a way that no two of
them differ in only their final vowels unless they are members of the
language/nationality/culture trios such as spana/spani/spano between which differentiation
in a complex is seldom necessary. The place of that final vowel is then occupied by hyphen
/y/. Take the metaphor ni'lca bo'tci, which means 'girl-boy', for the concept of "child" (not in
the sense of "offspring", but the creatures who, with puppies, play in village streets). Stripping
the (non-distinctive) /a/ from nilca and replacing it with /y/ yields lincybo'tci. So both or all
affixes in a complex may be long. Or the first may be short and the second long: nilbo'tci. Or
the other way around: ni'lcyboi. Or, as we have seen, both may be reduced. (Ni'lboi is in
fact the dictionary entry for this sense of 'child'; it is derived from a Chinese-type metaphor,
the logical sum or girls or boys.) Thus, every Loglan complex is in principle polymorphic, so
its length may usually be adjusted to changing frequency of use.
2.52
Short Affixes & Their Derivations: The short affixes are all three letters long.
There are four forms: CCV, CVC, Cvv with a monosyllabic vowel-pair, and CV,V with
disyllabic vowels. For most purposes, but not for all, Cvv's and CV,V's may be considered
variants of the same form. Examples of the four affix forms, showing all possible derivations
from primitives, are as follows:
cli from clika, fra from farfu; rarely, pre from papre, klu from kutla.
C
CV:
mat from matma, nil from nirli; rarely, rim from trime, tan from trana.
C
VC:
boi from botci; rarely, lia from clina.
C
vv:
cea from cenja; rarely, keo from ckemo.
C
V,V:
Affixes with the "best", i.e., the most memorable derivations–like cli, mat and boi–have
been assigned to the most productive primitives, that is, the ones that appear in the greatest
number of metaphors in the 1975 dictionary; and so their incidence in speech will hugely
outnumber affixes derived by less obvious routes…like klu, tan and lia.
This fact may be usefully employed in constructing an optimal order for learning the short
affixes in the affix-set. For example, if one has learned the most productive CCV-assignments
first, and so has learned that cli belongs to the very productive clika,
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then, when one comes upon the less productive clina, one not only knows that its most
obvious affix has been preempted, one can easily understand why. This makes psychological
room, so to speak, for learning lia.
This optimized order is the one in which the affixes are presented to the learner in
MacTeach 2.
2.53 Affix-Assigment & Coverage: Not all primitives have short affixes. Currently the
most productive 600-odd of the 800-odd C-prims have been assigned at least one
short affix; and between 800 and 850 short affixes for use in different contexts.
For example, madzo has both mad and mao; cenja both cen and cea; and godzi
has all three possible short affixes, namely god goz and goi. Short affixes were
assigned to primitives in such a way that their coverage of the metaphors in the
1975 lexicon was maximized, that is to say, the number of terms in that pool of
metaphors that was reducible by those affixes was maximized. Currently that
coverage figure is 95%; see Sec. 2.50. Short-affix space is extremely limited:
1,965 possibilities exist, of which the most useful 42% have already been
assigned. Often what remains in the empty spaces of the assignment tables are
forms like ZVA, ZVE and ZVU which are unassignable. When this "unusable"
space is removed–unusable, that is, by the existing set of primitives, or anything
like it–it turns out that about 75% of the usable space has already been used.
Moreover, there is often strong competition between primitives for the remaining affix
space. At the present, mature stage of affix assignment, such conflicts can only be resolved
by remaking more primitives. Affix assignment virtually stopped in 1982 when (1) coverage
reached 95%, and (2) the cost to old loglanists of relearning remade primitives reached
approximately 1 in 7 of the original 1975 list. This may have been premature. Perhaps 40 or
50 additional primitives should be remade, which would lift term-reduction efficiency by
another 2% or 3%.
2.54 Preempted CVr Affixes: A short list of r-final CVC affixes was preempted for the
10 digits and 8 other operators found frequently in complexes. Currently these
are: fer for fur, jur, ner nir nor, nur, pir, rar rer ror, ser sor, ter tor, ver vor. Apart
from the digits they come, of course, from the non-numerical quantifiers ra re ro,
the negative no, the decimal point pi, and the three simple conversion operators,
nu fu ju.
2.55 Making Complexes: To make a complex predicate, one should first gauge the
expected frequency of use of the concept to be rendered. Then a metaphor must
be contrived that allows the degree of term-reduction necessary to produce a
word of the length appropriate to that frequency rank. [The Institute will
eventually publish length/frequency tables for the guidance of word-makers.]
Suppose a complex is to be fully-reduced. The rules for combining short affixes
are as follows:1. CCV's may go anywhere in a CPX; they never require a following hyphen.
2. CVCs may be only non-final; the consonant-joint with the next affix is impermissible,
they must be hyphenated with /y/. E.g., mekykiu and keryrou.
3. Cvv's and CV,V's may go anywhere, but if initial in anything but a 2-term word with
final CCV, e.g., boicli, they must be hyphenated with /r n/.
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As an illustration of Rule 3, if it is desired to combine boi + cli + mre ('boy-like-man'), an
/r n/-hyphen must be introduced between the first 2 terms: boircli'mre (boy-rr-SHLEEM-reh).
Otherwise, boi would "fall off". Without the hyphen, /boiCLImre/ would resolve as the phrase
boi climre = 'beta is a "similar-man" (whatever that means)'; and it doesn't matter that the
sequence cli'mre is currently unassigned. To the computer's ear–and that of the novice–this
is an unknown complex with a decipherable metaphor, "similar man".
Similarly, in a 2-term word composed entirely of Cvv's and/or CV,V's, e.g., hai + hoi, the
joint between them must also be hyphenated with /r n/: hairhoi. Otherwise the production
/HAIhoi/ is just a pair of little words. There is more on hyphenation in Sec. 2.46.
Long affixes may always be substituted for short ones. If the final term is to be left
unreduced–for example, if greater length is required, or if there is no usable short affix for that
primitive in that position–then its 5-letter affix may be used. If a non-final term is to be left
unreduced, then its 4-letter affix plus hyphen /y/ may be used.
Each trial word must then be tested for resolvability.
2.56
The "Tosmabru Test": Only one type of complex word has known
resolvability problems. These are the "Tosmabru-type" words in which the last term is a long
affix of ma'bru-form in which the medial consonant-pair is (like br) a permissible initial. All
non-final terms (there may be several) must be CVC's (like tos) for resolution problems to
arise. Tosmabru-type words can break up into phrases…as indeed /toSMAbru/ does: to
smabru.
To test your trial word for "Tosmabru failure", examine all the C/C joints between the CVC
affixes, and between the last CVC and the mabru-term. If all those C/C joints are bridged by
permissible initials, then the word will break up. But if any C/C joint is unbridged, i.e., is
impermissible as an initial CC, your word will not break up. It has passed the Tosmabru Test.
Interestingly enough, only one unbridged joint per word is sufficient to ensure resolvability.
Suppose your trial word is ?gusnilbo'tci. Its intended terms are ?gus/nil/botci. S/N is
bridged; L/B is not bridged. One unbridged joint is enough. Therefore it passes. The
production /gusnilBOTci/ cannot resolve as the phrase gu *snilbotci because *snilbotci fails
the "Slinkui Test", which is a test for borrowing; see Sec. 2.58. (Before we've tested it
?snilbotci is an apparent borrowing.) Suppose our trial complex is ?gusnitcha'pri. Its
intended terms are gus/nit/capri. Both S/N and T/C are now bridged. Tehrefore
*Gusnitcapri fails. It is in fact the phrase gu snitcapri. Sni/tcha/pri is clearly quite a different
complex.
Tosmabru failures may be repaired in several ways. One is to try different affixes, or even
different metaphors, until a joint appears that is not bridged. Another is to hyphenate.
Hyphenating the first C/C joint in *gusnitcapri (but not the second) would repair it. Thus
gusynitcapri (goos-uh-need-SHAAP-ree) resolves. There is also a simpler solution in this
case. Gusto, the obvious source of gus, has another short affix, namely gut. Using gut
instead of gus in *gusnitcapri demolishes the first bridge, and so cutnitcapri resolves.
2.57
Allowable borrowings: There are four tests which must be passed by a usable
borrowing. Any word which is (1) a resolvable predicate (Sec. 2.38), (2) neither a
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primitive nor a complex, (3) free of "imitation hyphens" (it obviously can have no real ones
if it is not a complex), and (4) neither a Slinkui-type word nor a left-extension of such a
word, e.g., *aslinkui, is an allowable borrowing.
*Slinkui is a disallowed word, typical of its class, that on the surface seems perfectly
permissible as a borrowing. It is certainly a resolvable predicate. It is certainly not either
primitive or complex. But then one notices that if *slinkui were allowed in the language, a
certain perfectly regular complex, namely paslinkui (which means 'ancestor', from 'pastlinear-kin'), would not uniquely resolve. For is *slinkui were allowable, paslinkui would break
up as the phrase pa *slinkui.
On the other hand, if we disallow *slinkui, and all words of its type, then paslinkui, and
any word of its type, will not break up. The resolver would first obtain *slinkui; note that it was
disallowed; look at the prequel; find pa; and then it would say, Right! Paslinkui must be it,
then. That's the only thing /pasLINkui/ can be, since *slinkui is not allowed. (This,
incidentally, is how Aalinkui-type words would also get resolved…if we allowed them. But
these left-extensions of the basic Slinkui-form are disallowed for a slightly different reason
which I will take up presently.)
The principle underlying the exclusion of Slinkui-type words from the domain of
borrowings (some apparent Slinkui-words, by the way, e.g., smabru, are quite acceptable as
complexes) is that complex predicates are so much more important in Loglan semantics than
borrowings are–it is only the imitativeness of borrowings, after all, and not their number, that
we intend to enhance by giving them a large word-space–that whenever there is a
competition for a given portion of the word-space between these two varieties of predicate, it
is the complexes that must always win out.
Thus, Slinkui-type borrowings (but not complexes) are not only excluded from the class of
allowable borrowings, they are excluded from the language. That is why the "perfect
complement set" I once thought we could achieve for borrowings is not perfect. It has a big
empty swatch cut right down the middle of it, namely the space occupied by all those
resolvable predicates that are neither primitives not complexes yet fail to pass the "Slinkui
Test"; see below.
A second, similarly large emptiness in the domain of resolvable predicates is caused by
our disallowing Aslinkui-type words as well. While these words are definitely resolvable once
Slinkui's have been disallowed (but not before), the great variety of these possible leftward
extensions of any Slinkui-form makes them difficult to see or hear. Indeed, they impose a
"double double-take" on the resolver, a twisted loop in the resolution algorithm. So for these
reasons–or this reason, if it is the same one–Aslinkui's too have been disallowed.
Let us finally consider the reasons behind the third test for allowable borrowings. We said
it must contain no imitation hyphens, that is, no y-or r-involving sequences that imitate the
hyphens of a complex. This exclusion is not always strictly necessary for resolution. It is not
necessary, for example, when the word containing the apparent hyphen will not resolve as a
complex. But in anticipation of the day when borrowings may also be involved in complexes–
when some Innuit-speaking loglanist invents the word I'glymao for 'igloo-maker', for
example–in which case hyphenated segments in a complex may be exceedingly irregular, let
us now exclude all those imitation hyphens from "simple" borrowings that might confuse such
constructions later. What this means is that no /y/, no /r/ in the context /CVVrC/, and no /n/ in
/CVVnr/ is permitted in a borrowing.
2.58
The "Slinkui Test": Any CC-initial borrowing must be given this test; no
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other need be. It is simply performed. Put a test prefix, say pa, on your trial word. Let's
say it's actually ?slinkui. Then try to resolve ?paslinkui as a complex; see Sec. 29. If the
effort succeeds, as it does with pas/lin/kui, then the trial words fails. If the term-resolving
effort fails, as it would, for example, with pas/lin/kuti, then no coalescence with a preceding
CV operator is possible; so the trial word passes.
Suppose your trial word is ?spe'a. ?Spea has a form that was once accepted as an
allowable borrowing. But ?spea obviously fails the Slinkui Test. Paspe'a immediately
resolves as complex and so *spea fails as a borrowing. [Thus a whole set of words, once
accepted as legitimate borrowings–albeit in a narrower, modularly defined lineage–now
vanishes from the domain of allowable borrowings. And so from the language.] But trial words
that fail the Slinkui Test can usually be easily repaired. Any disturbance in the smooth
structure of the imitation complex that takes over after the first letter–e.g., the linkui-part of
*slinkui or the pea-part of *spea–will also suffice to make it pass the test. For example,
*sli'nkui could be repaired as slie'nkui, slinkui'a, slini'kui, or, as noted, slinku'ti. Indeed,
dozens of variations on each trial word are usually possible; one of them might imitate its
natural model almost as well as the word that failed.
Some Slinkui-form sequences discovered by the resolver in the course of word-resolution
are actually complexes. For example, if one presented ?sma'bru to the Slinkui Test, one
would find out it was a Slinkui. No question of "failing" as a borrowing is involved
here…merely the identification by the resolver of certain legitimate sequences as having
Slinkui-form. There is more on this diagnostic use of the Slinkui Test in the next two sections.
2.59
The Resolution & Partial Classification of Predicates: Under the new
morphology, the resolver proceeds very much as before, except that it must now deal with the
possibility of vowel-initial predicates and it must perform the Slinkui Test on any CC-initial
predicate-form sequence it encounters. Let us see why.
Suppose some such sequence "fails the test", that is, turns out to be a Slinkui. Since
Slinkui-type borrowings are not allowed, and therefore do not exist in any well-formed string
the resolver will encounter, the discovery that it has found something that looks like one–that
this particular CC-initial sequence is indeed of Slinkui-form–con only mean (1) that it's a
complex (e.g., sma'bru), or (2) that the sequence is part of some larger predicate. Slinkuiform sequences can only exist as words if they are complexes; so if some sequences exist
that are not complexes, they must be parts of words. The kind of word of which they are parts
must obviously be predicates. Moreover, the part they are is a right-hand part since the right
juncture of the Slinkui-sequence will already have been fixed; see next section. Therefore
there must be a left-hand part out there somewhere.
What kind of left-hand part could it be? Well, if it weren't for the Aslinkui exclusion, it could
be anything that could precede an impermissible initial consonant pair that turned up as the
first CC of a predicate. For in truth, the sl of a *slinkui that is not complex cannot begin a
word. Since Aslinkui-type borrowings have been excluded from the language as well (see
above), there is only one allowable form for the left-hand part of that larger word, and that is
the CV-form that will by definition turn any Slinkui into a complex. There will always be once,
of course, or the non-complex Slinkui would not be there. So the resolver looks for the CV
ahead of each such Slinkui; always finds one (in any well-formed utterance); and puts leftjuncture to the left of that CV and hence the word.
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The word that results from this maneuver will always be a well-formed complex; the
Slinkui Test will have seen to that. In a sense, the resolver short-circuits the normal
recognition procedure is these Slinkui-cases. For normally the recognition of a complex is
subsequent to its resolution as a predicate.
2.60 The Predicate Resolution Algorithm: The new algorithm for resolving predicate
words is in some ways simpler than the 1975 one. The resolution of a predicate
still commences, of course, with the discovery of a CC in the left-to-right scan of
some breathgroup. That first CC–there may be others, of course–may be either a
permissible initial (sp) or an impermissible one (rk). If the FIRST CC is
IMPERMISSIBLE, the algorithm records that fact as a prevailing condition and
then performs the following steps:1.
Is there a stressed V' or vv' immediately ahead of the first CC? If so (e.g., i'sp, ia'rk,)
mark it and record STRESS FIRST as a prevailing condition. If not, find the first instance of a
V' or vv' that follows the first CC (e.g. spe', spudei', rkia', rkoti') and mark it.
2. Find the first instance of a V or vv after the marked V' or vv' (I'spai, ia'rko, spe'a,
spudei'tai, rkia'mpa, etc.). Put right juncture to the right of that V or vv (I'spai|, ia'rko|,
spe'a|, spudei'tai|, rkia'mpa|, etc.).
3.
If the condition STRESS FIRST and/or FIRST CC IMPERMISSIBLE obtains, find the
prequel by locating the first instance of a C or /./ to the left of the first CC (.aoi'spai|, tia'rko|,
morkia'mpa|). Put left-juncture at that /./ or before that C (|aoi'spai|, |tia'rko|, morkia'mpa|)
and exit.
4.
Perform the Slinkui Test on any sequence that remains. (Stress will follow its first CC,
and it will be a permissible initial.) If it is a Slinkui (e.g., spe'a|, spa'rgu|, sma'bru|), send it to
the term resolver to discover whether it resolves as a complex. If its terms do resolve (e.g.,
sma'/bru|), put left-juncture immediately to its left (|sma'bru|). If it doesn't resolve as a
complex, find the CV that will always be to its left and put left-juncture to the left of that CV
(|tospe'a|, |mispa'rgu|). In either case, tag it as a recognized complex and exit. If it is not a
Slinkui (e.g., spudei'tai|, spu'ta|), put left juncture immediately ahead of the first CC
(|spudei'tai|, |spu'ta|) and exit.
Clearly term-resolution is involved in at least some cases of word-resolution. We must
now consider how the resolver will "parse" the terms of a complex when the predicate is one.
2.61 Term-Resolution: Once a predicate has resolved as a word, the recognition of its
primitiveness, if it is a primitive, is trivial: it is either of matma-or brudi-form, or it
is not. If the resolved word is not primitive, or if a Slinkui-form sequence has
been identified by the resolver, an attempt is made to parse the word or
sequence as a complex, that is to say, to resolve the terms if it has terms. If it has
no hyphenation sequences and is 0 mod 3, then, if it is complex, its terms will
just "fall out" in 3's, and each triple will be a legitimate affix: sma/bru, nil/boi,
tar/ses/mao, roj/mad/ses/mao,
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and so on. If they don't or aren't (e.g., tai/rko, more/kia/mpa), it is not complex. If it has
no hyphens and is not 0 mod 3, then it will have a 5-letter final affix if it is complex; and the
rest will fall out in 3's. If they don't and/or there is no long final affix, it is not complex. If it has
hyphens or hyphen-like sequences, e.g., /y/, /CVVrrC/ or /CVVnr/, it is complex. (Borrowings,
remember, may contain no imitation hyphens.) So the algorithm then examines the regions
between the hyphens, and between any hyphen and the ends of the word, and the lengths of
these regions, together with their positions in the word, will always uniquely determine what
lengths of affixes will be found in them if the complex is well-formed. (It will also identify
whatever irregularly formed sequences it finds among the affixes as derived from borrowings,
when this development is upon us. In this way, every predicate word that is a well-formed
complex will uniquely resolve into its terms; and every word that resolves into terms will be a
well-formed complex.
2.62 The Recognition of Borrowings: The recognition of a borrowing thus always
follows on the failure to hear or see it as a complex once it has resolved as a
word. Thus, one knows one has a borrowing only by failing to resolve it as a
complex. Thus tia'kro is complex because its two affixes, tia and kro, are well
formed. Tia'rko, morkai'mpa and fainstoi'a are not complex because their
partition as complexes fails. Rko and mpa are not well-formed CCV-affixes; and
fainstoi'a, while 0 mod 3 and hyphenless, does not fall out into legitimate 3's:
fai/nst/oia. And so all of these words are borrowings.
The construction of a borrowing thus often proceeds by putting impermissible initials
(rk mp ns) in judicious places, or by making sure that its affix-length pieces do not have affixform shapes (nst oia). Thus, we may say that whatever is an allowable predicate word and
not a primitive or a complex is a borrowing.
Observe, by the way, the operation of the pair-from-the-left rule of Sec. 1.15 in
determining the character of the stressed syllable of fainstoi'a: /fainSTOIa/ (fighn-STOY-aa),
which is quite a different sound from (fighn-STOH-yaa).
2.63 Making Borrowed Predicates:
The procedure for making a predicate based on some natural language model involves
four distinct steps:
1) Build a preliminary trial word that imitates the model word as well as possible…either
its sounds or its letters, or rarely, both. When the model predicate is a scientific word, the
word-maker may be guided by the transcription system given in Sec. 2.14 for pronouncing
Linnaean names. Thus the predicate 'cephalopod'–which is either derived from or the source
of the Linnaean name Cephalopoda–might well be initially transcribed as ?cefalopo'd; for
this is our recommended pronunciation, and hence a rewriting in Loglan phonemes, of the
portion it shares with the related Linnaean name. Even if there is no related Linnaean term,
transcribing it as if it were Linnaean is a good procedure to follow when borrowing scientific
words.
2) Make sure the trial word is a resolvable Loglan predicate, repairing it as necessary to
give it the necessary properties; see Sec. 2.38. ?cefalopo'd (she-faa-loh-POHD) lacks two of
these properties. It is not V-final and has no CC. Let us repair the first defect by giving it the
final-a of the corresponding Linnaean name, and the second by inserting r before the second
C. /rC/ is always an impermissible initial,
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and having one sufficiently early in the word is crucial for preventing the first C and its
following one or more V's from "falling off the word". ?cerfalopo'da (shehr-faa-loh-POHD-aa)
is the word that results from these moves.
3) Make sure that the developing word is not primitive or complex, and that it doesn't
resolve as a phrase. This means checking its form against the two forms reserved for
primitives–which require a more cautious procedure of derivation than you might wish to get
involved with here–and attempting to resolve it first as a phrase, and when that fails, as a
string of affixes. Both attempts fail with ?cerfalopo'da. Nothing falls off; and term resolution
starts out with cer/fal/… but then encounters a sequence which is impossible in a complex,
namely …opoda. So the word passes the third test.
4) Check it for false hyphens. ?cerfalopo'da has no /y/s, no /CVVnr/s, and the /cerf/
sequence just misses being an instance of /CVVrC/; so the developing word passes this test
as well.
5) Test it for Slinkui Failure and the Aslinkui Condition. The first test is only relevant if the
trail word commences with CC, as this one doesn't. The second condition can exist only in a
trial word whose first CC is non-initial, is a permissible initial, comes before the stress, and
has a prequel that resolves as words. Only in such words will the prequel be looselyattached. The first CC, namely /rf/, is not a permissible initial; so the trial word avoids the
Aslinkui Condition as well.
Cerfalopo'da passes all tests and is thus an allowable borrowing. Eventually, for at least
the borrowed portion of the Loglan scientific vocabulary, this word-borrowing procedure can
easily be made algorithmic. The borrowing algorithm is under development now. But much of
the Loglan scientific vocabulary will not be borrowed. Large portions of it may be captured
Chinese-style by local metaphor. For example, rather than borrow the sounds of 'xenophobe'
one might prefer to "borrow" its idea, the idea of the "stranger-fearing" person. That would
produce a scientific complex that would be decipherable by any Loglan reader, not just those
learned in the vocabulary of Western science. If this were our policy, gu'rfia might well
become the word for /xenophobe/-ic' in Loglan. If is made from gutra firpa = 'stranger-fear'
and is thus a literal translation from the Greek. Whence lopo gu'rfia would be 'xenophobia',
and so on. Still, the borrowing zernofo'bi–made by much the same procedure as
cerfalopo'da was made above–is also possible, and has the advantage of being immediately
recognizable to those who know the psychiatric vocabulary. But even in English–one might
say especially in English–such Graeco-Latin words exclude from understanding precisely
those whose educations have not permitted them to know.
To borrow or not to borrow. Lehnwort vs. lehn übersetzung. There are so many good
arguments on both sides of this question. As yet, The Institute has taken no position. We
prefer to wait until the logaphone community has extended itself internationally–and also
intellectually, one would hope–beyond the narrow confines of anglophone computer science
and those related Western disciplines of logic, linguistics and anthropology where interest in
Loglan began some decades ago.
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CHAPTER 3
LEXICON (WORDS & SPEECH PARTS)
3.1
Definitions and Conventions
In this chapter the vocabulary of Loglan is portioned into its 69 "parts of speech", or sets
of grammatically interchangeable words. These sets are called lexemes, and we will consider
them one at a time in the alphabetic order of their simplest or most representative members.
These representative members, written in upper case letters, serve as lexeme names. We
commence with Lexeme A, the Afterthought Connectives, and end with Lexeme ZO, the
Quantity Abstractor.
If a lexeme has more than one member, these are called allolexes. The allolexes of a
lexeme are its equally permissible alternative expressions; they are the "interchangeable
elements" of which that lexeme is composed. Lexemes which have only one member are
called monolexic. In the section devoted to each lexeme, our object will be to show how its
various allolexes are formed morphologically, how it is used by the grammar, and the range
of meanings of its allolexes. Whenever possible, the list of allolexes is complete.
The allolexes of all the lexemes are the lexes of that language. They are the words or
phrases which, like English 'nevertheless', the grammar treats as a single word. In Loglan all
lexes are words; that is, they are spoken pauselessly and written without internal spaces. The
lexer is that part of the human central nervous system, or of some computer program
designed to process language, which identifies lexes as such, and assigns them to their
lexemes. In the system of computer programs that constitute the machine grammar of
Loglan, the lexer is part of the preparser subsystem.
From the point of view of the grammar, each allolex of a non-monolexic lexeme is an
equally legitimate occupant of whatever place any of them occupies in any utterance. Thus it
makes no difference to the grammar which allolex of a lexeme a speaker chooses; for the
grammatical structure of an utterance does not change when one allolex of a lexeme
replaces another. So in a certain sense, if a learner has learned how to use one allolex of a
lexeme, da has learned how to use them all. For they all have the same grammatical
privileges. Thus, there are only semantical differences between allolexes of the same lexeme,
not grammatical ones. It is in that sense that allolexes of the same lexeme are
grammatically interchangeable.
The lexemes of Loglan are exclusive. That is, if a lex is a member of a certain lexeme,
then it is a member on no other. This is not true of English, where the word 'bank', for
example, belongs to at least three lexemes, each with distinct grammatical roles. The
uniqueness of lexemic assignment in Loglan removes a major source of linguistic ambiguity
from the language. This is the lexemic ambiguity ('They are flying planes') which seems to
be both massive and universal in natural languages.
Lexemes whose names are 'M' followed by a numeral are called M-lexemes or machine
lexemes. These and certain other machine-oriented lexemes do not appear in human Loglan
and are visible and audible only to the machine. The human user of the grammar need not
concern daself with them. The role of machine lexemes in the machine grammar is explained
in the next chapter. The names of lexemes used only by the machine are *-ed in the section
headings. A total of 17 lexemes are occasioned only by the machine's needs. So from the
human user's point of view, there are only 52 lexemes in Loglan.
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Nine lexemes, or about one of six in the human lexicon, differentiate connective words
from one another. This is an extraordinarily high proportion compared to any natural
language. As a logical language, Loglan makes great use of the principle of connectivity, the
principle by which the truth-values of several or many sentences may be related to one
another in a single sentence.
The PREDA lexeme is the largest lexeme in the lexicon, containing about 80% of all
dictionary entries. PREDA's are all the predicates of the language, that is, its noun-, verb-or
adjective-like words as well as many of its adverbs and prepositions.
Many allolexes of the non-PREDA lexemes are compound structure words. The
compounding formulas which show how these lexes are generated are composed of
lexeme names, the sign of alternation [/], of concatenation [+], and of identity [=]. Thus
'NI/TAI + FI = UI' means that members of the NI (nee) or TAI (tigh) lexemes may be joined
together with members of the FI (fee) lexeme to produce compound structure words which
will be lexed as members of the UI (wee) lexeme.
The words 'operand', 'modificand' and 'connectand' are originally Latin words meaning
'that which is operated upon', 'that which is modified' and 'that which is connected'
respectively; they are used freely throughout the text.
'R' followed by a numeral, e.g., 'R12', refers to a particular rule of grammar that will be
found under that number in the next chapter.
The parse of an utterance is a specification of how the grammar generates or
understands it. A parse may be partially shown by a full parenthesization of the utterance
once it is stripped of any other punctuation. The nested parentheses show the order in which
the lexes in the utterance are to be grouped. Thus the parse of da, a de, e di = 'X or Y and Z'
is partially given by ((da a de) e di). This shows that the expression is to be understood by
first grouping da a de together, and then grouping the result with di. Note that this structure is
independent of the semantic values of a and e, which are in fact allolexes of the same lexeme
(Lexeme A, the first lexeme in the lexicon). In this chapter, the production sign [=>] will
sometimes mean 'is parsed as'.
Reference will be made throughout this chapter to various grammatical structures whose
origins and functions will not be completely understood until they are studied in the grammar.
In general, the lexicon acquires its structure from the grammar while the grammar acquires its
semantic variety from the lexicon. In truth they are inseparable; neither can be deeply studied
without reference to the other.
Lexeme A: Afterthought connectives (Eks)
These are the afterthought connectives used between predicates, arguments, lined
arguments, argument modifiers, and sentence modifiers. They are said to be "afterthought"
because they are left-grouping, e.g., da, a de, e di => ((da a de) e di). So connectands may
always be added to an eked string without disturbing previously understood meanings. When
used between predicates, eks are prefixed with M11 by the preparser; when connecting
linked arguments, the preparser inserts M1; when connecting argument modifiers, m6; and
when connecting sentence modifiers–called simply "modifiers" in the grammar–m5. Only
when used to connect arguments are eks unmarked.
The complete list of simple eks is:
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…and/or…
…and…
…if and only
a
e
o
if…
…whether…
whether…, …
…only if…
not…but…
not…whether
u
nuu
noa
noe
nou
…
anoi
enoi
onoi
nuu
noi
noa
noi
noe
…if…
…but not…
…or…but not
both
whether…,
not…
not
both…and…
neither…nor…
noi
In addition, any member of the PA-lexeme may be appended to an ek, producing, for
example, tensed, located or even "motivated" connectives: efa = 'and then'; evi = 'and here
(at this place'; emoi = 'and with this intention'; and so on. All such compounds are treated
grammatically as members of A. Not many of these A + PA compounds have been explored,
however; their semantic domain seems to transcend any found in the natural languages. The
loglanist is invited to explore this new country. See Lexeme PA for a list of the PA
components of A + PA compounds.
Lexeme ACI: Hyphenating Eks
These are any member of the A-Lexeme suffixed by-ci: thus aci, eci, apaci, noanoici,
and so on, are all hyphenating eks. ACI connectives have an effect analogous to that of
hyphen ci in a predicate string (see Lexeme CI); that is, they consolidate the two adjacent
elements into a single connectand. At the moment, ACI is confined to ekking arguments and
predicates; among the latter, the preparser will have prefixed M9 to the ACI word. The use of
hyphenating eks could, of course, be extended to other eked structures in the grammar; for
example, to ekked modifiers. It would be grammatically costly to do so, however, since
introducing ACI to an ekking structure usually involves the addition of 2 to 4 rules, and a new
M-lexeme will always be required for every structure so accommodated. So for the present,
and until a use for them in other contexts can be demonstrated, hyphenating eks are confined
to connecting the two main ingredients of a sentence, arguments and predicates.
Lexeme AGE: Right-Grouping Eks
These are any member of the A-lexeme suffixed by-ge: thus age, ege, apage, noanoige,
and so on, are all right-grouping eks. AGE connectives have an effect analogous to the effect
of the grouping operator ge in a predicate string; that is, they consolidate the entire right
portion of a string of ekked elements into a single connectand. At the moment AGE words are
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confined grammatically to ekking arguments and predicates; among the latter, the preparser
will have prefixed M11 to the AGE word. The use of right-grouping eks could, of course, be
extended to other ekked structures in the grammar, for example, to ekked modifiers. It would
be grammatically
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costly to do so, however, since introducing AGE to a new ekking structure usually
involves the addition of 2 to 4 rules, and always involves the addition of another M-lexeme.
So for the present, and until a use for them in other contexts can be demonstrated, rightgrouping eks are confined to arguments and predicates.
Lexeme BI: Identity operators
These are the "little word predicates" which must be kept grammatically separate from the
PREDA-Lexeme because their compounds are recognized by the preparser. If it weren't for
this morphological function, BI and kin would be members of PREDA. The current list of BI
words is:
b
is equal/identical to
i
b
is a member of
ie
b
is part of
iu
c
is less than
ie
c
is greater than
io
and the compounds
c
is less than or equal to
iebi
c
is greater than or equal
iobi
to
Other compounds may be made by prefixing no-or nu-to any of these with obvious
meanings. Thus nocio makes the same claim as ceibi. No doubt mathematicians will have
other allolexes to add to BI.
BI is an open lexeme; new members may be added at any time.
*Lexeme BAD
This is a special lexeme used by the lexer as a bin for words it doesn't recognize. Human
users may also have such a bin for unlexed words; but unlike the machine, humans usually
guess what lexeme unknown words belong to.
Lexeme CA: Predicate Word Connectives (Sheks)
These are the connectives used to join individual predicate words in an afterthought, i.e.,
left-grouped, mode. Morphologically, each shek is the result of inserting c before the
characteristic vowel of an ek (see lexeme A). The current list of sheks is:
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…and/or…
…and…
…if and only
ca
ce
co
if…
…whether…
whether…, …
…only if…
not…but…
not…whether
cu
nucu
noca
noce
nocu
…
canoi
cenoi
conoi
nucu
noi
noca
noi
noce
…if…
…but not…
…or…but not
both
whether…,
not…
not
both…and…
neither…nor…
noi
Lexeme CI: The Interverbal Hyphen
CI is monolexic; its one allolex, ci, therefore has a unique role in the language. Ci is used
between pairs of predicate units–usually, individual predicate words–to make larger predicate
units inside predicate strings. Such "hyphenated" units then function as single modifiers or
modificands in the predicate string.
Lexeme CUI: The Shek Left-Parenthesis
CUI is also monolexic; its one member, cui, is the left-parenthesis inside predicate
strings. It is used with sheks (see Lexeme CA) to increase their leftward scope beyond the
single predicate word which is the normal left-connectand of a shek. No right-parenthesis is
necessary in predicate strings.
Lexeme DA: Variables
The allolexes of DA are found in six phonemically distinct series: (1) the five replacing, or
3rd person, variables da de di do du ('X' 'Y' 'H' 'W' 'Q'; linguists call the use of such short
expressions to replace longer ones "anaphora", hence these are the anaphoric variables); (2)
the four non-designating variables ba be bo bu ('x' 'y' 'w' 'q', the "bound variables" of the
logician); (3) the three 1st and 2nd person variables mi tu mu ('I/me', 'you', 'we/us', the latter in
the sense of 'you and I/me jointly'); (4) the mixed 1st and 3rd person variables mua mue mui
muo muu (the other sense of 'we/us': 'I/me and X/Y/H/W/Q jointly'); (5) the mixed 2 nd and 3rd
person variables tua tue tui tuo tuu ('you and X/Y/H/W/Q jointly'); and (6) the three pairs
demonstrative variables, namely ti ta ('this' vs. 'that' as applied to non-linguistic objects), toi
toa ('this (most recent) utterance' vx. 'that (earlier) utterance'), and tiu tau ('the situation
referred to by this (most recent) utterance' vs. 'the situation referred to by that (earlier)
utterance'). The last two pairs of demonstratives do not, so far as we know, have parallels in
natural language. But the distinctions they make will be found to be indispensable to the user
of a logical language.
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da de di do du
ba be bo bu
mi
tu
mu
mua mue mui muo
muu
tua tue tui tuo tuu
ti ta
toi toa
tiu tau
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3rd-person (he, she, it)
'x' 'y' 'w' 'q', the "bound variables" of the logician
I/me
You
we/us, in the sense of 'you and I/me jointly'
the other sense of 'we/us': I/me and X/Y/H/W/Q jointly
you and X/Y/H/W/Q jointly
this' vs. 'that' as applied to non-linguistic objects)
this (most recent) utterance' vx. 'that (earlier) utterance
the situation referred to by this (most recent) utterance
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Lexeme DIO: Argument Tags
Argument tags are optional prepositions that can be selectively used before any
argument, but are especially useful in three situations: when (1) the argument so tagged is
out of its usual order, as may be required during translation, for example, to match some
natural word-order; (2) the tagged argument is a sufori argument of its predicate (experience
has shown that the meanings of the first 3 places of a predicate are easy to remember, but
that if a predicate has sufo (four or more) places, the meanings of the sufori places are
difficult to remember); or (3) the auditor is suspected of not knowing the place structure of
that predicate, as is often the case, for example, when the speaker is a teacher and the
auditor is a learner.
Loglan argument tags are of two types: (a) the 11 optional case tags, and (b) the five
ordinal tags once called "HB-tags" [for Hixson-Bonewits", the nom-de-plume of the loglanist
who first proposed them]. The two systems are discrete; they will seldom if ever be used
together in the same utterance.
The 11 optional case tags, together with their source words and meanings, are as follows:
d
dir
to/f
Destinations or Beneficiaries
io
co
or
d
du
by
Actors, Agents, Doers
uo
rzo
f
fol
in/
Wholes, Sets, Collectivities
oa
ma
of
f
fru
Outputs, Purposes, Products
ua
ta
k
ko
by/
Quantities, Amounts, Values
oe
nte
for
m
c
tha
Lessers in greater/lesser than relations
au
malo
n
n
ne
un
Conditions, Fields, Circumstances
eu
rbi
der
p
pis
in/
Parts, Passives, Properties
iu
ku
on
r
gr
tha
Greaters in greater/lesser than relations
oa
oda
n
s
sa
fro
Sources, Origins, Reasons, Causes
au
tci
m
v
ve
by/
Deeds, Means, Routes, Events, States
eu
tci
via
Studies have shown that these eleven cases accommodate all the places of the 800-odd
primitive predicates; see List 4, Cases.
Morphologically, each case tag is derived from a Loglan primitive predicate meant to be of
mnemonic value in learning its meaning, e.g., groda for "greaters". Tags are derived by a
procedure similar to that used to derive CVV-form affixes from their primitives, but with this
difference: if the result of applying the affix-deriving procedure produces a letter word (all
forms ending in-ei-ai-oi or-ao are letter words; see lexeme TAI), the letter-u must be
substituted for the final-i or-o of that letter word. Four tags on the current list show the usubstitution: mau, neu, sau and veu. All case tag assignments are still provisional. The
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Institute would welcome suggestions before GPA (The Institute's acronym for 'Going Public
Again') for alternative tags that have plainer derivations, or which have been drawn from
primitives with more useful mnemonics.
It is believed that the eleven cases that these tags represent constitute a (nearly)
complete set in the sense that the places of (nearly) any future Loglan predicate will be
capable of being assigned some ordered subset of these 11 cases in such a way that no two
places of that predicate will be assigned the same case unless the occupants of those places
can be exchanged without altering the truth-value of any claim made with that predicate. This
criterion is more complex to read about than it is to use. For
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example, the first two places of ciktu = '…is equal to…in dimension/feature…' are
currently assigned the Foa Case, the entire string of case assignments being foa foa piu
(Whole Whole Part). The dual assignment of the Foa case to two places of this predicate
reflects the fact that any two occupants of those places in a true sentence may be exchanged
without rendering the resulting sentence false. Thus if X is equal to Y on one dimension W,
then Y is equal to X on that dimension.
The English prepositions in the third column above are meant only to suggest how these
tags may occasionally be translated into English. They are not definitions of the case tags.
The second system of argument-tagging–an historically earlier one, in fact–uses five
ordinal tags to identify nothing more than the number of the tagged argument's normal
position in the place structure of its predicate; thus zua zue zui zuo zuu mean 'the normally
1st', 'the normally 2nd, '3rd', '4th', or '5th argument of its predicate', respectively. [Since they were
proposed and adopted in 1977, the ordinal tags had been assigned the morphemes pua pui
pue puo puu; they were shifted to their present /zuV/ values in 1987 to accommodate a
useful development of the tense system; see PA.]
It is very likely that we will not need both tagging systems. One will almost certainly be
found to be enough. We have installed them both in this still-experimental version of the
language in order to discover which tagging system will be used preferentially. As usual, we
will let usage decide.
Lexeme DJAN:
Name Words
These are all the C-final words found by the lexer. Names are used in four places in the
grammar: they are formed into strings by R68-9 (Djan Pol Djonz); they are made into
designations by R80, which precedes them with la (La Djan Pol Djonz, pa pasko merki
mursi ci kapta = 'John Paul Jones was an early American sea-captain'); they are made into
vocatives by R177, which puts Hoi in front of them (Hoi Djan Pol = 'O John Paul!'); and they
are used as unmarked vocatives by R179 (Pol, gotsi = 'Paul, go!').
*Lexeme END
This machine-oriented lexeme has exactly one allolex, the period or full stop [.]. This is a
special, and probably temporary, concatenation sign used by the machine to prepare a
specimen composed of 2 or more utterances for sequential parsing.
*Lexeme FI: The Utterance Ordinal Suffix
This monolexic lexeme is used only by the preparser to recognize the NI/TAI+FI
compounds. These are the "utterance ordinals" which are members of Lexeme UI, for
example Nefi and Rafi ('Firstly' and 'Finally'). The suffix-fi is incidentally also used to form the
lower-case Greek vowel letter-words afi efi ifi, etc.; but the recognition of letter-words is
handled by the lexer directly and does not require-fi as a separate lexeme; see TAI for other
letter-words.
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Lexeme GE: The Grouping Operator
Ge is the only member of its lexeme; it serves to make right-extending groups within
predicate strings. Like all strings of similar elements in Loglan, predicate strings group left
whenever they are unmarked: (i) (((preda preda) preda) preda). Ge functions as a leftparenthesis, sometimes matched with an optional right-parenthesis gue, and interrupts that
normal pattern by turning all that follows ge, or all that lies between ge and gue in case there
is a gue, into a single modificand; see Lexeme GUE. Thus (ii) (preda ge ((preda preda)
preda) is a ge-marked string. Notice that the normal left-grouping pattern resumes in the
portion of the string that follows ge. Ge is often well-translated by the English phrase 'for a';
for example, 'That's big for a little woman's suitcase' = Ta groda ge cmalo fumna racbao.
The predicate in this utterance has the same structure as (ii).
Lexeme GI: The Fronting Operator
GI has two allolexes, gi and goi. Gi allows the "fronting of strings of possibly arguments
and/or modifiers, that is to say, it permits the speaker to move all or some of these items to
the front of the sentence from their Loglan-normal position at the rear. Gi thus permits Loglan
to be spoken in the O-S-V (Object-Subject-Verb) word-order by appearing between Object
and Subject (or between Object and Verb, in the case of imperatives). There is usually no
English word or phrase corresponding to gi in the O-S-V sentences which it helps in this way
to translate. For example, in the sentence 'In May to Europe, John travels' = Na la Femen,
dio la Europas, gi la Djan, traci Loglan gi corresponds to nothing in the English sentence
except the comma. Gi is in this sense one of Loglan's "spoken punctuation marks". This
same sentence in Loglan-normal order is La Djan, traci la Europas, na la Femen. Note that
the case tag (preposition) dio (see Lexeme DIO) is left out in this minimally marked normal
word order.
It is not necessary to front the entire string of normally trailing argument and/or modifiers
when using gi; only some of them need to be shifted. But if only one of them is shifted, it must
be marked by gi. thus Na la Femen, gi la Djan, traci las Europas = 'In May, John travels to
Europe' also requires gi, and corresponds to a much more common English word order.
GI's second allolex, goi, permits the objects called "prenex quantifiers" in the argot of
logicians to be identified as such. Prenex, or sentence, quantifiers are the strings of quantified
variables that precede a sentence in which these same variables appear in unquantified form;
e.g., 'For every x there is a y such that y is faster than x' = Raba be goi be kukra ba. Thus
goi may often be translated by English 'such that'.
Lexeme GO: The Inversion Operator
GO is monolexic; it is the predicate inversion operator. Go is used in a predicate string to
exchange the positions of the right and left segments formed by some partition of that string.
The segmentation of the original string must coincide with some modifier-modificand joint in it.
Thus (i) Da mutce groda mrenu may be segmented between groda and mrenu, and
inverted as (ii) Da mrenu go mutce groda = 'X is a man who is very big'; but (i) may not be
segmented between mutce and groda as (iii) Da groda mrenu go mutce = *'X is big man
who is very'. (iii) is a legitimate
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inversion, but of another Loglan sentence: (iv) Da mutce ge groda mrenu = 'X is extreme
for a big man'. Thus inversion with go sometimes renders some of the punctuation of the
original sentence redundant, in this case ge, and so omissible. Thus (v) *da ge groda mrenu
go mutce means the same thing as (iii)–and as (iv), for that matter–and parses as essentially
the same structure; but the redundant ge is not considered good usage, and so I have *-d the
utterance in which it appears.
Lexeme GU: The Optional Right Boundary Marker ("Comma")
GU is also monolexic and is the optional comma-word. It is used to mark the right
boundaries of structures whose boundaries would not be clear without it. Gu is never used
redundantly, however, i.e., when the boundary with which it coincides is already clear. Gu is
sometimes, but not always, replaceable by a literal comma [,] in text or by a pause in speech.
One must know the particular grammar rules involved in this and other uses of gu to know
whether such substitutions are admissible. In general, the cases in which gu may be replaced
by pause/comma far outnumber the few cases in which it may not.
Lexeme GUE: The GE-Group Optional Terminator
GUE is monolexic and, like GU, optional: that is, gue may always be omitted when it isn't
needed. Gue has only one function: to terminate a ge-group when that group does not run to
the end of the predicate string. Thus, gue is always matchable with a ge but not all ge's have
matching gue's; see Lexeme GE.
Lexeme HOI: The Vocative Marker
Also monolexic, HOI is the left or leading mark of some vocative expressions. If the
vocative is a name word (Lexeme DJAN) or a string of name words (Djan Pol Djonz), leading
Hoi is optional unless it is needed to separate a vocatively used name from a preceding
name…perhaps one used designatively: Donsu ti la Djan Pol Djonz, Hoi Pit = 'Give this to
John Paul Jones, O Pete!' Here Hoi–in which the H is always capitalized in text–serves, like
English 'O', to separate the vocative name from the designative one. Without it, Donsu ti la
Djan Pol Djonz Pit says 'Give this to John Paul Jones Pete', which designates a person with
a tetradic name. So Hoi Pit is obligatory if Pete is to be successfully instructed to the donor.
Hoi is optional in front of names which need to separation from the prequel: Donsu ti le
ditca, Pit = 'Give this to the teacher, Pete'; for in such contexts it is clear where the vocative
name beings.
A second use of Hoi is to mark descriptions used vocatively, such as Nenkaa Hoi
Ganbra = 'Come in, O Noble One!' Here the Hoi is obligatory. Without it the invitation
becomes Nenkaa ganbra = 'Be in-comingly noble!' In text, the initial letters of all the
predicate words in vocative descriptions are capitalized.
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Lexeme HU: The Interrogative Argument
HU is monolexic; its one member, hu, is the interrogative argument. That is to say, hu
makes possible the kinds of questions to which arguments are answers. Hu may be spoken
alone or take the position of some argument in an utterance. For example, Hu hijra asks
'Who is present?' Just Mi, or La Djan, or Mi hijra are all possible answers…some, admittedly,
more useful than others.
HU is also used by the compound-lexer to identify Nahu-type compounds. The most
common of these are Nahu = 'When?', Vihu = 'Where?' and the four kinds of Loglan 'Why?':
Kouhu = 'Because of what cause?', Moihu = 'Because of what motive, or with what intent?',
Rauhu = 'Because of what reason, or with what justification?' and Soahu = 'From what
premise(s)?' or 'With what logical justification?'. All these PA+HU compounds are members of
the Lexeme UI; see UI for the complete list. If it weren't for this use of HU by the preparser,
hu would be just another allolex of Lexeme DA; q.v.
Lexeme I:
Sentence Connectives (Eesheks)
I is the principle sentence connective, but there are many others. Almost any compound
which has I-as its leading element (except ICI and IGE words; see below) is an eeshek. Thus,
there are I itself and the 14 eesheks formed by preceding a shek with I-:
I
….…
Ica
…; or…, and possibly
both
Ice
…; and …
Ico
…if and only if…
Icu
…; whether or not…
Inucu
whether …; …
Inoca
…only if…
Inoce
not…but…
Inocu
not…whether…
Icanoi
…if…
Icenoi
…; but not…
Iconoi
…; or…, but not both
Inucu
whether…, not…
noi
inoca
not both…; and …
noi
Inoce
neither…nor…
noi
In addition, any of these 15 eesheks may be compounded with a following PA words, just
like any ek may be; and these, too, are members of the I-Lexeme. But the eeshek that is
usually used in such compounds is I itself. If the PA word is a temporal, the result is a tensed
connective (e.g., Ifa = 'And later…'); if the PA is a spatial, the result is a located connective
(Ivu = 'And far away…'); and if the PA word is a causal operator–these are a well-defined
subset of the PA-Lexeme–the result is one of the afterthought causal connectives. There are
important for translating from, or to minds trained within, the Indo-European languages, so I
give the complete set of 16 afterthought causal connectives here. Grammatically, the
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important thing to remember is that each of the I+PA words is a member of the I-Lexeme and
treated just like
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any other eeshek:
Ikou
Effect
Inukou
Inokou
Inunok
E because of cause C.
C; therefore E.
E although C.
C; nevertheless E.
ou
Imoi
Inumoi
Inomoi
Inuno
Act
A because of motive M.
M; therefore A.
A although M.
M; nevertheless A.
Decisio
D because of reason R.
moi
Irau
n
Inurau
Inorau
Inunor
R; therefore D.
D although R.
R; nevertheless D.
au
Isoa
Conclus
ion
Inusoa
Inosoa
Inunos
C
because
premise(s) P.
P; therefore C.
C although P.
P; nevertheless C.
of
oa
Thus, the category of sentence connectives in Loglan is extremely varied; for example,
Inocenoipacenoina (Inocenoi + pacenoina) is one of its potential members…although it is
mind-boggling to even think of what it might mean. Clearly this is a domain of logical
possibilities that far exceeds the naturally sayable. Loglanists are invited to explore this vast
semantic domain and make what use of it they can or will.
Lexeme ICI: Hyphenating Eesheks
These Ici and Icaci-type words are recognized by the compound-lexer. They are eesheks
in all their wonderful variety but adorned with a trailing-ci that makes them hyphenating. The
hyphenating eesheks are a special variety of sentence connectives which have the same
effect on a string of connected sentences as ACI-words have on a string of ekked arguments
or predicates, namely, they "hyphenate" or close-bind a pair of utterances in a string of
connected utterances, making a single connectand out of them.
Lexeme IE: The Identity Interrogative
Ie, the single allolex of this lexeme, is the interrogative particle by which identity questions
are raised. Given any sort of designation–a name, for example, or a description, or a
variable–ie may be prefixed to it; and this converts the argument, or actually the sentence in
which the argument is embedded, into a question which asks about the identity of the
designatum of that argument. Thus, Ie la Djan means 'Which John?', Ie le mrenu jia pa
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kamla lepo foatci = 'Which man that came to dinner (i.e., to the "formal eating")?', or Ie tu pa
godzi go trena = 'Which (of) you went by train (took the train)?' Thus ie has roughly the
sense of English 'which…' or 'which of…' as applied to some set of possible identities.
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Lexeme IGE: Right-Grouping Eesheks
This variety of sentence connectives is formed by attaching to any eeshek a trailing-ge;
thus Ige and Icage are right-grouping eesheks, and are recognized as such by the
compound-lexer. IGE is a special variety of I-connective which has the same effect as AGE
ha among connected predicates or arguments. If a string of connected utterances, it groups
all that follow it into a single connectand.
Lexeme JE: The First Linking Operator
Je, which is grammatically unique, is the first linking operator. It is used to attach 2 nd
arguments to predicate words: thus, Le farfu je le botci = 'the father of the boy' and Ta
kukra je lo litla, grobou = 'That's a faster-than-light ship'. See JUE for links to suteri
arguments.
Lexeme JI: Argument Modification Links
At present there are five of these operators: ji ja jii jie and pe. All of them attach either
modifiers or other arguments to arguments. In this way they accomplish "local modification"
as opposed to the sentence-wide or "adverbial" role that unattached modifiers perform.
Ji is the identifying link (Le mrenu ji vi le hasfa = 'The man in the house'); ja is the
predicating link, i.e., it gives incidental information about the designatum (Le mrenu ja le
ditca = 'The man, who is incidentally the teacher'); jii is the identifying membership link (Le
mrenu jii le merka = 'The man who is one of the Americans'); jie is the predicating
membership link (Le mrenu jie le brudi = 'The man, who is incidentally one of the brothers');
and finally pe which is the postfixing genitive operator (Le bukcu pe le ditca = 'The book of
the teacher'). Pe provides an alternative to the prefixed genitive (Le le ditca, bukcu = 'The
teacher's book') just as in English, which is also a language in which both forms of the
possessive exist.
JI is an open lexeme; other allolexes may be added from time to time.
Lexeme JIO: Subordinate Clause Links
There are currently two of these words, jia and jio; both are used to attach subordinate
clauses to arguments. The to JIO words differ grammatically from JI words in that the
operands of JIO words are sentences–although such "sentences" may be single predicate
words, i.e., "imperatives"–while the operands of JI are either arguments or modifiers. Thus.
Da jio prano means 'The X who runs'. As in the case of JI words, the distinction between the
identifying and predicating senses of subordinate clauses is scrupulously maintained. Thus
Jio-clauses identify; they correspond to the restrictive clauses which are usually not set off by
commas in English text: La Djan, jio prano ga blonda = 'The John who runs is blond'. In
contrast, jia-clauses predicate; they correspond to the non-restrictive clauses which are
usually set off by commas in thoughtfully composed English text: La Djan, jia prano ga
blonda = 'John, who
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incidentally runs, is blonde.' Notice how, with restrictive clauses, the translation into
English actually assigns a word to Loglan la: 'The John who runs is blonde'. With nonrestrictive clauses made with jia, Loglan la has, as usual, no translation: 'John, who
incidentally runs, is blonde.' The English word 'incidentally' is one of the few unequivocal
ways of showing that an English clause is non-restrictive. In Loglan the linking word itself
carries that meaning.
Lexeme JO: Metaphorizers
Jo and kin are the metalinguistical operators by which, if speaking or writing carefully, can
call attention to whatever portion of da's speech is non-literal. Jo itself signifies that the
preceding word was used metaphorically. Tojo means that the two preceding words were
used metaphorically; tejo, that the three preceding words were so used, and so on. Rajo
anywhere in an utterance means that the utterance as a whole is not to be taken literally.
Lexeme JUE: The Second Linking Operator
Jue, the sole member of its lexeme, is used in conjunction with je to link 3rd and
subsequent arguments to predicate words; see JE. For example, if one wanted to designate a
ship by alluding to the fact that it was not only faster than light (kukra je lo litla) but faster
than light by 20 kilometers a second, one could say le judra je lo litla jue lio
tonikeimeikuasei, grobou ('The faster-than-light by twenty-kilometers-per-second ship').
Somewhat less fancifully, Le farfu je to botci jue la Meris designates the father of two boys
by (or through) Mary.
It is grammatical but bad usage to link sutori arguments to the predicate of a sentence
with je and jue: *Da farfu je to botci jue la Meris. Equally understandable and better usage
is the simpler preposition-free form Da pa farfu to botci la Meris = 'X fathered two boys
through Mary'.
Lexeme KA: Prefix Members of Forethought Connectives (Keks)
Keks are separated pairs of connective words, like English 'Either…or…', which are used
to make forethought connections between a wide variety of elements. Connections of this
kind are said to be "forethought" in that the speaker must decide what kind of connection da
is going to use before mentioning the elements which are to be connected.
KA and the next lexeme, KI, are two of the most widely ditrubuted lexemes in Loglan
grammar. They are used with M2 in R13 and R19 to kek links and linkargs; with M3 in R37
and R150 to kek predicates; and without any advance marking at all to kek modifiers in R63,
arguments in R106, termsets in R125 and sentences in R160.
Each kek is composed of a prefix member chosen from the KA Lexeme and an infix
member chosen from the KI lexeme, q.v. Thus Ka da ki de farfu is a sentence with a kekked
1st argument and means 'Either X or Y, and possibly both, are fathers'. Like the English
expressions 'Either…or…', 'If…then…', 'Both…and…' and 'Neither…nor…', the earliest or
"prefix" member of each pair–in this case Ka–announces that a connection is about to be
made. Ka also specifies the kind of connection it is going to be, namely a logical alternation.
The prefix element is then followed by the left-connectand, which is in turn followed by the
infix member of the connective pair–in this case ki–and the connection is then completed by
the right connectand. Thus it takes a minimum of 4 elements to make a kekked
connection…5 if the KA element must be marked by either M2 or M3 for the machine.
There are two main series of keks. The first are the forethought logical connections like
English 'Either…or…'; the second are the forethought causal connectives like English
'Because…, (therefore)…'. The logical series is semantically more fundamental and will be
described first.
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The Logical Keks: Morphologically, the prefix portion of a logical kek is formed by
inserting a /k/ before the characteristic vowel of an ek; see the A Lexeme. The infix portion is
then either ki or kinoi depending on whether the corresponding ek does not or does end withnoi. To show this relationship between eks and logical keks, here is the complete list of
logical keks shown alongside eks of the same meaning:
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a
e
o
u
nuu
noa
noe
Notebook 3-Phonology
ka…ki…
ke…ki…
ko…ki…
nuku…ki…
ku…ki…
kanoi…ki…
kenoi…ki…
nukunoi…k
nou i…
anoi
ka…kinoi…
enoi
ke…kinoi…
onoi
ko…kinoi
…
nuu
ku…kinoi
noi
…
noa
kanoi…kino
noi
i…
noe
kenoi…kino
noi
i…
either…or…and possibly both
both…and…
if and only if…then…
#…whether…
whether…, …
if…then…
both not…and…)
#not…whether…
#…if…
both…and not…
either…or…but not both
whether…, not…
either not…or not…and possibly neither
neither…nor…
Notice that the transformation of ek into kek is irregular in the case of the four
independence connections: u nuu nou nuunoi. Also, I have marked with '#' as possibly
misleading the English translations of a different four Loglan connections which have no
forethought renderings in English.
The Causal Keks: Morphologically, the prefix element of a causal kek may be formed by
removing the leading /i/ from a causal eeshek (see Lexeme I) and adding a final /ki/: thus
kouki is obtained from Ikou, an I-word. A more direct way of describing these compound
members of KA is to say that they are PA + KI when the PA word is a causal. (Temporal and
spatial keks have not yet been defined; but they are certainly possible.) Here is the list of the
causal keks paired with eesheks of the same meaning. Notice, however, that the eeshek
used to derive the kek is the one that precedes that kind of causal element (i.e., cause or
effect) in an afterthought construction. In the following lists, E = Effect where C = its Cause;
A = Action where M = its Motive; D = Decision where R = the justifying Reason; and
C = Conclusion where P = the supporting Premise.
E Ikou C
Nukouki E ki C
*Therefore E because of C.
C Inukou E
Kouki C ki E
Because of C, E.
Nunokouki E ki
E Inokou C
*Nevertheless E although C.
C
C Inunokou
Nokouki C ki E
Although C, E.
E
A Imoi M
Numoiki A ki M
*Therefore A in order to M.
M Inumoi A
Moiki M ki A
In order to M, A.
A Inomoi M
*Nevertheless A although M.
Nunomoiki A ki
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M
M Inunomoi
A
D Irau R
R Inurau D
D Inorau R
Although M, A.
Nurauki D ki R
Rauki R ki D
Nunorauki D ki
*Therefore D because of R.
Because of R, D.
Norauki R ki D
Although R, D.
Nusoaki C ki P
Soaki P ki C
Nunosoaki C ki
*Therefore C given P.
Given P, C.
Nosoaki P ki C
Although P, C.
R
R Inunorau
D
C Isoa P
P Inusoa C
C Inosoa P
Nomoiki M ki A
P
P Inunosoa
P
*Nevertheless D although R.
*Nevertheless C although P.
The *-ed entries are those for which no grammatical English translation seems possible.
Again we notice that in these logically sophisticated regions of the vocabulary, the
fineness of grain of the Loglan lexicon far exceeds that found in any natural language. It is
likely that Loglan speakers trained–as, for some time, all will be–in the coarser distinctions of
the natural languages will find most of this domain of forethought causal connectives too
fastidious to be usable. But it is also possible that the availability of these extremely precise
logico-causal distinctions will lead some loglanists down linguistic pathways which will
eventually take them to some powerful reflections not easily formulated in the natural
languages, and that others will then follow in their linguistic footsteps in pursuit of these same
or equally powerful new insights.
Lexeme KI: Infixes for Forethought Connectives (Keks)
There are just two of these, ki and kinoi; and they are used as infixes with the prefix
elements of the forethought connectives described in Lexeme KA.
Lexeme KIE: The Left-Parenthesis
KIE is monolexic, its sole member kie being the left or leading parenthesis. Kie is often
represented in text by the punctuation mark [(], but is always pronounced [kyeh] when read
aloud. Used with kiu below.
Lexeme KIU: The Right-Parenthesis
KIU is also monolexic, its one member kiu being often represented in text by the mark [)]
but pronounced [kyoo] when read aloud. Used with kie above.
Lexeme LA: The Name Operator
LA has two allolexes, la and laa, the latter being a special operator for Linnaean names.
La has the sole function of generating designations based on ordinary, non-Linnaean names.
La may be used to precede either a sequence of one or more name-words (La Djan Pol
Djonz) or a string of one or more predicate units (La Redro Nu Herfa = 'The Red-Haired
One'). The initial letters of name-words are always capitalized; but the words in la-marked
predicate strings are also given capital initials in text.
Names are seldom unique; but they are always used as unique designations in the
contexts in which they appear. Thus, there will normally be only one person answering to the
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call 'John Paul Jones!' in the situation in which La Djan Pol Djonz is used, and only one redhaired person in the context in which La Redro Nu Herfa is successfully used.
To use names vocatively, the vocative operator HOI (q.v.) is used in place of la in either
type of expression.
Laa is used only with Linnaean polynomials; see Sec. 2.13.
Lexeme LAE: Indirect Designation Operators
LAE has two members, lae and sae. Lae is used to designate something by operating on
a sign or address of that something. Generally, lae precedes a designation of some linguistic
entity, i.e., a quotation, although it need not; any object that can serve as a sign of some
other object will do. But if it precedes a quotation, lae enables us to designate the referent-ofthe-referent of that quotation. For example, (i) Liegai, War and Peace, gai designates the
English expression 'War and Peace'. That English expression, however, is often a sign of–a
kind of label or address of–a certain volume in many English-speaking persons' libraries,
namely an English translation of that Russian novel known in English as 'War and Peace'. If
lae were used to precede (i), the resulting Loglan expression (ii) Laeliegai, War and Peace,
gai, would no longer designate this English expression, but the volume in my library, say,
which has this English title printed on its back. So when I ask you (iii) Eo kambei mi
laeliegai, War and Peace, gai, what I am asking you to bring me is not that English
expression, but the volume whose address it is. Similarly, if I don't know the name of the
person who lives at 123 Main street, but I would like you to take this copy of "War and Peace”
to him or her (and we were speaking Loglan) I could say (iv) Eo kambei laeliegai, 123 Main
Street, gai laeliegai, War and Peace, gai, which is equivalent to saying in exceedingly
careful English 'Please bring to the person whose address is '123 Main Street' the object with
the title 'War and Peace'.'
Sae allows us to perform the inverse of this indirect addressing maneuver. By
prepositioning sae before any argument, we may use the resulting expression to designate
the sign or signs of which the designatum of that argument is the referent. For example, Sae
levi bukcu might be used to designate the title or titles of "this book” that I am holding in my
hand, say in whatever languages it has been translated, or to designate its "addresses"
conceived in some other way, say some particular library's shelving code for it. Thus sae
undoes what lae does; and so both sae lae and lae sae do nothing.
Lexeme LE: Descriptors
Descriptors are words that make designations out of predicate expressions. LE is an open
lexeme presently composed of a group of 1-initial words, all of which have a 'the'-like quality.
In the following lists, preda stands for any predicate expression used descriptively…a
"descriptive predicate", in the terminology of the grammar. Here is the entire current list of
simple LE-words as they might operate on any preda:The one thing I mean, or each of the set of things I mean, which I believe appears or
appear to you to be a preda, or to be predas. E.g., Le mrenu pa ftimna = 'The man was
le preda
a woman/the men were women'. (Explicit plurals are managed with quantifiers; see NI.)
The mass individual composed of all the instances of preda there are. E.g., Lo cutri ga
lo preda
djipo lo elivi = 'Water is important to life.'
Each of the set of all things which are predas. E.g., Lea humni ga razdou = 'All
lea preda
humans are rational (give reasons).'
The characteristic or normal individual which best exemplifies the predas in the present
context. E.g., Loe panzi ga fotli loe humni = 'The typical chimpanzee is stronger than
loe preda
the typical human.'
The particular set of predas, or apparent predas, which I have in mind. E.g., Lue monca
lue preda
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gorla ga numcmalo = 'Mountain gorillas are few in number.'
The set composed of all the predas there are. Lua ficli ga mutce laldo = 'Fishes are
very old.'
Compound LE-words may be formed by postfixing to one of these simple LE-words either
(a) a DA-word (any variable) or (b) a TAI-word (any letter variable), and/or (c) one or more
PA-words. Usually the PA-words are spatials or temporals. The possessive adjectives lemi
('my'), lemu ('our'), leda ('X's') and leTai ('T's') are formed in this manner. So also are the
demonstrative descriptors levi and leva ('this…' and 'that…') and the tensed descriptors lefa,
lena and lepa ('the future…', 'the present…' and 'the former…') as in Lefa bragai = 'The
future king'. Some of these LE + PA words are very long, e.g., Lepacenoinacefa bragai je la
Frans = 'The-once-and-future king of France'; but all of them can be plainly deciphered.
Thus, le + pa + ce + noi + na + ce + fa means nothing more mysterious than ' the-beforeand-not-now-and-after (king of France)'. All these words behave grammatically just like le.
Lexeme LEPO: Event Operators
These are the LE + PO and LE + ZO (see PO and ZO) compounds that make arguments
out of sentences. They are recognized as LEPO words by the preparser. LEPO words are
known as event operators, although they designate properties (for example, with lepu) and
quantities (with lezo) as well. Their grammar is quite different from that of LE-words, which
they resemble morphologically, in that LEPO-words but not LE-words take whole sentences
as operands. Sometimes it looks as if the operand of an event operator is nothing more than
a predicate expression–e.g., lepo sucmi = 'the swim'–but this is because the operand is here
the simplest of all sentences, a one-word imperative. The event of swimming could be fully
specified: lepo da sucmi de di = 'X's swim to Y from W'. So unlike the operands of ordinary
descriptors, the operands of event operators may be embellished without limit: Lepo lend
brudi ji la Djan, pa kamla lepo fomtitci, e stolo mu ne niroe = 'The time my brother John
came to dinner and stayed with us for a year.'
Notice that the events, properties or quantities described with event operators may be
particular (lezo da pa sucmi = 'the amount X swam') or general (lopo sucmi = 'swimming'),
or general but constrained in various ways: e.g., lovipo sucmi = 'The here-swimming (the
swimming here)' and lenapo penso = 'The now-thinking (the thinking now)'.
Loglan event descriptions are philosophically of some interest. Their designata are the
objects of thought, for example; and so event descriptions accomplish what in the IndoEuropean languages is accomplished by so-called "indirect discourse". Thus, 'He thought that
it was going to rain' is translated into Loglan with an event description: Da pa jupni lepo ti fa
crina = 'X opined the event of this (place) being later rained-on.'
Lexeme LI: The Left Quotation Operator
LI is monolexic and is the opening mark for ordinary, or "weak" quotation. Li is used with
the close-quote lu to quote grammatical Loglan, usually in strings of two or more words; see
LIE and LID for other varieties of quotation.
Lexeme LIE: The Strong Quotation Operator
LIE is also monolexic; it is the leading mark of "strong" quotation. That is, it is the mark by
which non-Loglan strings or even strings of malformed Loglan may be unequivocally quoted.
Lie is used with two instances of any arbitrarily chosen word X which are placed at each end
of the string to be quoted. The boundary marker X is usually a letter-word (see TAI) and each
instance of it must be separated from the quoted string by a pause: lieX, <quoted string>, X.
/.X/ must not of course appear adventitiously within the string being quoted.
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Lie-quotation is most often used to quote foreign language strings. When it is, the uppercase Loglan letter-word for the Latin letter which is initial in the Loglan predicate for that
particular foreign language is used conventionally as the boundary marker X: LieSai, No
hablo Espanol, Sai. Sai is the sign of spana, the predicate meaning 'is Spanish/an
element/expression of the Spanish language'.
Lexeme LIO: The Number Designator
LIO is the monolexie number designator. Lio is used before mathematical expressions to
designate numbers. For example, Lio ne natra numcu = 'The number one is a natural
number' and Ti langa ta lio topifemei = 'This is longer than that by 2.5 meters.'
Lexeme LIU: The Single-Word Quotation Operator
LIU is used to quote single words. It is monolexic and used only before single, wellformed Loglan words to designate them. For example, Liu liu logla purda = 'The word 'liu' is
a Loglan word'. See LI and LIE for other varieties of quotation.
Lexeme LU: The Right Quotation Operator
LU is monolexic and is the closing mark for ordinary, or "weak" quotation. Lu is used with
the open-quote li to quote grammatical Loglan, usually in strings of two or more words; see
LIE and LIU for other varieties of quotation.
Lexemes Ml* through M11*
Ml is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any instance of A that is
connecting linked arguments.
M2 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any instance of KA that is
connecting linked arguments.
M3 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any instance of KA that is
connecting predicates.
M4 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any NO that it is negating a
modifier.
M5 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any A that is connecting
sentence modifiers.
M6 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any A that is connecting
argument modifiers.
M7 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any PA that is inflecting a
predicate.
M8 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any NO that is negating a
marked predicate, as shown by PO, ZO or M7.
M9 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any ACI that is connecting
predicates.
M10 is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any A that is connecting
predicates.
M1l is a machine lexeme inserted by the preparser before any AGE that is connecting
predicates.
Lexeme ME: The Predifying Operator
ME is the monolexic operator that turns any designation into a predicate ("predifies" it).
Prefixed to the first word in that designation, me creates a predicate with a meaning, often
vague, that can be associated with that designation. Some examples: Ta metu
cadre = 'That's a you-ish dress'; Plizo le mela Kraislr = 'Use the Chrysler'; Da mela
Nuiork = 'X is a New Yorker'; De mele sitci = 'Y is of the city (citified? cityish?)'.
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Such usages create "false compounds", i.e., forms like metu, mela and mele which are
recognized as not being members of single lexemes by the preparser, as true compounds
always are, and so are decompounded. Thus, metu is lexed as. the two-lexeme string ME
DA before it goes to the parser; see DA.
Lexeme NI: Quantifiers
The quantifier lexeme NI has in principle a limitless number of allolexes, since it contains
not only the digits ni ne to te fo fe so se vo ve ('none' 'one' 'two' 'three' 'four' 'five' 'six' 'seven'
'eight' 'nine'), but all the compounds of whatever length that might ever be made from them.
Thus, netotefofesosevove as well as neni ('ten') is an allolex of NI.
NI also includes ho, the interrogative quantifier ('How many?' or 'How many of…?'); thus
Ho da pa kamla = 'How many of X came?' It includes three of the non-numerical quantifiers
as well, namely re ro ru ('most' 'many' 'enough'); the other two r-words, ra ri ('all' 'few'),
having certain compounding duties to perform–they make the cardinal and ordinal
compounds that will be classified as PREDA–must occupy a separate lexeme, namely RA.
Other allolexes of NI are sa si su ('approximately (all)' 'at most (one)' 'at least (one)'),
which may either be prefixed to other NI-words (savo = 'approximately eight' sivo = 'at most
eight' suvo = 'at least eight') or used alone with their default values understood (sa = 'nearly
all', si = 'at most one', su = 'at least one'). Finally, there is a series of mathematical
expression-building operators, not yet complete, consisting of the decimal point pi [.], the
double-zero ma [00], the triple-zero mo [000], the division sign kua [/] (read 'over'), the
inverse division sign kue (not available on this font, but read 'under'), the addition sign poi [+],
the subtraction sign nio [-], the negation sign niu (not available), the multiplication sign tia [*],
the power sign sua [^] (read 'to the …-th'), the left and right parentheses kie and kiu [( )],
which in this context, may often be read as 'the quantity', and for more complex nesting, the
left and right brackets gie and giu [[ ]], also often readable as 'the quantity'. Mathematical
expressions formed with these operators–for example, tokuafo [2/4] and tosuaniufo [2^-4]
(read '2 to the power minus 4')–are also NI words.
NI has another group of allolexes which are formed of some numerical expression plus
one or more letter-words of the TAI-Lexeme, e.g., nevepinifomeimei [19.04mm]. These are
the dimensioned numbers; they, too, as well as the TAI words themselves, may be
components of mathematical expressions. For example, consider tobeisuato [ 2b^2 ] = 'twobee-squared' vs. tobeikiusuato [ (2b)^2 ] = 'two-bee-the-quantity-squared'. The "grammar" of
such expressions, i.e., the set of compounding rules for NI compounds, has not yet been
written.
A final type of NI compound may be formed by prefixing ie (see Lexeme IE) to any other
NI word, simple or compound, e.g., ieto or ietobeigiusuato. Such quantifiers have the sense
of 'which…of…?', as in Ieto le mrenu = 'Which two of the men?'…or, indeed, as in
Ietobeigiusuato le protoni = 'Which two-bee-the-quantity-squared of the protons?' The
internal structure of such compounds may be as complex as the speaker or writer likes; but
grammatically, such expressions count as just another quantifier.
There is one usage convention involving NI and TAI words that resolves an ambiguity that
cannot be solved be preparsing. This is the apparent ambiguity of the expression nei preda.
Is (i) nei a quantifier, in which case this is an indefinite description meaning 'n predas'? Or is
(ii) nei a letter-variable, in which case it means 'n is a preda'? Consider that the speaker has
already established that the letter word nei [n] in some mathematical expression is to
represent a certain large unknown number. May da then lift it out of that expression and use
nei as a quantifier, saying, for example, *Nei mrenu pa kamla (interpretation (i))? Da may
not; the parser would declare this expression to be unparsable (and so I have starred it).
What is happening here is that Nei has been lexed as a TAI word (interpretation (ii), which
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happens to be the correct one); but so-lexed, the expression will not parse. Standing alone,
as it does, Nei will not be parsed as a NI word, i.e., a quantifier. Whatever da's intent, da's
auditor will hear Nei as a letter variable, presumably as a replacement of some longer
argument in which 'n' figures; because that is grammatically what Nei is. So what da has said
would translate into the equally ungrammatical English non-sentence '*Enn is a man came'.
In other words, da would like to use nei as a quantifier, but may not because any wellbehaved Loglan parser will treat it as an argument.
The way out of this dilemma is to adopt a certain usage convention. We may use the
dimensioned number nenei [1n] whenever we would like to use the number represented by
nei [n] as a quantifier. Nei is not a quantifier; but nenei [1n] is. Moreover, this usage is
mathematically correct. The number one is the identity operator in this group; so 1X = X for
any X. So it doesn't matter mathematically whether we say nei or nenei. But it does matter
grammatically; for only by using nenei will the parser behave in the way that we intend. To
English-speakers, this usage has a certain cost. It will be a trifle awkward, at first, to have to
say Nenei mrenu pa kamla ('One-enn men came') when one feels, following English usage,
that one ought to be able to say more economically *Nei mrenu pa kamla. But later on I trust
we loglanists will discover the satisfaction of speaking precisely and so, understandably.
Besides, by observing this convention we preserve the much more important use of TAI
words as anaphoric variables; see TAI below.
Lexeme NO: The Negation Operator
There is just one negative in Loglan and it is used in all of the ways that the various
negatives of the natural languages are used. No is very widely distributed in Loglan grammar,
occurring in 13 rules. In particular, no occurs (i) in R28 where it is used before predicate
words and other predicate units (Da bilti no nirli ckela = 'X is a beautiful non-girls' school');
this is the close-bound negative that we often express with 'non-' in English. It occurs (ii) in
R34 where it is used to negate kekked predicate units (Da bilti no ke botci, e nirli ckela = 'X
is a beautiful not both boys and girls' school', that is, a school for beautiful boys or beautiful
girls or beautiful things that are neither boys nor girls, but not for both beautiful boys and
beautiful girls; the scope of this no is confined to the kekked pair of predunits ke botci, e
nirli). No is used (iii) in R62 before modifiers (Titci no na = 'Eat (but) not now') where the
preparser will have marked it with a leading M4. It is used (iv) in R64 where it negates kekked
modifiers (Titci no ke vi, e na = 'Eat (but) not both here and now'); the preparser will also
have marked this no with M4. It is used (v) and (vi) in R134 and R143 to negate tensed or
otherwise marked predicates (Da no pa mutce gudbi takna = 'X was not a very good
talker'); this is long-scope no, the tense operator having spread the scope of no over the
entire predicate expression. The preparser will have looked ahead and found the pa or other
scope-extending mark on the other side of no, and then inserted M8 before the no to tell the
parser that this is a long-scope negative of a predicate it is dealing with. No is also used (vii)
in R149 to negate identity predicates (Da no bi de = 'X is not equal to Y'); and (viii) in R151 to
negate kekked predicates (Da no ke gudbi takna, ki bilti ckela = 'X is not both a good talker
and a beautiful school'; here the scope of no covers the entire kekked predicate). It is also
used (ix) in R159 to negate statements (No da bilti ckela = 'It is not the case that X is a
beautiful school'); as suggested, this no has the sense of the logician's 'It is not the case
that…'. No is used (x) in R161 to negate kekked sentences (No ke da bilti ckela ki de gudbi
takna = 'It is not the case that both X is a beautiful school and Y is a good talker'. It is used
(xi) alone in R168 where No is a fragmentary utterance, perhaps an answer. No is used (xii)
in R183, where it is used with a "gap" (a comma or a gu) before any utterance, including
fragmentary ones (No, na la Nemen = 'No; in January'); in such uses no often has the sense
of being one of several fragmentary answers being made in the same utterance. Finally, no
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occurs (xiii) in R184 where such leading negatives may be preceded by free modifiers (Ia no,
na la Nemen = 'Certainly not; in January').
NO also occurs in /noV/ compounds (noa, noe, etc.) that are some but not all of the A
words. In this use it is rather like NOI (see next lexeme) which also combines with vowels and
other elemental lexemes to produce A and other kinds of connective words.
•Lexeme NOI: The Negation Suffix
This lexeme does not occur as a separate word. It is used only by the preparser to detect
some sorts of A, CA, ICA, KA and KI words, namely those that end with the suffix -noi. For
example, the A words anoi and enoi, the CA words canoi and cenoi, the I words Icanoi and
Icenoi, the KA words kanoi and kenoi, and the KI word kinoi all require that NOI be
recognized by the preparser, in particular, by that portion of it that analyzes compounds, in
order that they be assigned to their proper lexemes.
Lexeme NU: Conversion Operators
The simple allolexes of this lexeme are nu fu ju, the three conversion operators which in
Loglan effect the passive voice and a great many other "place-shifting" constructions as well.
Thus, nu exchanges the meanings of the 1st and 2nd places of a predicate (Da nu bloda
de = 'X is hit by Y'); fu, of the 1st and 3rd places (Da fu ketpi de = 'X is the departure-point
from which ticket Y is valid'); and ju, of the 1st and 4th places (Da ju ketpi de = 'X is the
carrier on which ticket Y is valid'). NU also includes compounds like nufu and nufuju, and the
series of numerically marked conversion operators nute (= fu), nufo (= ju), nufe, nuso, etc.,
an alternative series of conversion operators that accommodate extremely long placestructures. All these words are recognized by the CPD-lexer.
NU words may also be used in incomplete utterances: Da nu bloda = 'X is hit', Da fu
ketpi = 'X is a departure-point of some journey for which tickets are required', and Da ju
ketpi = 'X is a carrier on which tickets are required.'
Lexeme PA: Inflectors/Adverbs/Prepositions
PA is a "portmanteau” lexeme in that its allolexes belong to 5 semantically distinct series:
tense operators, location operators, modal operators, causal operators, and the predicate
marker ga. These very different kinds of words are members of the same lexeme not
because their meanings are similar but because their grammar, though not their usages,
happens to be identical.
As the title of this lexeme suggests, any of the PA words may be used in three
grammatical contexts: (i) as an inflector of some predicate (Da pa titci ta = 'X ate that'); (ii) as
an adverbial modifier of the main predicate expression of the sentence (Da titci ta pa = 'X
eats that earlier') or, when linked to an argument by a JI word (q.v.), as a local modifier of that
immediately preceding argument (Da titci ta ji pa = 'X eats that earlier one, i.e., that one that
was before'); and (iii) as the prepositional head of a phrase or a clause which modifies the
main predicate expression (Da titci ta pa la Ven = 'X eats that before nine' or Da titci ta lia
lo horma = 'X eats that like a horse') or, if linked to an argument, then as a local modifier of
that argument (Da titci ta ji lia lo horma = 'X eats that (thing) that is like a horse').
If the prepositional meaning of a PA word is known, then its adverbial meaning can
generally be inferred by regarding the adverb as an ellipsis of a phrase or clause headed by
that same word used as a preposition or conjunction. Thus, we may infer that Da titci ta
vi = 'X eats that here' is short for Da titci ta vi ti = 'X eats that in/at this (place)'; hence that
the sentence without ti means 'X eats that here'. Similarly, the inflectional meaning of a PA
word may usually be inferred by constructing a phrase using that word as a preposition and
some designation of the place or time of speech as the object of that preposition. Thus Da pa
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titci may be regarded as shorthand for Da pa ti titci = 'X, before this occasion on which we
are speaking, eats'; hence 'X ate'.
So much for the three contexts in which PA words may appear. We may now describe the
five semantic types of PA words:Tense Operators: These are pa na fa, the simple past, present and future tenses,
respectively, and their numerous derivatives and compounds. For example, there are the
continuous tenses pia nia fia ('was …-ing' 'is …-ing' 'will be …-ing', which yield 'since…' and
'ever since' for the prepositional and adverbial senses of pia, respectively; I shall let the
reader work out the corresponding senses of nia and fia. There are the habitual tenses pua
nua fua ('habitually …-ed' 'habitually …s' 'will habitually …'). There are the intervalized tenses
pazi paza pazu (the immediate, intermediate and remote past, for example) as well as fazi
faza fazu and even nazi naza nazu with their analogous meanings. There are the nine
narrative or compound tenses, the first element of each compound relating the point of
speech to the reference point in the narration…often called the "narrative present", the
second relating the reference point to the event. The first three of the narrative tenses are the
so-called "perfect" tenses of concluded action papa napa fapa ('had …-ed' 'has …-ed' 'will
have …-ed'); the next three are the "progressive" tenses of predicted action pafa nafa fafa
('was going to…' 'is now going to…' 'will be going to…'); the last three are the less often used
but equally interesting tenses of "coincident" action– coincident because the reference point
and the event coincide in these tenses– pana nana fana ('was then …-ing' 'is just now …-ing'
'will be …-ing'). Beyond the narrative tenses are the quantified tenses, of which rana rona
rena rina suna tona nena nina ('always' 'frequently' 'usually' 'rarely' 'sometimes' 'twice'
'once' 'never') are just a few of the many quantified possibilities which the loglanist is invited
to explore. Various combinations of the above are also possible, e.g., papia ('had been …ing') and pazufazi ('was long ago going to … immediately'). There are the connected tense
words such as pacenoina ('no longer' or 'once', literally 'before-and-not-now'). Finally, any PA
word may, of course, be incorporated into a descriptor via the LE + PA compounding formula;
for example, one of the narrative tenses pafa might be so incorporated, as in Lepafa
ditca = 'The-one-who-was-going-to-be a teacher'; see Lexeme LE. Some of these tensed
descriptors are very long, but even the longest so far built are easy to decipher. Take
Lepacenoinacefa bragai. The pacenoinacefa-part of this descriptor unravels easily as
'before-and-not-now-and-after'; whence the whole expression might be elegantly translated
as 'The once-and-future king.')
Even this long list of PA words is not complete. Loglanists are invited to explore their
many possibilities.
Location Operators: These are vi va vu, 'at' or 'in', 'nearby' and 'far away', and their
many derivatives, e.g., via vii viu, and so on. This list is incomplete.
Modal Operators: Unlike the tense and location operators, which are inherently
systematic, the modal operators are a disordered set. We can do no better than list the ones
in current use; no doubt others will be added.
c
(cikt
as much as/to the same degree as…
iu
u)
b
(bivd
in manner/mode…/by method…
iu
u)
d
(dilri)
for/on behalf of…
ia
k
(kan
re/concerning/as for/with regard to..
ae
se)
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li
a
(clik
like/as/in the way that…
(pluc
for/in order to please…
(mor
as well as/in addition to…
(helb
with…'s help/through agent…
(setf
instead of/in place of…
(trim
with…, a tool or means
a)
l
ui
i)
m
ou
du)
h
ea
a)
s
ea
a)
ti
e
e)
Notice how the modals differ from the case tags of the DIO Lexeme. In a certain sense,
modal phrases may be used to extend the place-structure of nearly any predicate; so they
may be thought of as "itinerant cases". But because such phrases can turn up nearly
anywhere, they may never be distinctive features of any predicate. Therefore, the modal
preposition may never be omitted from its argument, as a case tag may be, relying on the
auditor to infer the modality of that argument from its context. So the modality of an argument
must always be explicitly announced by some attendant modal preposition.
Loglanists are just beginning to explore the uses of modals as inflectors and adjectives.
We expect adventurous speakers to make many interesting discoveries in these uncharted
waters. With a little thought, almost any of these strange new usages may be sensibly
interpreted. For example, what does Da durzo de hea mean? In particular, what is the
adverbial sense of hea? Well; if you think about it, hea used non-inflectionally and without an
argument must at the very least must mean that X did Y with the help of someone else, that
is, "helpedly". So Da durzo de hea must mean 'X does Y with help'. What about hea as an
inflector? Reasoning analogically from, let us say, the sense of pa itself in these three
positions–as a preposition pa means 'before (this designated time)', as an adverb 'before
some undesignated time (presumably inferrable from context)', and as an inflector 'before this
particular time, namely the point of speech'–Da hea durzo de must mean that X's doing Y
was helped by someone or something current, perhaps a person present at the time of
speech. Could we translate it as 'X does Y with your help', you the listener? Extending the
currency principle to another case, what does Da sea durzo de mean? As a preposition sea
means 'instead of'. So I would assume that the specimen means that X did Y instead of
someone or something else, someone or something which was in some sense present at the
time of speech. Could it mean that X does Y instead of your doing Y? I.e., in your place? But
note that the speaker, too, is present at the point of speech…but perhaps less interestingly
so, since da is always present. As I say, loglanists are just beginning to explore this vast new
domain of meanings that has been opened up by the machine grammar work.
Causal Operators: These are the PA words which, when prefixed with /i/, form the causal
connectives which are members of the I-Lexeme; q.v. Here the same sixteen causal
relationships are invoked by causal prepositions; and these same sixteen words may, if
interpreted by ellipsis, be used adverbially and even as inflectors. The most common use of
these elemental causal operators is as prepositions, and that is the sense of the English
translations given here. Some of these meanings do not exist in the natural languages, so
their Loglan meanings are occasionally hard to think out.
kou C
because of cause C
nukou E
therefore/with effect E
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nokou C
nunokou E
despite cause C
nevertheless (unexpected) effect E
moi M
numoi A
nomoi M
nunomoi A
because of motive M
so action A
despite motive M
nevertheless (unexpected) action A
rau R
nurau D
norau R
nunorau D
because of reason R
thus decision D
despite reason R
nevertheless (unjustified) decision D
soa P
nusoa C
nosoa P
nunosoa C
because of premise(s) P
thus consequence(s) C
despite premise(s) P
nevertheless (unentailed) consequence C
When the prepositional sense is plain, the adverbial and inflecting senses are easily
inferred.
Ga: Ga is the fifth kind of PA word, and there is just one of its kind. Ga is a boundarymarker; it is used as the left boundary marker of any predicate whose left boundary would
otherwise be unclear. Ga is therefore one of the "spoken punctuation marks" of Loglan as is
suggested by its g-initial form. (The other boundary markers are ge gi go goa goi gu gue,
q.v.) The left boundary of a predicate happens to coincide with the inflecting position of the
PA words; so ga has the grammar of PA words, and is therefore lexemically a PA word even
though it is semantically quite unlike the rest of them. Moreover, unlike other PA words ga is
used only in the inflecting position, and then only when the immediately preceding word–
exclusive of the "free modifiers” which, for these and other purposes, constitute a kind of
"grammatical noise"; see Lexeme UI–is a predicate. Thus ga is used only in contexts like Le
sadji ga fumna ('The wise one is a woman') from which its omission or removal would cause
an unintended description to be heard: Le sadji fumna = 'The wise woman'.
It is considered bad usage to use ga where its removal would not cause this ambiguity.
Thus *La Sells, ga fumna and *Tu ga fumna, although grammatically understandable, do
not occur in well-formed Loglan speech. Here, then, is another grammatical superset, only
some of whose members are actually used.
Lexeme PAUSE: The Pause-Comma
This is the lexemic element, represented by a pause in speech or a comma in writing,
which has survived the preparser's inspection of its context and has been found to be
genuinely lexemic, that is, necessary for the parser to be told about. The two written
expressions of PAUSE are as a comma [,] and as a pound-sign [#]. Pauses come to the
preparser as [,]s. The preparser then removes all instances of [,] which are not lexemic, i.e.,
which, like the morphemic pauses after name-words or before vowel-initial connectives, do
not actually figure in the grammar rules, and rewrites the others as [#]s. Only [#]s occur in the
preparsed strings which are delivered to the parser.
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Lexeme PO: Abstraction Operators
There are exactly two of these, the event-abstractor po, and the property abstractor pu.
There is a third abstractor, zo, which abstracts quantities; but because psuedo-instances of
zo are occasionally generated while making acronymic PREDAs, the preparser, which must
identify these kinds of PREDAs, requires that zo have its own lexeme; see ZO. This is a
consequence of the fact that /z/ is the acronymic hyphen. So CIO is CaiIzO, which the
preparser will read as a compound formed of the lexemes TAI + I + ZO and then classify it as
a PREDA. Thus the preparser uses ZO in its lexing operations. If it weren't for this, zo would
be a member of PO, which it is like in all grammatical respects.)
The two PO words and ZO occur in 3 contexts: (1) Close-bound or "short-scope" PO/ZO
occurs just before a predicate word or predunit, and in this context the scope of the
abstraction is just that single word or predunit; e.g., Da po sucmi ditca = 'X is an act-ofswimming teacher', presumably one who teaches that activity. It should not be inferred that
abstraction is necessary here. This same claim can be made with the shorter concrete
metaphor in Da sucmi ditca = 'X is a swim (mer) teacher', and loglanists generally prefer
these concrete forms. Where precision is needed, however, the Da po sucmi ditca metaphor
is available to the loglanist just as the gerund with '-ing' is available to the anglophone…and
with perhaps less ambiguity about what is intended. (2) Long-scope PO/ZO occurs when it is
followed by either (2a) a pause-comma or a gu, in which case the scope of abstraction is the
entire ensuing predicate expression, including any arguments, e.g., Da po, sucmi ditca lo
frasa = 'X is a case of being a swimmer teacher of French' (perhaps one who teaches French
while swimming?), or (2b) either an argument or a modifier, in which case no other mark is
needed to tell the parser that the PO has long scope; e.g., Da po de sucmi ditca lo
frasa = 'X is a case of Y's being a swimming teacher of French'. In both these contexts, the
operand of PO/ZO is a sentence, even though it may be a sentence without arguments–i.e.,
an unspecified imperative–in context (2a). (3) PO/ZO also occurs in LEPO compounds (q.v.);
in this descriptive context the abstraction is always long-scope; e.g., Lepo de sucmi ditca lo
frasa = 'The event of Y's swim-teaching French'.
The semantic distinction between po and pu, between what we call in English "events"
and what we call "properties", is perhaps the most difficult to understand in Loglan. The
difference between these two operations is clearest in the descriptive context, that is,
between the designata of event-descriptions and those of property-descriptions as
abstracted, let us say, from the same predicated relationships. Any differences found here
should apply, of course, to the other contexts. Let us examine, then, both an eventdescription and the property-description abstracted from the same relationship.
Lepo evidently abstracts a case, state, condition or event of any length–as long as an
epoch or as short as a sneeze–from some predicated relationship. Lepu, in its turn, may
abstract a property or quality from the same relationship. Suppose the predicated relationship
is a motherhood between a mammalian mother X, an offspring Y and a father Z. We note first
that the event-descriptions abstracted from such relationships are time-bound; like stories,
mammalian motherhoods have beginnings, middles, and ends, and can apparently involve
substantial segments of the "life-lines" of several or even many individuals. On a common
understanding of motherhood, this one will involve those segments of X's and Y's lifetimes
from the moment of her conception of Y and either her death or Y's, whichever is earlier. Of
Z's lifetime, at least in many mammalian species, only a brief snippet need be considered to
be part of X's motherhood, namely that snippet in which his sperm was delivered to her in
some fashion. Of course more may be involved; in species in which pair-bonding takes place,
more is involved. But this is sufficient to describe the event-state-condition of motherhood in
mice, for example. We note that the thing that lepo designates about these 3 individuals is
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laid out in space-time. It has a beginning, a duration and an end. And the relevant segments
of each of the three life-lines describe paths through space as well.
The property description of this same relationship, in contrast, is essentially time-free. It is
the least set of facts which would establish the truth of that predicated relationship if it were
true. That Y developed from an ovum produced by X's ovarian tissue is one of them; that that
ovum was fertilized by a spermatozoon produced by Z's testicular tissue is another one. Are
there any others? It would seem not. These two properties of these three individuals would, if
known, be sufficient to establish X's maternity of Y by Z in any court of law…or, more likely, in
any laboratory. And that, it would appear, is what a property is: it is that lean abstraction from
the richness of the world that is just sufficient to enable us to know the truth of some matter.
The event-description is, in contrast, a "fat" concept. The designata of descriptions like
lepo da mamla matma de di ('The event-state-condition of X's mammalian motherhood of Y
by father Z') are often rich and complicated segments of the world; and they have a richer
dimensionality than properties do. They have duration, for example, as properties do not. The
designatum of lepu da mamla matma de di ('The property of X's mammalian maternity of Y
by father Z') consists, in contrast, of two very simple but sometimes difficult to establish facts;
and those facts are strangely free of time and other complications.
In sum, designata of po-abstractions are rich, multi-dimensional objects distinguished by
duration; the designata of pu-abstractions are least sets of sufficient facts. The designata of
zo-abstractions are the leanest of all, of course, being simply numbers…and sometimes
uninteresting numbers at that. While the amount of heat in this room, and the amount of blue
in that painting may well be interesting numbers, lezo da mamla matma de di is not. How
shall we measure the quantity of mammalian motherhood, as it relates to three specified
individuals? Give it one if it obtains between them, zero otherwise? Not a fruitful enterprise. If
one or more of the three required participants remains undesignated, however, then the
number lezo da mamla matma, the amount of mammalian motherhood in which X is
involved, for example, might have some interest.
In short, the zo-abstraction is the least widely applicable of the three abstractions. Zo is
useful only with those properties or relations which science has managed to quantify in some
way. Thus, until we know how to measure the blueness of a painting or the motherness of an
animal, lezo ta blanu and lezo ta matma will have designata we will not know how to find.
Lexeme PREDA: Predicate Words
Predicate words, while the most numerous items in any lexicon–they comprise about 80%
of the Loglan dictionary at the present time–are called by only two grammar rules, R21-2.
PREDA words enter the grammar through this narrow window in the rule group called
"predicate units", and as predunits they are then variously elaborated as the noun-like
structures of Loglan, the arguments, and the verb-like ones, the predicates. But because they
all enter through the same narrow window, any predicate word may end up being either.
Morphologically, PREDA words come in five varieties:(1) The CC-bearing, V-final words of the lexicon like preda itself. These range from short
borrowed words like iglu to long complex predicates like rojmaosenmao ('agronomist'). All
PREDAs of this kind are identified by the lexer. They are by far the largest group of PREDA
words that have actually been built so far; they include noun-like predicates like mrenu ('is a
man'), verb-like ones like godzi ('goes from…to…by route*..'), adjective-like ones like corta
'is shorter than…hy amount…'), preposition-like ones like bitsa ('is between…and…'), and
adverb-like ones like mutce ('is extreme in dimension…' which is more frequently used as an
adverbial modifier of other predicates, as in Da mutce sadji = 'X is very wise'). Loglan makes
no grammatical distinction whatever between these various kinds of predicate words…as is
attested by their being members of the same lexeme.
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(2) The numerical predicates made with the suffixes -ri and -ra which are members of the
RA Lexeme; the exact compounding formula for these kinds of PREDAs is NI/RA (+ …) + RA.
This formula generates the two infinite sets of the ordinal and cardinal numbers, respectively,
e.g., neri = 'is first in sequence…' and nera = 'is a monad', as well as certain irregular
numericals like sutori ('is second or subsequent in sequence…') which are so much more
efficient than the English circumlocutions which they translate that they have already crept
into the English speech of some loglanists.
(3) The 6 predicate variables, which are two sorts: bua bue buo buu, the nondesignating
predicate variables used in logic (Raba rabe rabua goi ko ba bua be ki be nu bua ba = 'For
every x, y, and predicate P, x P y if and only if y nu P x'); and dui dua, the demonstrative
predicate variables, or "proverbs" as they are sometimes called in English grammar, which
have meanings much like English 'do'. For example, 'He meant to go; and he did'. This
sentence could be rendered into Loglan as Da moi godzi, ice da dui. Like all
demonstratives, the i-final member of the pair is used for proximate items, whether in time or
space, the a-final one, for distal items.
(4) Acronymic PREDAs such as CaiIzO [CIO]; these may be made or borrowed at will by
the user. Some Loglan acronyms, like DNA and USA, have simply been borrowed from
existing acronyms in the natural languages…but of course they are then repronounced as
Loglan words. Thus DNA in Loglan text is the abbreviation of the compound Loglan word
DaiNaiA, and USA is short for USaiA. Acronymic predicates may also be derived internally,
that is, from commonly used Loglan phrases whose frequency of use may have increased so
much that the Zipf principle (that the length of a linguistic expression be inversely proportional
to its frequency of use) will insist that a short Loglan expression be found for it. The
increasing frequency of use of long, usually technical expressions (e.g., 'deoxyribonucleic
acid') is, of course, the chief cause of acronym-formation in both the natural languages and in
Loglan.
It is worth noting in passing that, while the part of speech of a compound letter-word, such
as MaiTai [MT], is that of an acronymic PREDA, a single letter-word, such as Mai or Tai, is
classified as an instance of Lexeme TAI, the letter-variables. Letter-variables, in turn, are one
of the elemental forms of the Loglan argument. So a large grammatical shift takes place in
the movement of Mai to MaiTai; see Lexeme TAI for further discussion of this point.
Finally, (5), there is the predicate interrogative he, which is of course also a member of
the PREDA lexeme. He may be used in all places where any other PREDA may be used:- As
a modifier: Da he forli = 'X is how strong?'; as a modificand: Da mutce he = 'X is very what?';
as the entire predicate expression: Tu he = 'You're what?' or 'How are you?; as the entire
utterance: He = 'What?', often used in the sense of 'What did you say?' A more polite form of
the last expression is Eo he = 'Please, what?'
In conclusion, the predicate words of Loglan are of an immense number and variety; but
all of them have exactly the same grammar. To know how to use one of them is to know how
to use them all.
*Lexeme RA: Numerical Predicate Suffixes
There are two of these, ra ri, and both are used both as ordinary NI words and to form the
numerical predicates among the PREDAs. If it weren't for the use of Lexeme RA by the
preparser, which must lex these numerical predicates by analyzing them as little word
compounds, ra ri would, like their companions re ro ru, be allolexes of NI.
Lexeme TAI: Letter Variables
There are exactly 100 of these letter variables in Loglan, 52 of them are words for the
Latin characters, 26 upper-, and 26 lower-case; and 48 of them are words for the Greek
characters, 24 upper-, and 24 lower-case. In the sequel, the word 'letteral', which is an analog
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of 'numeral', will stand for the phrase 'letter character'. Thus, just as [1] is the numeral for the
number-words 'one' and ne, so [t] is the letteral for the letter-words 'tee' and tei. For their
construction, see Secs. 2.21-23.
All letter-words are members of the TAI Lexeme. TAI enters the grammar at just two
points, in rules R79 and R81. In R79 TAI words enter as simple arguments, as in such
utterances as Tai mrenu = 'Tee is a man'; in R81, they enter as the operands of the
numerical descriptor lio, as in Lio Tai numcu = '(The number) Tee is a number', for this, too,
is a possible use of a letter-variable. As arguments, the uses of TAI words are very similar to
those of DA words, the replacing and personal variables, etc. Like DA words, TAI words may
be used as possessives in LE + TAI compounds, e.g., Letei kapma = 't's hat'. Other
compounds made with TAI are the dimensioned numbers formed by NI + TAI, e.g., Sai carta
Tai lio nemakeimei = 'S is shorter than T by 100km (that is, by 100 kilometers)'. The word
nemakeimei is, of course, a member of NI. A final use of TAI words in compounds is to make
acronymic PREDAs; these are often strings of TAI or A words interspersed with NI words, the
latter being confined to non-initial positions: e.g., HaitoSaiOfo [H2SO4]. Sometimes the
morphological rules call for one or more instances of interstitial -z-, the acronymic hyphen,
e.g., as in CaiIzO; see Sec. 2.29 for a fuller account of the construction of acronymic
PREDAs.
Since simple TAI words are arguments and compound ones are predicates, this leads to
a grammatical problem for the chemical abbreviations, some of which are simple TAI words,
e.g., Sai or [S] for Sulphur, and others compound, e.g., Caiza or [Ca] for Calcium. This
means that Da Caiza is a legitimate sentence (meaning 'X is Ca (i.e., Calcium)') but that Da
Sai is not. In fact, Da Sai is a pair of arguments, perhaps an ordered couple, best translated
'X, S'. This lack of grammatical parallelism between the simple and compound letter-words is
unfortunate, but it appears to be necessary and is easily accommodated. 'X is Sulphur' can
be easily said symbolically in Loglan by the addition of another syllable: Da meSai. Thus the
predifier ME (q.v.) turns the argument Sai into a predicate form.
Assigning the simple TAI words to one lexeme and the compound ones to another is
justified by the fact that doing so leads to two very considerable conveniences, surrendering
either of which would make the language poorer. One convenience is that if simple TAI words
are arguments, then a rich and virtually limitless mechanism of "anaphora" (replacement of
long designations by short ones) is made available to the loglanist, with the result that even
ordinary Loglan speech may very well become "mathematized”: Ama pa donsu Bai, Cai = 'A
gave B (gift) C', or A pa donsu B, C in the letteralized written form. We may expect that
eventually such usages will exploit the full set of 100 Loglan letter variables. To give up this
elegance by making simple TAI words predicates (whence *Le Ama pa donsu le Bai le Cai)
would be to abandon this potentially powerful Whorfian experiment before it had been tried.
So this convenience argues that at least the TAI words should be arguments.
A second and opposite convenience is assured if acronyms, which are nearly always
compound letter-words, are treated grammatically as predicates. If this is done, then those
acronyms which arise to fill the Zipfean need to shorten originally long predicate expressions–
for example, as 'DNA' shortens 'deoxyribonucleic acid'–may be used in exactly the same
ways as the longer expressions they replace. Thus, 'That's DNA' will replace "That's
deoxyribonucleic acid'; and in Loglan the same abbreviation will be Ta DaiNaiA. To make
acronyms arguments, would be to undo this elegance. It would require that acronyms be
prefixed by the predifier me-whenever their naturally predicative role was required–which
would be very frequently. Thus, *Da meDaiNaiA would be the required form for the predicate
'is an instance of DNA'; and again a useful elegance would be lost.
The solution adopted preserves both elegances. But it requires that when acronyms are
used in designations, they be treated as the operands of some descriptor. Sometimes lo is
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the best descriptor, as in Donsu mi leva batpi je lo DaiNaiA = 'Give me that bottle of DNA'.
But sometimes la is best, as in La USaiA groda gunti = 'The USA is a big country'. It
depends entirely on whether, in the given context, the designation so-generated is meant to
be unique or not. The English description 'the USA', like its parent phrase 'the United States
of America', is nearly always meant as a unique designation; therefore its translation into
Loglan should probably be graced with la. Loglan makes such intentions explicit.
As mentioned, when it is desired to use a letter-word as a predicate, it must first be
predified by me; see Lexeme ME.
Lexeme UI: Free Modifiers
These are the words which, unless initial in an utterance, are counted by the preparser as
"grammatical noise". So UI words (along with several other items discussed at the end of this
section) are removed by the preparser from the string to be parsed. They are restored to it by
the postparser after the string has been parsed. We are justified in effecting this temporary
removal of noisy elements from the string given to the parser because free modifiers are
literally free to appear anywhere in any utterance, and so their appearance somewhere in a
certain utterance gives no grammatical information about it. Free modifiers are therefore
almost purely semantic devices. Their restoration after parsing assures that their semantic
information will not be lost.
The entire grammatical significance of a UI word therefore lies in whether it appears at the
head of its utterance or within it. When a UI word appears at the head of an utterance, it is
taken to modify that utterance as a whole (Ia mi ditca = 'Certainly, I am a teacher'). When
one appears non-initially, it is taken to modify the individual word it follows: Mi ia ditca = 'I,
certainly, am a teacher (I don't know about the others)'; Mi ditca ia = 'I teach, certainly (I'm
not sure what else I do)'. To follow a word with a free modifier is often to emphasize it. Thus
the last two utterances might well be spoken /MIiaDITca/ and /miDITcaia/, respectively, while
the first, with its free modifier in the Loglan-normal initial position, might receive no emphatic
stress at all: /iamiDITca/.
UI words are of five semantic types: First, there are the attitudinals, which are used to
express rather than report the speaker's attitude toward what da is saying, or toward some
aspect of the world that is evoked by what da says. Second, there are the discursives. These
are the words that call attention to how the units of the speaker's discourse are related to one
another, or to the utterances of another speaker. Third, there are the relative interrogatives,
the 'When?' 'Where?' 'How?' and Why?' series made by compounding any PA word with HU.
Fourth, there are the utterance ordinals made by compounding any NI with FI. Finally, there
are the salutations. These are the greetings, farewells, and expressions of gratitude and
acknowledgement. All five kinds of UI words may be placed anywhere in an utterance,
although unless special emphasis is intended, the initial position is stylistically preferred.
In general, UI words are extralogical; that is to say, they do not alter the truth-values of
the sentences which they adorn. For a speaker to be convinced that da came, or to ask why
da came, has no bearing on whether or not da came.
Now, in detail:Attitudinals. All attitudinals are VV-form words; all the VV-form words in Loglan are
attitudinals except ie, the identity interrogative. The exceptional ie is more grammatically
constrained than the other YV-form words but is related to them semantically, as the act of
interrogating expresses an attitude; see Lexeme IE. The current list of simple attitudinals is:-
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128
ae
ai
ao
au
ea
ei
eo
eu
ia
ii
io
iu
oa
oe
oi
ou
ua
ue
ui
uo
uu
Notebook 3-Phonology
Yes, I hope so/that/to…
Yes, I will/intend to…
Yes, I want to…
I don't care whether…
Let's…/I suggest that…
Is that so?/Is it true that…?
Please…
I suppose/Let's suppose that…
Yes, that's certainly true/Certainly/I agree that…
Perhaps…
Probably…/I think so/that…
I don't know whether…
I/you must…
I/you should…
I/you may…
It doesn't matter ethically whether I/you…
(completion) There!/At last!
(surprise) Well!/Oh!
(pleasure) Gladly/Happily…
(anger/annoyance) What!
(sorrow/regret) Alas…/Sorry that…
(-ai is also L. u.c. cons, suff.)
(-ao is also Gk. u.c. cons, suff.)
(-ei is also L. l.c. cons, suff.)
(-eo is also Gk. l.c. cons, suff.)
Note that several VV-forms are still unassigned: aa ee oo. These may yet be given
meaning as loglanists learn how to handle these disyllables which to anglophones still seem
odd.
To expand the domain of attitudinal expression, any number of compound attitudinals
may yet be constructed. For example, uiua has a clear meaning: pleasure + completionsatisfaction; ueui also has a clear interpretation…and a usage; for example, it might be used
to greet a long-lost friend standing at one's door. But few of these attitudinal compounds have
been made. Again, the loglanist is invited to explore a new semantical domain.
Discursives. All the discursive UI words are CVV in form; but by no means all the CVVform words are members of the UI Lexeme. For example, all of the case-tags (DIO), most of
the letter variables (TAI), and many of the modifying prepositions (PA) are also of CVV-form.
So there is some potential for confusing CVV-forms that seem to have similar functions. The
way to distinguish the discursive UI words from the prepositional PA and DIO words is to ask
whether the word you're uncertain about may be used prepositionally. If it may be, it's
probably either a PA word or a DIO word. If not, it's almost certainly one of the discursives.
But what about the many words with vaguely "adverbial" meanings? If the word in
question changes the claim of the predicate of the sentence in which it occurs, it's probably a
PA word; a further test is whether you can turn it into a preposition. But if the word in question
seems to relate the utterance as a whole to some other utterance, stated or implied, it's
probably a discursive.
Here is the current list of discursive UI words. Note that none of them may be used
prepositionally, that the meanings are generally adverbial but that each such adverbial
meaning seems to appeal either explicitly (cia) or implicitly (coa) to another utterance or, like
feu, to allude to outside information:-
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bea
buo
cea
cia
coa
dau
dou
(bleka)
(bufpo)
(cenja)
(clika)
(corta)
(dakli)
(donsu)
fae
(fanve)
fau
feu
gea
kii
kuu
leu
nie
saa
sui
voi
(fando)
(fekto)
(genza)
(kliri)
(kumtu)
(clesi)
(snire)
(sapla)
(sumji)
(volti)
For example/By way of illustration (cf. gea)
However/In contrast/On the other hand
Changing topics/(New paragraph)
Similarly/Like the foregoing
Summarizing/In short
Hence it is probable that
Given/By hypothesis/Per assumption
And vice versa (reverses the order of terms
in a previous claim to form a new one)
Finally/In conclusion
In fact/Actually/According to the facts
In particular/As an instance (cf. bea)
Clearly/Obviously/Plainly/Of course
Generally/Generalizing from the above
Anyway/Anyhow/In any case/event
In detail/Closely examined
Loosely/Roughly/Simply speaking
Also/Too/Moreover/Furthermore/In addition
Skipping details/Without going into details
Notice that, like the DIO words, when a natural derivation of the discursive from its
primitive mnemonic yields a TAI word, then the final vowel of that first derivative is changed to
/u/. Dau and leu illustrate the /u/-transformation in the above list. What this means is that TAI
words have derivational precedence over other CVV-form words.
Relative Interrogatives. These are the compounds made from any PA word plus the
argument interrogative HU ('Who?'). The meanings of such compounds are always readily
decipherable, since they are nothing more than contractions of prepositional phrases in which
the object of the preposition, its operand, is always hu. So nahu means 'At what time?' or
'When?'; vihu means 'In or at what place?' or 'Where?'; buihu means 'In what manner?'
which is one of the many varieties of 'How?' (nearly any modal operator will fit here); and
kouhu means 'Because of what?' or one of the numerous Loglan 'Why?'s. All the PA words–
and there are many hundreds of them–are capable of generating such question words, and
with much greater precision than is apparently ever available in the interrogative forms of
natural language.
The surprising thing about these interrogatives is their very simple grammar. Like the truefalse interrogative ei, they can turn any utterance into a question. The whole utterance is its
operand. Thus ei turns Toi tradu ('This is true') into the question Ei toi tradu = 'Is this true?'.
Similarly, kouhu turns it into the causal question Kouhu toi tradu = 'Why (because of what
cause) is this true?' And three other varieties of 'Why?', namely Moihu Rauhu and Soahu,
are available to the loglanist to lend surgical precision to da's inquiries.
Utterance Ordinals. This is the series of compounds formed by attaching the suffix -fi to
any NI or TAI word. The results, Nefi Tofi Tefi and finally Rafi, allow the loglanist to number
da's utterances–or, for that matter, to number any sequence of clauses or terms within an
utterance–with effects like English 'Firstly' 'Secondly' 'Thirdly' and 'Finally' or 'Lastly'. Letterordinals may also be employed: Amafi Baifi Caifi and so on; and for the purposes of
outlining, the lower-case Latin and the two Greek series of utterance letter-ordinals may also
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be used: asifi beifi ceifi, Amofi Baofi Caofi and afifi beofi ceofi, etc. These words, too, are
grammatical noise.
Salutations. There are four such currently assigned UI words. They are loi ('Hello') loa
('Goodbye') sia ('Thank you') and siu ('You're welcome'). Like the attitudinals the salutations
are expressions of the speaker's feelings or desires, but this time, toward da's interlocutor or
someone da wishes to speak with. No doubt there will be more such words in time. Their
grammar is identical to that of the free modifiers. They may be used anywhere; or, if no
special internal emphasis is desired, they are usually placed, like the other UI words, at the
head of the utterance: Loi mi bi la Djan = 'Hello! I’m John'.
A Note on Other Free Modifiers. In addition to the UI words, there are three other
structures that are handled as free modifiers in Loglan grammar. These are (1) the vocative
marker HOI (q.v.) together with any string of one or more name-words that may optionally
follow it (Hoi nenkaa = 'Hey, come in! vs. Hoi Djan, nenkaa = 'O John, come in!'); (2) any
unmarked string of one or more name-words, that is, unmarked by either LA or HOI (Djan Pol
Djonz, nenkaa = 'John Paul Jones, come in!'); and (3) the parenthetic marker KIE together
with the parenthesized utterance and the closing parenthesis KIU which will always follow KIE
in well-formed speech (Kie Rafi kiu Djan, pa nenkaa = '(Finally) John came in').
These three elements together with Lexeme UI constitute the complete list of free
modifiers in Loglan.
Lexeme ZE: The Joining Operator
ZE is monolexic; it contains only ze, the "joining" or "mixing" operator which has the sense
of 'and, jointly'. Ze is not a logical connective; it does not allow a number of connected claims
to be made simultaneously. A claim made with ze is always a single claim. Thus, Da redro, e
cmalo makes two claims about X, namely that it is red, and that it is small. De redro ze nigro
makes only one claim about Y, namely that it is red-and-black mixed together. Perhaps it has
red stripes alternating with black ones; perhaps it has red dots on a black field. But if a thing
is redro ze nigro, it is not true that it is either red or black separately.
ZE may be used to join arguments or, as above, predicates. The designata of ze-joined
arguments are like teams. If Da ze de pa berti leva felstaga ('X and Y, jointly, carried that
log (fallen trunk))' then what is being asserted is that the team of them did. We may gather
that it is most unlikely that either of them could have carried it separately.
The grammar of ZE is very similar to that of the afterthought connectives; see Lexeme A.
However, since ze-binding is "tighter" than shek-binding, that is, since strings like Da, e de ze
di = 'X, and Y and Z, jointly' will always parse as (da e (de ze di)), grammatically "earlier"
rules are required to effect ze-joints than shek-joints. This is what requires ze to be in its own
lexeme.
ZE is also used by the preparser to recognize acronymic PREDA's. This is because
pseudo-ze's are sometimes generated by the acronymic hyphen -z-.
*Lexeme ZI: Magnitude Suffixes
There are three of these words, zi za zu, indicating small, intermediate, and large
magnitudes, respectively, in their role as suffixes in tense (fazi = 'right away') and location
(vizu = 'in this region') compounds; see PA. A separate lexeme is required to enable the
preparser to recognize such compounds and also to identify some acronymic PREDA's,
because, just as with ZE (q.v.), pseudo-instances of za zi zu may be generated in these
words by the acronymic hyphen -z-.
*Lexeme ZO: The Quantity Abstractor
ZO is monolexic; its sole member is zo, the quantitative abstraction operator. It has a
grammar parallel to that of PO, q.v. The only reason zo occupies a separate lexeme is
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because, just as with ZE and ZI words, pseudo-zo syllables may be generated by the use of
hyphen -z- in some acronymic PREDA's. If it weren't for this mechanical use of ZO by the
preparser, zo would be a member of PO.
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CHAPTER 4 GRAMMAR
(UTTERANCE FORMS)
4.1 Design Objectives: The objectives that have controlled the design of Loglan
grammar have been, first, to accommodate the rich variety of claims and designations found
in natural language but, second, to do so with a grammar modeled on the predicate calculus,
thus facilitating both the logical manipulation of its utterances by its users and the design of a
language with parsimonious metaphysical assumptions. Third, it was to make the operations
of that grammar natural enough to fit the human central nervous system so as to make the
language speakable, and fourth, it was to be flexible enough to imitate the natural word
orders of the planet's major tongues when desired…for example, in translation. But it was
also, fifth, to be expressible in a rule set small enough to be easily learned by adults, possibly
even under experimental conditions. Finally, sixth, the grammar was to be syntactically
unambiguous for two reasons. The most obvious one was to make interaction with machines
possible. Somewhat less obvious is a reason that is the same reason logicians and
mathematicians require unambiguous codes, namely to make it possible rigorously to
entertain implausible ideas…a prime requirement of a logical language.
Syntactic unambiguity was achieved heuristically, and therefore doubtably, as early as
1963, and was not to be formally demonstrated until 1982. A few years before that
achievement a constructive-proof algorithm for demonstrating conflict-freeness in certain
classes of computer languages had become available and was soon adapted to
disambiguating human grammars. Syntactic unambiguity was lost again in 1984 when The
Institute's small computer proved inadequate to the task of servicing the growing grammar. It
was recently redemonstrated for the enlarged language when The Institute acquired more
capacious computing machinery in 1986. During the Winter and Spring of 1987 a large
backlog of planned new grammatical features were installed in the language one by one; and
I was gratified to discover that the condition of conflictfreeness was easily returned to each
time. In short, given our present tools for disambiguating human grammars, there is no
reason to believe that Loglan grammar will not remain syntactically unambiguous for the
indefinite future.
4.2 Definitions and Conventions: Let us first look at a typical grammar rule and provide
a terminology for discussing its parts:
Da
ke
ckano
ki
briga
150: kekpred => M3 KA predicate KI predicate
= X is both kind and brave.
De
no
ke
ckano
ki
bunbo
151: Local.
=> NO kekpred
= Y is not both kind and a fool.
This is the grammar rule by which "kekked", or forethoughtfully connected, predicates are
formed. The specimens on the right illustrate each line of the grammar rule. The number on
the left gives its position in the grammar. The remark 'Local' tells us that the rules which use
'kekpred' are all nearby.
Each numbered line in a grammar rule is called a rule. The sign [=>] in each rule may be
read 'may be developed as' or 'may produce' and is called the production sign. The
expression to the left of the production sign in a rule is called its left-half. If a rule has no
explicit left-half, it is assumed to have the same left-half as the first preceding rule that has
one.
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Rules 150-1 are all the rules in this grammar that have 'kekpred' as their left-halves. A
grammar rule is the complete set of rules in a given grammar that have a given left-half.
Within a grammar rule, the order of rules is arbitrary.
This is a context-free grammar. In such grammars the left-halves of all grammar rules
are single elements. Right-halves may either be single elements, in which case the rule is
called a replacement, or they may be strings of two or more elements (up to about five in
number), in which case, it's an expansion.
Elements which are written entirely in upper-case letters, like 'KA' and 'NO', or in a
mixture of upper-case letters and numerals, like 'M3', are called lexemes. Recall that lexemes
are sets of grammatically interchangeable words, roughly corresponding to the "parts-of
speech" of conventional grammar.
Elements whose names are written at least partly in lower-case letters–for example,
'kekpred' and ’predicate'–are known as gramemes. By definition, each grameme in a
grammar appears in the left-half of exactly one of its grammar rules. At present, there are 88
gramemes in Loglan grammar; so there are 88 grammar rules.
The remark 'Local' appended to the 'kekpred' grammar rule tells us that the rules that use
this grameme are all nearby (actually, in the same "grammar group"; see below). Sometimes
a series of one or more numerals occupies the space occupied here by 'Local'; these are
references to the non-local rules which use the grameme defined by that grammar rule. The
forward references are given first; the backward references, if any, are separated from the
forward ones by a semicolon.
The right-halves of a grammar rule are called the allograms of its grameme. 'kekpred'
has two allograms. When either gramemes or their allograms are referred to in text, their
names will be shown in angle brackets. Thus we can say that <kekpred> has the allograms
<M3 KA predicate KI predicate > and <NO kekpred >. Alternatively, we can write the Kekpred
Grammar Rule as <kekpred => NO kekpred | M3 KA predicate KI predicate>. In this second
formulation the bar [|] is used to separate the names of allograms and is read 'or'.
A grameme that appears in the allograms of another grameme, as <predicate> appears in
one of the allograms of <kekpred>, is said to be used by that other grameme. A grameme
which is used in one of its own allograms is said to be recursive. In general, we will find it
advantageous to develop early in the grammar the gramemes that will be used by later
gramemes.
A sequence of grammar rules which has been ordered by the above principle, and which
terminates in a widely used structure, is called a grammar group, or sometimes just a group.
Ideally, all the gramemes except the final one in a group are used only within that group.
When this is true of a grameme in a group, that grameme is said to be a local to that group
and so is marked 'Local' as above. Groups are usually given the name of the major non-local
grameme with which they terminate. For example, <kekpred> is part of the Predicates Group
(Rules 128-54) and is local to that group. The last grameme developed in the Predicates
Group is <predicate>.
As shown in the example, each rule will be illustrated by a specimen of Loglan that it
helped produce. When we need to refer to a rule or specimen, we will use the ordinal of the
rule but prefix it with 'R' or 'S'; thus S150-1 are the specimens of R150-1. The part of a
specimen that is in boldface corresponds to the part produced by its rule. In the specimens
given for R150-1 above, all but the Loglan words [Da] and [De] were produced by the two
<kekpred> rules; so all but those parts of the two specimens are shown in boldface. A
corresponding pattern of bolding is shown in the English translations of the Loglan
specimens.
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Some rules use M-or machine lexemes. For example R150 uses M3. Machine lexemes
are inaudible to the human ear, but, as we will see later, they are indispensable for machine
parsing. They are in fact lexemes in machine Loglan, which may be thought of as that
"dialect" of Loglan that machines will be able to read and hear. By convention, the name of a
machine lexeme is formed of the letter ’M’ followed by a numeral. There are at present 11
machine lexemes in Loglan: M1-M11. All are involved in one way or another with extending
the limited 1-element lookahead of the LR1 parser. This Yacc-generated parser is one of the
three components of our machine grammar. Another component is the preparser which,
among other mechanizing functions, inserts machine lexemes into the strings to be parsed.
These machine lexemes, together with certain other lexemes (like ERROR in the first
grammar group), are of concern only to the machine and so are not part of human Loglan.
These and other computational features are removed from the parsed string by the third
component of the machine grammar, the postparser. It is the function of the postparser to
humanize the parse by making it intelligible to humans. We retain these machine-oriented
features in our exposition of the grammar in the current notebook only because some of our
readers may be interested in how machines may be said to "understand Loglan". We assume
that most readers, however, will wish to ignore all grammatical embellishments that have
been put there solely for machines. So we will glance only briefly at these computational
devices. Readers interested primarily in the computability of the language must go to other
sources for detailed information about how this has been accomplished; e.g., Notebook 1,
1982.
1.3 The Structure of Loglan Grammar: The grammar rules of Loglan may be
conveniently divided into twelve functional groups. We will discuss those groups here in the
order in which the listener is likely to make use of them (the so-called "top-down" order). In
that order they are the groups of rules that govern the formation of (1) Optional Punctuators,
(2) Linked Arguments, (3) Predicate Units, (4) Descriptive Predicates, (5) Sentence
Predicates, (6) Modifiers, (7) Argument Modifiers, (8) Arguments, (9) Term Sets, (10)
Predicates, (11) Sentences, and (12) Utterances.
In general, later structures on the above list involve earlier ones. Thus, looking at the
grammar from the "bottom-up", we would find that
Utterances require Sentences;
Sentences require Modifiers, Predicates and Arguments;
Predicates require Sentence Predicates and Term Sets;
Term Sets require Arguments and Modifiers;
Arguments require Descriptive Predicates and Argument Modifiers;
Argument Modifiers require Modifiers;
Modifiers require Arguments;
Sentence Predicates require Predicate Units and Descriptive Predicates;
Descriptive Predicates require Predicate Units;
Predicate Units require Linked Arguments;
Linked Arguments require Arguments again, which are thus the most "circular” structures
in the language, in that they are used by nearly everything which they in turn use; and that
Optional Punctuators are used by nearly every other grammar group.
Therefore we will start with Group A, the Optional Punctuators, for these are at the "top"
of the parse tree. We will then work "down" to Group K, which develops Utterances, for these
are near its "root”. The grammar is thus presented in its "top-down" order; it goes from the
"leaves" (the lexemes) toward the "root" (the <utterance> grameme itself) of the parse tree.
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This is the same order, by the way, in which the rules appear in the formal (machine)
grammar which was given to Yacc to build the LR1 parser. While this may not be the best
order in which to teach grammar rules to human learners, it is the most economical one in
that it minimizes forward references. It is thus most suitable for a work whose most enduring
value to its users will probably be its utility as a reference work.
Group A. The Optional Punctuators Rules 1-7
The three "optional punctuators" gu, gue and PAUSE, the latter being represented by a
pause in speech and a comma [,] in text, are optional only in the sense that they may be
omitted when they are not necessary. But in fact, usage requires that these punctuators be
omitted when the intended grouping is clear without them; so they are seldom optional in any
real sense. Oddly enough, the computer sometimes treats these punctuators as "present in
spirit" even when they are omitted. SI is an example of this.
1: err
=> ERROR Mu titci fa (ERROR) = We eat later. (The machine sees this as
an error because it expects a gu. But if it supplies the dummy lexeme ERROR at the end of
this utterance, it can complete the parse.
1: err
=> ERROR
We arrange for it to do this by making <err> an allogram of
Local
<gu> in R2, and of <gue> in R4.)
2: gu
=> err
Mu titci vi (ERROR) = We eat here.
3:
=> GU
Mu titci vi gu le supta = We eat here the soup. (Without gu
121-2.
the utterance would be heard as 'We eat in the soup'; so gu
is necessary here.)
Both Mu vi titci le supta = 'We here eat the soup' and Mu titci le supta vi = 'We eat the
soup here' avoid the need for punctuation. The unpunctuated word orders tend to be
stylistically preferred in Loglan but are certainly not obligatory. In fact, the judicious use of
punctuation makes almost any conceivable word-order possible in Loglan, a feature which is
very useful in translating whenever one wishes to reproduce the flavor of a natural language
text as closely as possible.
There is also an invisible '(ERROR)' at the end of S3 as of nearly all specimens. But we
don't show it here because the <err> allogram of <gu> is not part of R3.
Da bilti ge cmalo nirli ckela (ERROR) = X is beautiful for a
4: gue
=> err
small-girls school. (Punctuation at the end of an utterance may
always be omitted. Again, the computer will compensate for
such "errors" by inserting the dummy ERROR Lexeme.)
Da bilti ge cmalo nirli gue ckela = X is a beautiful small-girls
5:
=> GUE
22-3.
[pause] school, i.e., a school for small girls who are beautiful.
(Here the gue serves as a right parenthesis matched with ge.)
Mu titci fa gu le mitro = We eat later the meat. (Again, an
6: gap
=> gu
explicit mark is called for; to omit it is to generate the phrase fa
le mitro = 'after the meat'.)
7:
=> PAUSE
Mu titci fa, le mitro = We eat later, the meat. (When <gap> is
invoked, the required mark may be a comma in writing or a
pause in speech.)
10, 15-6, 24, 59-60, 83, 87, 90, 92, 94, 98, 100, 130-1, 183-4.
As may be seen from the references, gu alone is required in only two rules, R121-2; gue
is used in similarly few places, R22-3; but the triple option presented by <gap>, which may be
executed by a gu, pause/comma or frequently by nothing at all, is extremely widely used. In
fact <gap> is the most widely-used grameme in Loglan grammar. It provides an opportunity to
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mark the right boundary of phrases or clauses whenever such a boundary would be unclear
without it. Loglanists tend to use pauses and commas at such points when dealing with
human readers and interlocutors in conditions of low noise, and to use gu's in high noise or
when addressing computers or other unforgiving auditors. See the numerous rules listed
above for the occasions on which these punctuators may be used.
Optional punctuators are not the only "punctuation marks" in Loglan. There are also six
punctuators which are essential to the structures they mark and so may never be omitted.
These are the "grouping operator" ge, which may be found in R22-3 along with the optional
gue; the "inversion operator" go, found in R48; goa, which marks the V-O-S word-order in
R155; and the "fronting operators" gi and goi, found in R165-66. In addition, there is a
punctuator-like member of the PA-Lexeme, ga, which is used exclusively for marking the left
boundaries of otherwise unmarked predicate expressions when these would be absorbed by
just-preceding descriptions; see R139. For example, ga in Le mrenu ga sadji = 'The man is
wise' prevents Le mrenu sadji = 'The man (sort of) wise one' from being heard. <Gap> would
work here–for example, *Le mrenu, sadji also parses in the required way–but is regarded as
bad usage (and so is *-ed) because there are some kinds of descriptive arguments after
which <gap> fails to produce the required separation. Ga always works and so is preferred.
This is the entire punctuation system of Loglan. See the rules cited for the details.
Group B. Linked Arguments Rules 8-19
Je and jue are the two preposition-like words that attach strings of one or more
arguments to predicate words. Sometimes the predicate word involved is buried in a
predicate expression (Da kukra je lo litla, grobou = 'It's a faster-than-light ship'); sometimes
it is the last word in a description (Le selrispe farfu je la Djek = 'The proud father of Jack').
In either case, the linking words have the effect of binding a string of elements into a single
unit. Thus if the je and jue of S8 were removed, the string remaining would be composed of
three distinct arguments: To ketpi da de = 'Two tickets, X, Y'. The two linking operators bind
this triad into a single argument: 'Two tickets to destination X from point-of-departure Y'. The
present group of rules shows how to construct the right part of such expressions, the "linked
arguments". The predicate units, like ketpi, to which they are attached are constructed in the
next group; see R26.
8: juelink
=> JUE argument
To ketpi je da jue de = Two tickets to X
Local.
from Y.
Jue de = From Y.
9: links1
=> juelink
Jue de jue di = From Y on W.
10:
=> juelink links1 gap
Local.
11: links
=> links1
Jue de = From Y.
Jue de, a jue di = From Y or from W.
12:
=> links M1 A links1
(The pause after de is a "morphemic
pause", necessary for the resolution of
a.)
13:
=> M2 KA links KI linksl
Ke jue de ki jue di = Both from Y and
174.
from W.
14: jelink
=> JE argument
To ketpi je da jue de = Two tickets to X
Local.
from Y.
Je da = To X.
15: linkargs1
=> jelink gap
Je da jue de = To X from Y.
16:
=> jelink links gap
Local.
Je da = To X.
17: linkargs
=> linkargs1
Je da, e je de = To X and to Y.
18:
=> linkargs Ml A linkargsl
Ke je da ki je de = Both to X and to Y.
19:
=> M2 KA linkargs KI linkargs1
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26, 173.
When links are connected, as they are for example in S18, the linking words need not be
repeated. Thus, Loglan Je da, e de conveys the same notion as S18 does just as English 'To
X and Y' conveys the same notion as 'To X and to Y'. Sometimes in both languages,
however, this degree of explicitness is desired.
Links and linkargs are used in only three non-local rules. Links are used in R172, and
linkargs in R26 and R173. In R172-3 both links and linkargs appear as fragmentary
utterances, such as might be answers to Jue hu and Je hu ('To/from/by whom?') questions.
Linked arguments enter the main stream of the grammar at just one place, however, namely
in R26 of the next group, where they are attached to predicate words.
Notice that two machine lexemes have been introduced in Group B. They are M1 which
marks the "eks" (the a-form afterthought connectives) which connect both links and linkargs;
and M2 which marks the "keks" (the ka-form forethought connectives) which connect these
objects. The reader will recall that machine lexemes are put in place by the preparser, one of
whose tasks is to extend the limited 1-element lookahead of the machine. Human brains do
not need these warnings since our capacity to remember and inspect long strings is so much
greater than that of any parsing algorithm used currently by machines.
Group C. Predicate Units Rules 20-33
Predicate units, or "predunits" as we will sometimes call them, are either single predicate
words, with or without certain inflecting operators such as nu, no or po; or they are strings of
such possibly inflected predicate words which have been made into a predicate unit by ge, or
by a ge matched with a subsequent gue (R22-3); or they are arguments that have been
turned into predunits by the "predification" operator me (R24); or they are predicate words
which have been augmented by the attachment of one or more linked arguments (R26).
Ba sucmi = Something swims.
20: predunit1
=> PREDA
Ba nu sucmi = Something is swum to.
21:
=> NU PREDA
Da briga ge musmu janto = X is brave for a
22:
=> GE despredE gue
mouse hunter. (The <gue> is not activated here;
it would be redundant if it were.)
Ge is the grouping operator; it is only meaningful if it precedes a string of two or more
predunits. Thus *briga ge musmu, while grammatical, is proscribed as bad usage, for it can
mean nothing other than what briga musmu ('brave mouse') already means. Again,
redundant marks are avoided. <despredE>, which is the operand of ge, is made in the next
group; see R45-6.
23:
=> NU GE despredE gue
24:
=> ME argument gap
Local.
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Da nu ge briga janto = X is a quarry of brave
hunters. (Nu is one of the conversion operators;
and ge extends the scope of nu over the entire
<despredE> string, in this case briga janto,
which then takes its place-structure from its last
term, in this case janto. Thus X is a kind of
quarry.)
Ba mela Ford = Something is a Ford. (Me turns
any argument into a predicate unit with a
meaning associated with that argument.)
138
25: predunit2
26:
Notebook 3-Phonology
=> predunit1
=> predunit1 linkargs
Local.
Da kukra grobou = X is a fast ship.
Da kukra je lo litla, grobou = X is a faster-thanlight ship.
R26 is the primary use of the linked arguments made in the preceding group. Their use in
descriptions also passes through this rule. Usage imposes a certain restraint on the use of
R26, however. The <predunit1> to which linkargs is attached by it must not, by convention,
be the last unit in a string unless that string is a descriptive predicate, i.e., one used in making
arguments. Thus Le mutce kukra je lo litla = 'The thing which is very much faster than light'
is an acceptable use of linked arguments. In fact the link word is necessary if this description
is to be heard as one argument rather than two. The link word is also necessary in Da kukra
je lo litla, grobou in which the argument is linked to a non-final predicate unit in a string. (We
will call this the "internal specification" of a predicate.) But arguments are not allowed to be
linked to final units in predicate strings when these are being used as sentence predicates.
Thus while *Da mutce kukra je lo litla (presumably to render 'X is very much faster than
light') is perfectly grammatical, it is a proscribed usage because there exists a prepositionfree form that does the same job more elegantly: Da mutce kukra lo litla. Again, usage in
Loglan avoids redundant markings, such as this quite unnecessary je. The same link words
are not of course redundant inside predicate strings, or to link a descriptive argument to other
arguments. But they are redundant if used to link a sentence predicate to its argument set, or
the arguments in that set to one another.
This is the first instance we have encountered of the "grammatical superset"
phenomenon. By this I mean that we have written a rule of grammar that generates a domain
of grammatical utterances which is larger than the domain of "good utterances" allowed by
usage. Another way of saying this is that not all grammatical utterances are acceptable as
good usage. Any economically written set of grammar rules will occasionally generate such
effects. They are perfectly harmless. We need only add a set of usage rules to such a
grammar to ensure that any grammatical utterance that meets the usage rules will also be
interpretable. We have at present no way of interpreting the difference between *Da kukra je
de and Da kukra de; so we do not use the former. There are other supersets in Loglan
grammar; I will call the reader's attention to them as we encounter them.
Da sadja = X is wise.
27: predunit3
=> predunit 2
Da no bunbo = X is no fool. (This is short28:
=> NO predunit3
scope negation; it applies to a single
Local.
predunit.
Long-scope
negation
is
accomplished elsewhere.)
Ti nigro = This is black
29: predunit4
=> predunit3
Ti nigro ze blabi = This is black-and-white
30:
=> predunit4 ZE predunit3
(mixed). (Ze is a special connective which
Local.
has the sense of mixing properties.)
Ti blanu = This is blue.
31: predunit
=> predunit4
Ti po blanu = This is a state of being blue.
32:
=> PO predunit4
(This is short-scope abstraction; other uses
of po take whole sentences as operands;
see R130-1.)
Ti zo blanu = This is an amount by which
33:
=> ZO predunit4
something is blue.
34, 36, 49-50.
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Zo is kept out of the PO-Lexeme only because the preparser needs to recognize quasiZO in lexing acronyms. This is because -z- is the acronymic hyphen, and when it precedes
/o/, as it does in CaiIzO [CIO], the result looks like a compound of TAI + I + ZO to the
preparser. If zo were part of PO, it could not lex this acronym correctly. For this entirely
mechanical reason–which probably has no meaning for human lexers–PO and ZO must be
kept lexemically separate.
Predunits are the building blocks with which "descriptive predicates" (predicates used as
"nouns") and "sentence predicates" (predicates used as "verbs") are made. These will be
constructed in the next two groups. No machine lexemes have been necessary in the
construction of predicate units.
Group D. Descriptive Predicates Rules 34-48
These are the predicate expressions which, when used as operands of any of the
descriptive operators–le and kin, for example, or the name operator la, or any quantifier–
create that special kind of argument known as nouns or noun-phrases in Indo-European
grammar. We call such arguments "descriptions" because they employ a predicate
expression to "describe" some feature of the designated thing.
The following sequence of rules differs from that in the next group, in which sentence
predicates are made, primarily in one feature: descriptive predicates may have kekked head
units, e.g., the ke forli ki sadji part of S35; sentence predicates may not. It turns out that
ambiguities are generated if sentence predicates are permitted to have kekked head units,
while the same constructions are quite unambiguous in descriptions. So kekked head units
are provided in this rule group–the <kekpredunit> of R35 and 37-8–and absent from the next.
34: despredA
=> predunit
Le forli = The strong one.
35:
=> kekpredunit
Le ke forli ki sadji = The both strong
and wise one.
36:
=> predunit CI despredA
Le denro simba ci janto = The
dangerous lion-hunter. (With out ci
Local.
the predunits in the string would
group left, thus 'The dangerous-lion
hunter'.)
37: kekpredunit
=> M3 KA descpred KI despredA
Le ke forli ki sadji = The one who is
both strong and wise.
38:
=> NO kekpredunit
Le no ke forli ki sadji = The one who
is not both strong and wise.
Local.
Another machine lexeme is introduced here, M3 which extends the parser's lookahead
over KA again, this time to announce to the parser that a predicate is being kekked.
Unmarked keks connect arguments.
Le sadji = The wise one.
39: despredB => despredA
Le mutce cui fizdi forli ce sadji = The
40:
=> CUI despredC CA despredB
one who is very physically-strong and
52, 54.
(very) wise.
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Cui is the left boundary mark of left connectands formed of more than one predunit.
Without cui the single units on either side of the "shek" (the CA-connective) are taken as its
connectands. No similar mark for right connectands is necessary.
41: despredC => despredB
Le mrenu = The man.
42:
=> despredC despredB
Le mutce bunbo mrenu = The very foolish man.
52.
This is the rule by which predicate strings
unmarked predicate strings are left-grouping.
43: despredD => despredB
44:
=> despredD CA despredB
56.
45: despredE => despredD
46:
=> despredE despredD
22-3.
47: descpred
=> despredE
48:
=> despredE GO descpred
58, 72-4, 76, 97.
are generated. Because it is left-recursive, all
Le sadji = The wise one.
Le forli canoi sadji = The strong if wise one.
Le mrenu = The man.
Le forli canoi sadji mrenu = The strong if wise
man.
Le troku hasfa = The stone house.
Le hasfa go troku = The house of stone.
Notice that several grammar rules in this group besides the last one are non-local. All
these other non-local rules are employed at similar points in the next group, where sentence
predicates are made. But as all descriptive predicates may have kekked head units, care is
taken to ensure that these structures borrowed from the descriptive sequence do not end up
as the heads of sentence predicates; for there they would generate ambiguities.
The descriptive predicate grameme itself, <descpred>, is used as the right part of R58,
the final rule in the construction of sentence predicates, and at various points (R72-4, 76 and
97) in the construction of arguments, which are made in Group G.
Group E. Sentence Predicates Rules 49-58
This group of grammar rules is structurally parallel to the preceding one, the only
difference being the one already noted, namely that sentence predicates may not have
kekked head units. Note that some "despred" gramemes figure in these "senpred" rules, but
that they are never initial in an allogram; this renders them harmless. Thus mutce ke briga ki
ckano is a permissible sentence predicate while ke briga ki ckano mrenu, with its kekked
head unit, is not. The reason for this proscription is not hard to find. If ke briga ki ckano
mrenu were permitted as a sentence predicate, as in Da ke briga ki ckano mrenu,
presumably to mean 'X is both a brave and a kind man', then the parser could not distinguish
between this use of keks to connect predicate units–it is briga and ckano that are being
connected here and not briga and ckano mrenu–and the later use of the same keks in
Group I to connect whole predicate expressions. This would generate an ambiguity between
the two rules, for they would both be capable of generating the same string. So the auditor
could not tell whether the speaker meant his keks to connect just preddunits, as above, or
whole predicate strings, as in Group I. The latter possibility would give an entirely different
parse tree, one with the interpretation 'X is both a brave person and a kind man'. As things
stand, the second interpretation is the only legitimate one…precisely because kekked head
units are not allowed in sentence predicates.
49: senpred1
=> predunit
Da mrenu = X is a man.
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141
50:
51: senpred2
52:
53: senpred3
54:
55: senpred4
56:
57: sentpred
58:
Notebook 3-Phonology
=> predunit CI senpred1
Local.
=> senpred1
=> CUI despredC CA despredB
Local.
=> senpred2
=> senpred3 CA despredB
Local.
=> senpred3
=> senpred4 despredD
Local.
=> senpred4
=> senpred4 GO descpred
128.
Da simba ci janto mrenu = X is a lionhunting man.
Da sadji = X is wise.
Da grada cui simba janto ce sadji = X is a
great lion-hunter and (a great) wise one.
Da prano = X runs.
Da prano a fleti = X runs and/or flies.
Da mrenu = X is a man.
Da simba mrenu = X is a lion man.
Da simba fumna = X is a lion woman.
Da fumna go simba = X is a woman of
lions.
All the gramemes in this tiny group are local except the last one, and that one,
<sentpred>, figures in just one later rule: R128 in Group I, which makes the objects called
simply "predicates". It is in this later group that the sentence predicates made here will be
supplied with their "termsets": the strings of modifiers and/or arguments that complete them
as predicates. Before that can be done the termsets must be constructed. The modifiers and
arguments of which termsets are composed will be prepared in the next two groups.
The making of sentence predicates has involved no machine lexemes.
Group F. Modifiers Rules 59-67
Setting aside the "free modifiers" of R176-9, which are quite differently distributed and
composed, the (unfree) sentence modifiers which occur in Loglan utterances are of two sorts.
They are either (1) phrases, such as pa da ('Before X'), in which some PA-word functions as
a preposition and some argument, in this case a very simple one, functions as its "object" or
operand; or they are (2) argument-less PA-words, such as pa itself, which function in the
sentence like English "adverbs". Thus pa without an argument is an ellipsis for 'Before some
assumed time, say the moment of speech' and thus means simply 'Earlier'. Group F is
exclusively concerned with the construction of these two kinds of modifiers. Its first grammar
rule, <mod1>, gives the basic architecture of Loglan modifiers, which is exceedingly simple.
Notice that both the pa and the pa da varieties of modifiers may be optionally followed by the
<gap> triplet, the choice of gu, pause/comma or nothing at all, which is one of the optional
punctuators developed in Group A.
Mu titci pa = We eat earlier.
59: mod1
=> PA gap
Mu titci pa la Ven = We eat before nine. (When a
60:
=> PA argument gap
modifier comes at the end of an utterance an explicit
Local.
gap would be redundant and so is not used.)
Fa = Afterwards. (Later/then/etc.)
61: mod
=> mod1
No fa = Not afterwards.
62:
=> M4 NO mod
Local.
The parser needs to know what kind of no this is; so the preparser has looked ahead of
this no (as the parser can't) and found that it is negating a modifier. So the preparser erects
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the signpost M4 before the no to inform the parser of its discovery. (The preparser is thus a
kind of forward scout for the machine's parser…which snuffles along blindly–but very
mentally–with its nose to the ground.)
Ke fa ki pa da = Both afterwards and before X.
63: kekmod
=> KA modifier KI mod
No ke fa ki pa da = Not both afterwards and
64:
=> M4 NO kekmod
before X.
Local.
Pa da = Before X.
65: modifier
=> mod
Kanoi fa ki pa = If later then earlier.
66:
=> kekmod
Fa noa na = Later only if now.
67:
=> modifier M5 A mod
89, 118.
Two machine lexemes are introduced in this short group, M4 which marks those no's that
negate modifiers, and M5 which marks the eks that connect them. The keks of R63 do not
need to be marked.
Group G. Arguments Rules 68-116
This is the longest rule group in the grammar, comprising nearly a quarter of all its rules.
But the argument rules nevertheless constitute a coherent group, with few gramemes used
elsewhere until we get to <argument> itself. Once developed, arguments are then used very
widely throughout the grammar…for example, in the preceding group to make modifying
phrases.
The question may well arise: Why should not arguments precede modifiers in their
development? The answer is that arguments use modifiers in their development as well, and
that arguments unlike modifiers have a great variety of backward references. They are, recall,
used as early as Group B, Linked Arguments. It seemed best to put them in a position where
all they will use has already been built; and then let them have all the backward references
they require. In short, arguments are the most circular structures in Loglan grammar in that
they are more frequently embedded in themselves.
An argument is a designation, and in Loglan as in the natural languages there are many
kinds of designations. A preview of what is to be found in this large and important rule group
may therefore be in order. We will commence with "names" (R68-9, 80), and move on
through "definite descriptions" (R72-6, 83) and the various kinds of "quotations" (R84-6).
Then we will provide for "event descriptions"–called "indirect quotations" in European
grammar–whose handling in Loglan (see R87) expresses one of the fundamental
philosophical orientations of the language (namely that objects of thought and imagination are
best treated as a subset of definite descriptions). Then we provide for the "indefinite
descriptions" (Ne mrenu vs. Le mrenu) in R97-100 and 102; and finally the various ways of
connecting arguments are given toward the end of the group; R103-16.
La Djan, ditca = John is a teacher.
68: name => DJAN
69:
=> name DJAN La Djan Djonz, ditca = John Jones is a teacher.
179.
The commas in S68-9 represent "morphemic pauses", that is, the pauses required after
names which permit their resolution. But this is a morphological matter, and the grammar
pays no attention to such pauses. In fact the preparser eliminates all morphemic pauses
before presenting a string to the parser. The morphemic pauses between the parts of a
multiple name are necessary in careful speech–otherwise the lexer would hear them as
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single names, e.g., Djandjonz–but such internal pauses are not represented by commas in
text. It would distract the eye to do so.
70: mex => RA Ra da ditca = All of them are teachers.
Ne da ditca = One of them is a teacher.
71:
=> NI
170.
The <mex> grammar rule will be much more elaborate once the mathematicians set to
work on it. But I have thought it best to keep <mex> rudimentary until the rest of the grammar
is functioning smoothly.
Le ditca pa gudbi = The teacher was good.
72: descriptn
=> LE descpred
73:
=> LE mex descpred Le te ditca = The three teachers.
74:
=> LE arg1 descpred Le le ditca gu bukcu = The teacher's book.
Le to da ditca = The two of them teach.
75:
=> LE mex arg1
La Ditca ga sadji = Teacher is wise.
76:
=> LA descpred
Local.
Note the "possessive" provided in R74. An alternative possessive form will be provided in
R88 in which the word order will be possessor-possession, as in the Romance languages: 'El
libro de la maestra'. Like English ('The teacher's book' and 'The book of the teacher') Loglan
has both possessive orders. As usual our policy is to provide ways of speaking every
common natural word-order and let usage decide between them.
Note also, from R76, that descriptions may be used as names. When this is done the
predicate words in the la-marked description are all capitalized in text, and the expression
has, like other names, the sense of being a unique designation in that context. Thus there is
only one La Farfu in the Smith family, just as there is only one Rat in The Wind in the
Willows. Names may not be used as predicates, however. Thus *Da Djan cannot be used to
mean 'X is a John' because this expression is not parsed as a sentence. (It is *-ed because it
lacks a pause-comma before the name.) The Djan in Da, Djan as parsed by our grammar is
neither a name nor a predicate but one of the free modifiers. It is a vocative, in fact, which
modifies Da. So the proper rendering of Da, Djan into English is 'X, John' as if one were
answering a question asked by John about the identity of something. The proper rendering of
English 'X is a John' into Loglan is Da mela Djan. In this expression the predifier me turns la
djan into a predicate (see R24); and Da is the first argument, or "subject", of that predicate.
77: arg1
78:
79:
80:
81:
82:
=> DA
=> HU
=> TAI
=> LA name
=> LIO TAI
=> LIO mex
83:
84:
=> descriptn gap
=> LI (utterance LU)
85:
86:
=> LIU (word)
=> LIE (X, string, X)
Page 143 of 280
Da ditca = X teaches (is a teacher).
Hu ditca = Who teaches?
Tai ditca = T teaches.
La Tam, bi ba = Tom is (that) someone.
Lio nei cmalo = The number n is small.
Lio te cmalo lio nei = The number three is smaller
than the number n.
Le ditca ga gudbi = The teacher is good.
Li, Le ditca ga gudbi, lu steti = Quote Le ditci ga
gudbi close-quote, is a sentence. (The commas here
are stylistic only, i.e., neither morphemic nor lexemic.)
Liu lu purda = The word lu is a word.
Lie Dai, Deutschland, Dai dotca purda = The string
144
87:
Notebook 3-Phonology
=> LEPO sentence gap
Local.
'Deutschland' is a German word. (These commas are
obligatory. 'X' is any Loglan word that does not appear
in the quoted string. I usually use the initial letter of the
Loglan word for the language in which string is written,
in this case D for dotca.)
Lepo da pa cluva de, viekli = That X loved T is clear.
The parenthetic portion of R84 is carried invisibly through the first parsing of the utterance
and then parsed "re-entrantly" as an independent utterance. The parenthetic portions of R856 are not even seen by the parser. It is assumed that they either do not need to be (R85) or
cannot be (R86) parsed.
Da ji la Djan, ditca = The X who is John, teaches.
88: argmod1 => JI argument
(Ji identifies.)
Da ja vi le hasfa ga kicmu = X, who is in the house,
89:
=> JI modifier
is a doctor. (Ja predicates.)
90:
=> JIO sentence gap Da jio brudi de, murpeu = The X who is a brother
of Y, is a seaman (seaperson). (Jio identifies.)
Local.
Pe is also an allolex of JI and, like the 'de' of Romance-style possessives, puts the
possessor last. Thus the phrase pe le ditca in Le bukcu pe le ditca ('El libro de la maestra')
is also a production of R88.
91: argmod
=> argmod1
Da jia sucmi = X, who (incidentally) swims.
(Jia predicates.)
92:
=> argmod M6 A argmod1 gap
Da jia sucmi, e jia prano-X, who
(incidentally) swims and runs.
Local.
93: arg2
=> arg1
Da = X.
94:
=> arg1. argmod gap
Da ji de = The X who is Y.
Local.
Sai = S.
95: arg3
=> arg2
96:
=> mex arg2
Te Sai = Three of the S's.
Local.
97: indef1
=> mex descpred
Te solda pa kamla = Three soldiers came.
Local.
98: indef2
=> indef1 gap
Te solda ga ditca = Three soldiers are
teachers.
Local.
Either the comma or the gu of <gap> can be used here in place of ga to separate the first
argument from its predicate. In fact *Te solda, ditca parses in substantially the same way as
Te solda ga ditca does. But I have starred it because it is probably not a good idea to adopt
this usage, despite its tempting economy. The reason is that if the first argument ends in a
linked argument, <gap> will not successfully separate it from an upcoming predicate; instead
<gap> will allow the intended predicate to be absorbed into its first argument. For example,
Le farfu je le botci, talna does not say that the father of the boy is an Italian, as a careless
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Notebook 3-Phonology
speaker might have intended; instead it is a designation of some boy-fathering Italian: 'The
father-of-the-boy (type of) Italian'. Replacing the comma with ga conveys the intended
meaning unequivocally: Le farfu je le botci ga talna-'The father of the boy is Italian'. Thus
the stronger marker ga is necessary in some cases. Since ga will work in all cases and
<gap> only in some, it seems wiser for loglanists to habituate themselves to the alwayssuccessful marking move…even though ga is less economical than the pause/comma
permitted by <gap> that would often do the job.
The frowned-upon uses of <gap> form another unused portion of a superset of
grammatical possibilities.
Te solda = Three soldiers.
99: indefinite
=> indef2
Te solda jia nigro = Three soldiers who are
100:
=> indef2 argmod gap
(incidentally) black.
Local.
Bai = B.
101: arg4
=> arg3
Ne fumna = A (one) woman.
102:
=> indefinite
Bai ze Cai = B and C jointly.
103:
=> arg4 ZE arg3
Bai ze ne fumna = B and a woman jointly.
104:
=> arg4 ZE indefinite
(Ze among arguments has the effect of
Local.
forging single, teamlike entities.)
Bai = B.
105: arg5
=> arg4
Kanoi Bai ki Cai = If B then C.
106:
=> KA argument KI arg6
Local.
bei groda cei = b is bigger than c.
107: arg6
= > arg5
Mau cei gi bei groda = Than c, b is bigger.
108:
=> DIO arg6
(Mau is one of the optioned case-tags of the
DIO-Lexeme. Derived from cmalo it marks the
lessers in "greater-lesser than" relationships.
For the uses of the fronting operator gi, see
R165-6.)
Mau ie cei gi bei groda = Than which c is b
109:
=> IE arg6
bigger? (DIO-words are always omissible; Ie
cei gi bei groda means the same thing. Yet
mau is not redundant. It suggests in advance
the kind of predicate that is coming up.)
Donsu da lae bei = Give X to whoever has
110:
=> LAE arg6
address b (or of whom b is a sign in some
Local.
other sense).
bei groda cei = b is bigger than c.
111: arg7
=> arg6
bei groda cei, e dei, onoici fei = b is bigger
112:
=> arg6 ACI arg7
than c, and than d or f but not both. (Onoi is
Local.
"exclusive or" and -ci turns its connectands
into the right connectand of e, i.e., it
hyphenates them.)
bei groda cei = b is bigger than c.
113: arg8
=> arg7
bei groda cei, e dei, onoi fei = b is bigger
114:
=> arg8 A arg7
than c and d, or f but not all three. (Without Local.
ci these "afterthought" connectives group left.)
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146
115: argument
116:
Notebook 3-Phonology
=> arg8
=> arg8 AGE argument
117; 60, 24, 14, 8.
bei groda cei = b is bigger than c.
bei groda cei, ege dei, onoi fei = b is bigger
than c, and d or f but not both. (The -ge
suffix groups all that follows it to the right, and
thus has the same effect as a -ci suffix on the
2nd connective; cf. S112.)
Notice that <argument> has only one forward reference, and that is the first rule in the
next group. Most references to <argument> are backward, which only means that arguments
have already been widely used. Indeed, we may recall that they have been used to construct
one class of modifiers, namely prepositional phrases (R60); they have been used to build one
kind of predunits, namely those composed of arguments preceded by the predifier me (R24);
and of course arguments figured in linked arguments (R8 and 14).
The single forward reference to R117 leads of course to the most common use of
arguments in Loglan utterances, their contribution to the "terms" and "termsets" which are
major constituents of nearly every Loglan utterance.
Group H. Terms & Term Sets Rules 117-127
A term is either a modifier or an argument. So terms are strings of one or more arguments
and/or modifiers in any order. Term sets are strings of none or more terms and include the
connections of such strings with one another. Group H is really two groups, both of them very
small. One of them, R117-20, constructs <terms>; the other, R121-7, constructs <termset >.
The uses of these two gramemes are as follows:Terms are used as the first arguments ("subjects") of sentences, and include any
immediately following modifiers. Thus the argument-modifier pair La Djan, na la Fomen in La
Djan, na la Fomen, trad ti = 'John, in May, travels here' is an instance of <terms>. But so
also are the strings of fronted modifiers and/or arguments which come before the subject of a
sentence. The only difference is that terms that come before a subject must be set off from it
by gi. For example, Ti na la Fomen in Ti na la Fomen, gi da traci = 'Here in May, X travels'
is also an instance of <terms>. Gi is the fronting operator; it announces that a string of such
fronted terms has been concluded.
Termsets, in contrast, are always deployed after their predicates. For example, ti in Da
traci ti is a <termset>. Indeed, all sets of "sutori" (second-and-subsequent) arguments,
including any sentence modifiers with which they may be mixed (ti fa in Da traci ti fa = 'X
travels here later'), or any strings of modifiers, or of arguments and modifiers mixed together,
when they follow their predicates–for example, as fa, na la Fomen in Da traci fa, na la
Fomen ('X travels later, in May') follows traci–are instances of <termset>.
As we will see, termsets are made of terms. But there are two differences in the resulting
structures. First, termsets, but not terms, may be null, i.e., represented by the right boundary
marker gu or by nothing at all; see R121. Second, termsets (but again not terms) may be
connected to each other. Just why these two maneuvers are useful can probably only be
discovered by using them. But I can give you a preliminary glimpse of their utility for termsets
by pointing out that they (and not terms) are grammatically attached to sentence predicates;
see R128. These predicate-containing constructions then, together with their possibly null
termsets, become the "predicates" of Loglan sentences; and such predicates may be
connected to each other in every possible way…including ways which allow them to have
"joint termsets". For example, in the English sentence 'John loved and hated Mary', 'Mary' is
probably intended by the speaker to be a joint termset of the connected pair of predicates
'both loved and hated', that is, to be the "direct object" of both "verbs" (to use an older
grammatical terminology). Of course we cannot be sure of this in English; but in Loglan we
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Notebook 3-Phonology
can be. It is just this kind of potentially ambiguous construction that in Loglan necessitates
either nullifying or truncating individual termsets in order to make room for joint ones. For
example, the two possible renderings of 'John loved and hated Mary' into Loglan are (i) La
Djan, pa cluva, e tsodi la Meris, in which la Meris is an individual termset, and (ii) La Djan,
pa cluva, e tsodi gu la Meris, in which it is a joint one. What has happened in (ii) is that in it
e and gu have nullified the individual termsets of cluva and tsodi, respectively, and made
room for a joint one.
Such maneuvers are never required of terms. But if this structural distinction seems too
intricate for easy recall, you may prefer to remember a simpler, positional one: terms occur
ahead of their predicates; termsets occur after them. This surface property will take you a
long way toward managing their uses properly.
117: term
=> argument
Da pa cluva de = X loved Y.
118:
=> modifier Local.
Da pa cluva fa = X loved later.
119: terms => term
Da pa cluva de = X loved Y.
120:
=> terms term
Da pa cluva de fa la Yen = X loved Y after nine. (The
155, 157-8, 165-66, order of terms is syntactically unimportant. Thus Da
pa cluva fa la Yen, de means approximately the
171.
same thing.)
Notice that all these references are forward. In effect, they list the many uses of <terms>.
R155 deploys it as the delayed subject of "goa sentences" (sentences in V-O-S word order);
R157 uses it as the fronted modifiers of a goa-sentence; R158 uses it as the subject,
accompanied by any following modifiers, of a declarative sentence in Loglan-normal (S-V-O)
word order; R165-6 arranges for its use as the fronted arguments, with accompanying
modifiers, of sentences in O-S-V word order, but also as the fronted modifiers or prenex
quantifiers of any utterance; and in R171 <terms> accommodates fragmentary utterances, for
example, answers to Hu, Vihu and Nahu ('Who?', 'Where?' and 'When?') questions.
We now use <terms> to develop <termset>.
Da pa cluva de, e tsodi gu fa la Ven = X loved Y and hates
121: termset1
=> gu
(someone), (both) after nine. (Gu represents the null
termset and turns fa la Ven into a joint termset. A comma is
insufficient here; therefore this allogram is not <gap> but
<gu>.)
Da pa cluva de fa la Ven, e tsodi di gu va do = X loved Y
122:
=> terms gu
after nine, and hates W, (both) near Q. (Here gu truncates
Local.
the 2nd term-set and prepares for a joint termset, va do, a
modifier of both predicates, to be spoken.)
Notice that it is <gu> and not <gap> that is used to truncate or nullify an individual
termset. This is because the use of a comma or a pause at such points can lead to
ambiguities. So it is either gu itself or, when it is not required, nothing at all that terminates a
termset.
Da pa cluva de fa = X loved Y later.
123: termset2 => termset1
Da pa cluva de fa, e di pa = X loved Y
124:
=> termset2 A termset1
later and W earlier.
Da pa cluva ke de fa ki di pa = X loved
125:
=> KA termset2 KI termset1
both Y later and W earlier.
Local.
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Notebook 3-Phonology
126: termset
=> termset2
127:
=> PAUSE termset2
128, 139, 141, 148, 154.
Da sanpa de di vi do = X is a sign of Y to
W at Q.
Da sanpa, de di vi do = X is a sign, of Y to
W at Q. (This discretionary pause-comma
in a place where <gap> does not occur
must be explicitly provided for.)
Group I. Predicates Rules 128-154
In this group, the predicate expressions that make the claims of sentences are
constructed. Basically they consist of a sentence predicate from Group E coupled with a
termset, possibly null, from Group H; this coupling is accomplished in R128. In the sequel
we'll call such expressions simply "predicates". Predicates may be "marked" or "bare”, that is,
prefixed by tense or abstraction operators (which includes the left-marker ga) or not so
prefixed; see R129-31. This distinction is fundamental; it involved building two tracks through
the grammar of predicates, one for bare forms, one for marked ones. For example, in a long
sequence of rules, R132-42, a distinction between "backpreds" and the two kinds of "front"
predicates, "barefronts" and "markfronts", is gradually developed; and in R137 and 140, this
distinction is finally used. It turns out that the forms called backpreds are going to be used as
the right connectands of both kinds of ekked connections, the "bareekpreds" and
"markekpreds". These are the bare and marked versions, respectively, of ekked predicates,
that is, of connected predicates in which the connections are made with afterthought or Aform connectives. Barefronts and markfronts, of course, are destined to be the left or leading
connectands of these same ekked predicates; and the ekked connections themselves will of
course reflect the "bareness" type of their leading elements.
By R143-54, the bare vs. marked distinction is no longer important. Identity predicates
("identpreds") are now developed–BI and kin may not be treated as "just another PREDA"
because they enter into little word compounds and must be recognized by the lexer–and
finally kekked, or forethoughtfully connected, predicates ("kekpred") are developed. Along the
way, in R135-6 and 146-7, the ACI-and AGE-forms of afterthought connections are
developed in the same way that they were developed for arguments.
Da fumna = X is a woman. (Here we
128: barepred
=> sentpred termset
are using the null termset <gu>, which,
Local.
because it is final, may be expressed
by <err>, i.e., omitted altogether.)
Da pa fumna = X was a woman.
129: markpred
=> M7 PA barepred
Da po de fumna = X is a case of Y's
130:
=> PO gap sentence gap
being a woman. (Both <gap>s may
be null here, the 2nd because it is final,
the 1st because there is no following
<predunit> for the normally closebinding 'po' to bind to. Po will not
"stick" to de, and so does not need to
be separated from it.)
Da zo de hatro = X is the amount of
131:
=> ZO gap sentence gap
heat in Y (by which Y is hot). <gap>s
Local.
as in S130.)
Da fumna, e ditca = X is a woman
132: backpred1
=> barepred
and
a
teacher.
(Both
these.
connectands are barepreds.)
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149
Notebook 3-Phonology
133:
=> markpred
134:
=> M8 NO backpred1
Local.
135: backpred
=> backpred1
136:
=> backpred1
backpred
Local.
137: bareekpred
=> bare
backpred
Local.
138: barefront
=> barepred
139:
=> bareekpred termset
Local.
140: markekpred
=>
markfront
backpred
Local.
141: markfront
=> markpred
142:
=> markekpred termset
Local.
143: predicate2
144:
145:
=> barefront
=> markfront
=> M8 NO predicate2
Local.
146: predicate1
147:
=> predicate2
=> predicate2
predicate1
Local.
148: identpred
=> BI termset
Page 149 of 280
front
M9
ACI
M10
M10
Mil
A
A
AGE
Da fumna, e pa ditca = X is a woman
and was a teacher.
Da fumna, e no ga blanu marpi = X is
a woman and not a blue snake. (Here
ga extends the scope of 'no' over the
whole backpred. Ge would also work
but is bad usage.)
Da fumna, e ditca = X is a woman and
a teacher. (Backpreds are always
right connectands.)
Da fumna, e ditca, aci stude = X is a
woman, and a teacher or student.
(Aci binds ditca aci stude into the
right connectand of e, thus altering the
normal left-grouping of afterthought
connection.)
Da fumna, e ditca, aci stude = X is a
woman, and a teacher or student.
(This is a bare "ekpred" because its
leading element is bare.)
Da ditca lo dotca = X is a teacher of
German.
Da ditca, e stude gu lo dotca = X is
a teacher of, and a student of,
German. (Again gu prepares for the
joint termset.)
Da pa ditca, e cluva = X was a
teacher and a lover. (This is a
marked "ekpred" because its leading
element is marked.)
Da pa ditca lo frasa = X was a
teacher of French.
Da pa ditca, e cluva gu lo frasa = X
was a teacher of, and a lover of,
French.
Da ditca = X is a teacher.
Da pa ditca = X was a teacher.
Da no ga blanu tcaro = X is not a
blue car. (This is long-scope negation.
X may not be a car of any kind.)
Ditca = Be a teacher!
Gudbi, ege ckano, a briga = Be
good, and be kind or brave! (If e
replaced ege, this would read 'Be
good and kind, or be brave!')
Da bi le mrenu jio pa godzi la Frans
= X is the man who went to France.
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Da no bi le mrenu jio pa godzi la
Frans = X is not the man who went
to France.
=> M3 KA predicate KI Ke ckano ki briga = Be both kind
and brave!
predicate
No ke ckano ki bunbo = Don't be
=> NO kekpred
both kind and a fool!
Local.
149:
=> NO identpred
Local.
150: kekpred
151:
152: predicate
153:
154:
=> predicate1
=> identpred
=> kekpred termset
155, 158, 162.
Da mrenu = X is a man.
Da bi le mrenu = X is the man.
Da ke briga ki bunbo gu raba = X is
both brave (about everything) and a
fool about everything.
Predicates, once developed, are used in constructing sentences. All three of these
references are to the next group, in which sentences are made. In R155 <predicate> is used
to make the Goa-sentence; in R158 it is part of the declarative sentence in normal word
order; and in R162 it is the whole of the Loglan imperative.
Group J. Sentences Rules 155-164
This small group of rules catalogues the kinds of Loglan sentences, and gives their
formulas. Starting with Goa-sentences (R155), it moves on to the various forms of statements
(R156-9), and finally to kekked sentences (R160-1). Finally in R162-4, imperatives,
statements and kekked sentences–a variety of what are called "compound sentences" in
English grammar–are bundled together into the <sentence> grameme.
155: goasent
=> GOA predicate GOA Goa seidjo le so fumna goa to mrenu =
Among the six women are two men. (This is
terms
the V-O-S word-order which is standard in
Local.
some languages. It is a heavily marked form
in Loglan.)
Goa seidjo Bai goa Cai = Included in B is
156: statement
=> goasent
C.
Vi levi kruma goa seidjo Bai goa Cai = In
157:
=> terms goasent
this room, included in B is C. (A variety of
the Goa-sentence with fronted modifiers.)
Da fumna = X is a woman. (This is the
158:
=> terms predicate
Loglan-normal word-order, S-V-O. Here
usage restricts the expression of <terms> to a
single argument, the subject, followed by
none or more modifiers.)
No da fumna = It is not the case that X is a
159:
=> NO statement
woman.
Local.
160: keksent
161:
=> KA sentence
sentence
=> NO keksent
Local.
Page 150 of 280
KI Ko da bi lio ne ki sumduo de = If and only
if X is 1, add Y.
No da ko bi lio ne ki sumduo de = It is not
the case that if and only if X is 1, (you
should) add Y.
151
162: sentence
163:
164:
Notebook 3-Phonology
=> predicate
=> statement
=> keksent
174-5; 130-1, 90, 87.
Fumna = Be a woman!
Da fumna = X is a woman.
Kanoi ti hi la Fomen, ki fumna = If this is
April, be a woman!
The two forward references to <sentence> in R174-5 carry sentences into the next group,
where they are only one among the many kinds of utterances. But the back references of
<sentence> are more interesting. R130-1 show how sentences may be nested inside
predicates by means of the abstraction operators po pu and zo; R90 shows how a sentence
may be nested in an argument modifier by using the operators jia and jio (which produce the
Loglan equivalents of 'John, who was the man who came to dinner' and similar
constructions); and R87, which permits sentences to become the basis of event descriptions
('Before John came to dinner' and similar clauses). In these three ways, sentences may be
embedded in sentences, the embedding sentences embedded in further sentence, and so on,
ad infinitum.
Before moving on to utterances it may be worth a moment to consider how it came about
that the two instances of <terms> in R157-8 are allowed by usage to have such different
expressions. In R157 it is not good usage–in fact, it would not even be interpretable–to
include any arguments at all in the optional string of fronted modifiers which usage allows
<terms> to be as a possible embellishment of the Goa-sentence. In contrast, usage expects
to find something very different as an expression of <terms> in R158. Here, <terms> is the
subject of the Loglan-normal sentence; and so it must consist of exactly one argument
accompanied by any number of, including zero, following modifiers. Thus, R157 and R158
generate two massive supersets of possibilities only some of which are good usage. Indeed a
very different set in each domain is allowed by usage.
The reader may be interested to learn the reason why these supersets appear at just this
point in the grammar. They were fashioned as an alternative to writing an extremely long and
awkward, and probably always imperfect, lookahead-extending procedure into the
preparser…or rather, to abandon one that had already been written. It was first thought that
such a procedure could detect without parsing whether a set of early terms was fronted, or
fragmentary, or the subject of a declarative sentence plus some early modifiers, or so on; and
that the M-Lexemes inserted by that procedure would then permit a grammar of sentences to
be written which was devoid of these supersets. But on further study of this matter the
Academy came to the conclusion that the hope of writing such a lookahead-extending
algorithm was largely illusory; that exceptional cases could probably always be found that
could not be handled by it; and that therefore it was preferable from the standpoint of
computer science to adopt the superset solution to the "fragment handling" problem rather
than attempt to solve it by elaborating the preparser algorithm in new and dubious directions.
Besides, there are good theoretical reasons to believe that just such supersets are part of
every natural grammar, and that it is the job of an entirely different kind of rule, the usage
rule, to declare which sub-domains in the domains of the parsible are in this higher sense
allowable. If so, then what we are doing with Loglan at this point is an ancient linguistical
move which may be performed in all languages in approximately the same way. What is most
important about this solution is that it solves the problem of parsing fragmentary utterances
within the grammar, thus preserving the syntactic unambiguity of the language without
dependence on the presumed completeness of a preparser algorithm.
Group K. Utterances Rules 165-194
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Group K is the last group of rules in Loglan grammar. In it are shown all the varieties of
utterances, including sentence fragments like answers and monosyllabic responses (which
occasion the supersets of Group J) as well as sentences themselves. In addition, the two
major elaborations of sentences are provided in this group, namely (1) leading modifiers like
Na la Fomen, gi in Na la Fomen, gi mia pa godzi la Europas and/or fronted arguments like
Dio da gi in Dio da gi de pa takna = 'To X, Y spoke', and (2) the so-called "prenex
quantifiers" with which logicians embellish certain kinds of claims: Ba rabe goi in Ba rabe goi
ba kunci be = 'There is an x such that for every y, x is related to y' ('Someone is related to
everyone'). Both kinds of elaborations involve the <terms> grameme from Group H, and are
carried out in R165-6 and R175.
Dio da piu de gi di pa takna = To X about Y,
165: headterms
=>terms GI
W spoke. (Dio and piu are 2 of the 11 optional
case tags; dio is derived from dirco and
means that X is a "beneficiary or destination"
of some kind; piu is from pirioi and means that
Y is a kind of "part, passive or topic".)
Ba rabe goi dio be gi ba takna = There is an
166:
=>headterms terms GI
x such that for every y, to y, x talks. (Goi is a
2nd allolex of GI and fronts the "prenex
quantifiers" of logicians' talk. This is an unusual
word-order, but may be used.)
Usage requires that instances of <terms> used with the prenex fronting operator goi be
limited to strings of arguments, that is, that there be no modifiers mixed in. Moreover, such
arguments must obviously be matchable, except for their quantifiers, with arguments
occurring in the body of the sentence to which such headterms are attached; see R175.
Thus, the ba in raba is matchable with the second instance of ba in S166. In other words,
when goi is the fronting operator, the grammatical possibilities opened up by Rules 165-6
form a superset of the forms accepted by usage. Usage and grammar coincide, however,
when gi does the fronting. <Terms> used with the fronting operator gi in these rules may be
strings of arguments and/or modifiers in any mixture.
167: uttA => A Enoi = And-not (the first but not the second). (An answer to a HAquestion. The monosyllabic allolexes of A, namely, a e o u, are also used in spelling. See
R191 for i.)
No = No. (Answer to an Ei-question.)
168:
=> NO
Ie = Which?
169:
= > IE
Ne. To. Te. Fo = One. Two. Three. Four.
170:
=> mex
(Used either to answer Ho-questions–'How
many?'–or in counting.)
La Djan, na la Fonnen = John, in April. (A
171:
=> terms
pair of answers to two Hu-questions: 'Who?
When?' It is the utterance fragments
produced by this rule that creates the
lookahead problem solved by the "superset
solution" in R157-8. Calling subjects, fronted
arguments, and answers <terms> relieves
the LR1 parser of the necessity of making
finer-grained decisions until it is deeper into
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Notebook 3-Phonology
172:
=> links
173:
=> linkargs
174:
175:
=> sentence
=> headterms sentence
Local.
176: headmod
177:
=> UI
=> HOI (name/descriptn,)
178:
=> KIE (utterance KIU)
179:
= > name
Local.
the parse.)
Jue lemi sorme = Through my sister. (An
answer to Jue hu-questions.)
Je le fotpa botci jue lemi sorme = By the
fat boy through my sister. (An answer to Je
hu-questions.)
La Pit, pa takna = Pete talked.
Dio la Djan, na lepo la Ruprt, pa kamla gi
la Pit, pa takna = To John, when Rupert
came, Pete talked.
Ue nenkaa = Well, come in!
Hoi Redro Nu Herfa, nenkaa = O RedHaired One, come in! (The name or
description is parsed reentrantly after the
primary parse is concluded.)
Kie pazu kiu ti crina = (At last) it rained
here.
Djan, nenkaa = John, come in!
The four allograms of <headmod> are also the "free modifiers" of Loglan. These are the
elements that may occur anywhere in a Loglan utterance, and are taken to "modify"–if that
interpretation is at all meaningful–the immediately preceding word, or, if initial, the utterance
as a whole. Precisely because these objects may occur anywhere, their occurrence at any
given location gives the parser no information. Therefore, their incidence constitutes a kind of
"grammatical noise". So except for these headmods–which are the first elements in any
utterance-initial strings of them– they are removed by the preparser before the utterance is
"handed to" the parser. Thus, the parser never sees attitudinal words like ia ('certainly') or
discursives like pou ('however') unless one occurs at the head of some utterance. Moreover,
it never sees names used vocatively, such as Djan without a preceding la, unless they too
are initial in some utterance. This is the preferred position for a free modifier, by the way,
because then it is taken as modifying the utterance as a whole…which is usually what is
intended. Finally, except for parsing them reentrantly, i.e., when the parse of the main
utterance is concluded, the parser never sees descriptive expressions used vocatively with
hoi, or parenthetic expressions marked by kie and kiu, unless these, too, are initial in some
utterance. For reentrant parsing, see the comment after the last rule in the grammar, R194.
Nenkaa = Come in!
180: uttB
=> uttA
Djan = John!
181:
=> headmod
Pidr, zvosto = Peter, stay out!
182:
=> headmod uttA
Local.
No, na la Fomen, gi da pa kamla = It is not the
183: neghead
=> NO gap
case that in April, X came.
Ui no, na la Fomen, gi da pa kamla = Happily it
184:
=> headmod NO gap
is not the case that in April, X came.
Local.
Na la Fomen, gi da pa kamla = In April, X
185: uttC
=> uttB
came.
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154
186:
187: uttD
188:
Notebook 3-Phonology
=> neghead uttC
Local.
=> uttC
=> uttC ICI uttD
Local.
189: uttE
190:
=> uttD
=> uttE I uttD
Local.
191: utterance
=> I
192:
193:
194:
=> uttE
=> I uttE
=> uttE IGE utterance
Ui no, na la Fomen, gi da pa kamla = Happily it
is not the case that in April, X came.
De prano = Y runs.
Da sucmi, ice de prano, icanoici di fleti = X
swims, and Y runs if W flies. (Again the -ci suffix
binds the 2 final sentences into the right
connectand of ice.)
Di fleti = W flies.
Da sucmi, ice de prano, icanoi di fleti = X
swims and Y runs, if W flies. (This is the normal
left-grouping of afterthought connection without
the special grouping effects of -ci or -ge.)
Fei. Lei. E. Tei. I = Ef. El. Ee. Tee. Bye. (This
rule is used only to parse and generate the letter i
when used in spelling.)
De prano = Y runs.
Icanoi di fleti = If W flies.
Da sucmi, ige de prano, icanoi di fleti = X
swims; and Y runs if W flies. (Again the -ge
suffix groups all subsequent connected
utterances into a single right connectand of the
connective so-altered.)
The <utterance> grameme is also used covertly–i.e., carried invisibly through the parse–
by KIE in R180 and by LI in R84. These are parenthetic expressions and bits of quoted
Loglan, respectively, and like the names and descriptive vocatives of R179, such embedded
utterances are parsed "reentrantly". This means that after the parse of an embedding
utterance is complete the parser will return to parse the embedded expression, and will
continue to do so until all embedded expressions have been parsed.
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Notebook 3-Phonology
LIST 1. PRIMITIVE PREDICATES, L-E (Sorted by Loglan)
badjo (baj) bough /limb/branch of..
badlo (bad) bundle/package of/containing..
bakso (bao) box of/containing..
bakto (bak) bucket/pail of/containing..
balci (bac bai) build..from materials..
balko (-) balcony of building..
balma (bam) ball/sphere n.; spherical a.
balpi (bal) balanced under forces..
banbe (-) bay of coast..
banci (ban) bathe in..
banko (-) bank of community..
banla (-) banana from source..
banse (-) basket of/containing..
bapra (-) operate..with goal..
barda (-) reward..for..with..
barcu (-) bar/tavern of community..
barma (bar baa) arm of..; body-part
barta (-) board of material..
basni (bas) base/foundation/basis of..
batmi (bat) trade..for..with.. 'barter'
batpi (bap) bottle of/containing..
batra (-) butter, an amount of bedpu (bed) bed n.
begco (beg beo) beg/request..of/from..
bekli (bel) bell producing sound/note..
bekti (bek) object enduring in space-time
beldu (-) belly/abdomen of..
bendu (ben beu) band/orchestra of players..
berei (-) sheep n.
berna (-) brain of..
berti (ber bei) carry..to..from.. 'bear'
betcu (bet) bent, more -/crooked than..
bidje (bie) edge of ..between..
bifci (-) bee n.
bifte (-) beefsteak, an amount of bQca (bic) military of., 'militia'
bQra (-) billiards, play - with.,
bilti (bil bii) beautiful, more - than.,
birsu (-) beer, an amount of Page 155 of 280
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Notebook 3-Phonology
bisli (bis) ice, an amount of bitce (-) whip/lash n. 'switch'
bitsa (bit bia) between..and.. 'beside'
bivdu (biv bid biu) behave..under..
blabi (lab) white, -er than., 'blank'
blada (bla) blade of tool/weapon.,
blanu (-) blue, -r than.,
bleka (ble) look at.,
blicu (bli) possible under conditions..
bloda (bio) hit..with.. 'blow'
bloku (-) block of material..
bludi (blu) blood of organism..
blusa (-) blouse n.
bomba (-) bomb n.
bongu (bon) bone of..
borku (bor) bow for arrows..
botci (boi) boy n.
botni (-) button of..
botsu (bot bou) boat n.
brana (bra) born, be - to..
brato (rao) ratio of..divided by..; math.
breba (reb) bread, an amount of bredi (bre) ready for..
breko (rek) brake of..
briga (rig ria) brave, -er than..under..
brikn (rik) brick n.
brili (ril) brilliant, brighter than..by..
brize (bri) breeze/wind from..
brocu (roc rou) brush n.
broda (rod) broken/inoperable
broko (bro) break into pieces..
brona (-) brown, -er than..
brad (-) brooch n.
brudi (bru) brother of..through..
brute (rue) breathe v.t.
bufpo (buf) opposite from..in quality..
bukcu (buk buu) book about..by..
bulbi (bul bui) bulb of plant/species..
bulju (buj) boil at temperature..
bunbo (bun) fool, be -ish about., 'boob'
buste (bus btie) step on/in..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
butpa (-) boot n.
cabro (cab cao) burn at temperature..
cadre (-) dress/gown/frock
camle (-) camel, genus Camelus
canli (cna cai) quantity of..on scale..
canse (can cae) chance, random under..
capri (cap) print v.t.; - ..on..
carbo (car) carbon C
cartu (cat) chart/map of..by..
caslo (cas) whistle n.
cavle (cav) shovel n.
cedzu (ced) shade/shadow of..from source..
cefli (cef) chief of..for activity..
celna (cel) shelf of/containing..
cenja (cej cea) change into/become..from..
centi (cen) hundredth part of., 'cent'
cersi (cei) chair n.
cetlo (cet) wet with..
cibra (-) bridge over/across..
cidja (cid) awake, be ciktu (cik ciu) equal..in/on dimension.,
ciida (-) island in sea.,
cimra (cim) summer of year.,
cinta (cin) infant/baby of.,
cirna (cir cia) learn..from source.,
cirzo (cio) shears/scissors
cisti (cis) history of..by..
citlu (cil) detail of..
citre (cit cie) thread, an amount /length of ckafe (-) cafe of community..
ckano (cka) kind, be - to..
ckela (kea) school of community..
ckemo (eke) time/interval from..to 'tempo'
ckozu (cko) cause/be a - of..under..
dado (cla) loud, -er than..by..
clafo (-) laugh at..
clesi (cle) without, be - ../be..less
clidu (-) slide/slip on..
dife (lif) leaf of plant..
clika (cli) like/similar to..in..
clina (lin lia) line through points..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
divi (liv lii) live/be alive
clori (clo) chlorine Cl
duva (clu) love v.t.
cmalo (cma) small, -er in volume than..by..
cmeni (cme) money issued by..
cmiza (cmi) amused, be - by../by doing..
cnida (cni) need..for..
cninu (cnu) new to..in feature..
colku (col) silk made of comtu (com cot cou) ashamed of doing/being..
condi (con) deep, -er than..by..
carta (cor coa) short, -er than..by..
cpula (cpu) pull..to..from..
crano (era) smile at., 'grin'
crina (cri) rain, be -ed on by..
cteki (cte) tax on..by..for use..
ctifii (cti) stuff matter/material
ctuda (ctu) feces of., 'stool'
cundo (cuo) window of..
cupri (cup) copper Cu
curca (cur) secure/safe from., 'sure'
curdi (-) insure..against..for fee..
curta (-) shirt/upper-body garment
cutd (cue) shoe n.
cutri (cut cui) water, an amount/expanse of cutse (cus cue) say..to..
dakli (dak) likely, -ier than..under.,
dalra (-) dollar, be worth..-s; default 1
damni (dam) down, lower than..by..in f'ld..
dampa (-) pump for -ing..from..into..
dand (dan dai) design, be a plan for..by..
danri (-) ordinary, more - than..in..
danse (-) dance to
dante (dat) tooth of., 'dental'
danza (daa) desire/want..for..
dapli (-) reply to..with response..
darli (dar) far, -ther than..from..by..
darto (dao) door of/in..
daspa (das dap) responsible for..to..
decti (dec) tenth part of., 'deci-'
dedjo (ded dej) finger of., 'digit'
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Notebook 3-Phonology
dekto (dek) tenfold of., 'deka-'
ttaili (del dei) day, -time of day., 'daily'
denro (den) danger, -ous to..under..
dertn (der deu) dirt/soil/earth from/of..
detra (det dea) daughter of..and..
dilko (-) delicious, more - than..to..
dilri (-) represent..in/under..
dipri (dip) dear/precious to..
dirco (dir dio) direction, be in - ..from..
dirlu (-) lose person/thing..
dishi (diu) discuss..with..
disri (dii) decide../to do..about..
ditca (die dia) teach..to do/know..
ditka (dit) bite..on/at..
djano (dja) know..about..
djela (dje jel) well, healthier than..
djesi (-) digest ..; v.t.
djeta (jet) owe..to..for.. 'debt'
djine (dji) join, be -ed to..at..
djipo (jip jio) important to..in/for..
djitu (jit jiu) tight, be -er than..on..
djori (djo) member of set/group., 'join'
djoso (jos) sew..to..
djoto (-) toe of..
djudi (dju) judge..to be..; be a djula (jul) jewel in/of jeweled object..
djupo (jup juo) support ..with/by..
donsu (don dou) give..gift.. 'donate'
dorja (dor) war, be at - with..over..
dotca (-) German language 'Deutsch'
dotci (-) German person 'Deutsch'
dotco (-) German culture 'Deutsch'
dotra (dot) winter of year..
draka (rak) dark, -er than..by..
drani (dra) dry, -er than..by..
drara (-) drawer of/containing..
dreti (dre) correct by standard..
drida (-) drop of liquid..
driki (dri) remember..about..
dugri (-) unit of scale., 'degree'
dupma (dup) dupe/deceive/trick..about..by.
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Notebook 3-Phonology
durna (dun dua) adorn../be an -ment of..
durzo (dru dur duo) do..to..
dustu (dus) dust n.
dutci (dut) doubt that..is true of..
duvri (duv dui) discover..about..
dzabi (dza) be real/exist for..under..
dzaso (zas) soap, an amount of dzeli (dze) jelly, an amount of dzoru (dzo) walk to..from..via..
fagro (fag) fire, be a - in..
falba (fab faa) fail to do/be..under..
falji (fal fai) false by standard..
famji (fam) family with members..
famva (-) famous for..among..
fando (fad fao) end of thing/process., 'final'
fanra (fan) farm of community..
fanve (fav) reverse of../in - order from..
farfu (fra far) father of ..out of mother..
farka (-) arch over/be an - over..
fasli (-) face of..
fasru (fas) easy for..under., 'facile'
fatru (fat fau) trouble/disturb..by..
fekto (fek feo) fact about..observed by..
felda (fel fed fea) fall to..from.. 'fell'
femdi (fern) female of species..
ferci (fei) affair of/involving..
ferau (fen feu) iron Fe
ferti (fet) fertile, more - than..for..
festi (fes) waste..on/by doing..
fibru (fib) feeble, weaker than..by..
fidi (fic) fish n.
fikco (fik) fiction, a work of - by..
fUdi (fii) field of farm/community..
filmo (fil fio) feel..about..
firpa (fir fia) fear/be afraid of/that..
fitpi (fit fip) foot of..
fizdi (fiz fid) physical/non-mental
flaei (-) flag of..
flaki (-) fly n.
flmni (fla) flame of fire/device..
flati (-) inflate..with..to dimension..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
fleti (fie) fly to..from..via..
flidu (fli) liquid from temp..to.. 'fluid1
flofii (-) float on/in..
flora (lor loa) flower of plant..
foldi (fod) fold .. ..times, v.t.
folma (flo) full, -er than..by..
fordi (-) floor of..
forka (-) fork n.
forma (fom foa) form/shape of..
fosli (fos foi) force/compel..to do/be..
forli (fol) strong, -er than..by.. 'fort'
fotpa (-) fat, plumper/stouter than..
fragu (rag) fog, be -gy/covered by Iraki (-) franc, be worth., -s; default 1
frama (ram) frame of/around..
frasa (-) French language 'Francais'
frasi (-) French person 'Francais'
fraso (-) French culture 'Francais'
frelo (-) crazy/insane/mad 'frenzy'
firemi (rem) friend of..
frena (fre) front, be in - /ahead of..
frese (-) fresh, -er than..
frezi (rez) free to do/be..
fruta (fru) fruit of..
fiiM (-) rich, wealthier than..in..
fumna (fum fua) woman n. 'feminine'
fundi (-) fond, be -er of/prefer..to..
fusto (-) office of..
futbo (-) football, -er/play - with..
futci (fut fuc fui) future, after/later than..
gancu (gac gau) win..from/over.. 'gain'
gandi (gad) god of people(s)..
ganli (gal) organize..into..for..
ganta (gan gaa) high, -er than..by..in field..
gardi (-) garden of family/community..
garni (gar gai) govern/rule over/-or of..
garti (gat) grateful, be - to..for..
gasno (gas gao) anus of..
gasti (-) steel, made of genza (gen gea) again, a recurrence of..
getsi (get gei) get..from..for..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
gigdo (gig) billionfold of., 'giga-'
gimna (-) gymnast at feat..
ginru (gin) root of plant..
gleca (-) English language
gleci (-) English person
gleco (-) English culture
glida (gli) guide..to..from..via..
gliso (-) glass, made of gluva (-) glove n.
godru (-) drain of..into..
godzi (god goz goi) go to..from..via..
gokru (gok) hook n. 'crook'
goltu (-) throat of., 'gullet'
gomni (gom) gummy, adhere/stick to..
gotca (goa) goat n.
gotri (got) industry producing..among..
grada (gra) great, -er than., 'grand'
gramo (-) gram weigh., -s; default 1
grasa (raa) grass, a blade/expanse of grato (-) cake n. 'gateau, torte'
gresa (gre) grease/fat/oil, an amount of
grisi (-) grey, -er than..
gritu (gri) sing..to.. 'greet, tune'
groci (roi) angry at..for.. 'growl'
groda (gro) big, -ger than..by.. 'gross'
grunu (run) grain from source..
grupa (gru) group with members..
gudbi (gud gub) good, better than..for..
gunti (gun gui) country of people..
gusto (gus gut) taste/flavor of., 'gusto'
gutra (gur) strange to..in features..
banco (han) hand of..
hapci (hap hai) happy about..
hardu (had) hard, more resistant than..
harko (har hao) harbor/shelter for..from..
harmo (ham) harmonious with..to..
hasfa (has haf haa) house/dwelling/home of..
hatro (hat) hot, -ter than..by..
hedto (hed) head of..; body-part
hekto (hek) hundredfold of., 'hecto-'
helba (hel hea) help..do..
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herba (heb) plant n. 'herb'
herfa (her) hair of..
hidro (hid) hydrogen H
hijra (hia) here, attend/be present at..
hinda (-) Hindi language
hindi (-) Indian person 'Hindi, Hindu'
hindo (-) Indian culture 'Hindi, Hindu'
hirti (hir) hear..over noise..
holdu (hoi hou) hole/pit/depression in..
Iwmpi (horn hoi) drink..from..
horma (hor hoa) horse n.
homo (-) horn of..; body part
hospi (hos) hospital of community..
hotle (-) hotel of community..
hozda (-) hose/stocking/sock
humni (hum hun) human, be -/a - being
hutri (hut hui) destroy v.t.
jaglo (jag jao) angle between pts.. 'jagged'
jalti (jai) product of..multiplied by..
janro (jar) narrow, -er than..by..
janto (jan) hunt game/quarry..
jmite (jmi) meet/encounter..at/in..
jokla (jok) clock n.
jorto (jor joo) hour, last., -s; default 1
jugra (jug jua) grab/seize..with..
junga (-) Chinese language 'Zhungwo*
jungi (-) Chinese person 'Zhungwo'
jungo (-) Chinese culture 'Zhungwo'
junti (jun) young, -er than..by.. 'junior'
jupni (jui) opine/think..true of.,
jurna (-) eam..for work/service.,
kabni (-) cabin of., kabre (-) cabaret night-club of.,
kadta (-) tile n.
kafso (-) cough up/out..
kakto (kak kao) act/do..with goal..
kalra (-) collar of garment..
kambi (-) compare..with..in..
kamda (kad) fight..over.. 'combat'
kandd (-) comic, be funny to..in..
kamla (kam kaa) come from..to..via..
kampo (-) camp of..at..
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kamra (kar) camera n.
kamti (-) committee of ..with task..
kance (kac kae) conscious, be -/aware of..
kangu (kau) dog n. 'canine'
kanla (-) canal between points..via..
kanmo (kan) can be able to do..under..
kanpi (-) compete with..over..
kanra (-) cane n. rod/staff
kanti (-) account bill for..to •* by
kapli (kal) complete by standard..
kapma (-) cap/hat
kapni (kap) open, be -/not shut
kapta (-) captain of..
karci (-) heart of., 'cardiac'
karda (-) card n.
karku (-) crack, be a -/fissure in..
karsa (kas) across..from..
karti (-) cart/carriage/wagon
kasfa (kaf) punish..for ..by doing..
kasni (-) cow/cattle 'kine'
katca (-) watch/observe..do..
katli (kat kai) quality, have -/feature..
katma (-) cat n. a feline animal
katna (-) cotton from source..
keen (kec kei) sad, be - about., 'regret'
kekti (-) kick v.t.
kemdi (kern) chemical, a pure instance of..
kenti (ken) question about..by..to..
kerju (kej keu) care for/take - of..
kerti (ker) air, a quantity of ketli (ket) kettle of/containing..
ketpi (-) ticket to..from..on..for..
kicmu (kic kiu) doctor, -s..for..with.. 'cure'
kflto (kil) thousandfold of., 'kilo-'
kind (kin kii) with../companion of..in..
kinku (kik) keen, -er/sharper than..
kitsa (-) copulate with., 'coitus'
klabu (kla) cloth, an amount of klada (-) cloud of airmass..
kleda (-) cold, -er than..by..
klesi (kle) class of..with property..
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klini (-) clean, -er than..
klipu (-) keep/retain..
kliri (kli) clear, -er than..
klogu (klo) closed, be - , as of a door
kokfa (kok) cook..for..
kolme (-) coal, an amount of kolro (kol koo) color, be a - perceived by.,
komcu (kom) comb n.
komfu (kof kou) comfortable, be more - than..to
kompi (-) company chartered by..for.,
konbi (-) vagina of.,
konsu (kos) consul of..in..
konte (kon) count, the number in set.,
kopca (kop) copy of..
korce (koc koe) cord/rope/an amount of -age
korji (koj koi) order/command..to do.,
korka (-) cork from source.,
korti (kor) body of., 'corpus'
korva (kov koa) curve through pts..
kosta (-) coat n.
kraco (-) smash..into pulp., 'crush'
kraju (raj) scratch..; v.t.
kraku (kra) cry/cry out; v.i.
krani (-) drive/make..go to..from..
kredi (-) credit..with..under..
kreni (kre) ray from energy source..
krido (kri) believe..about.. 'creed'
krOu (-) wheel of device/vehicle..
krima (-) cream from source..
kriim (-) nut of plant., 'kernel'
kroli (kro) flow/current from..to..'crawl'
kruli (-) cruel, be - to..
kruma (kru) room of/in..
kubra (kub) broad, be -er/wider than..by..
kukra (kuk) quick, be faster than..by..
kultu (kul) culture of people(s)..
kumtu (kum kuu) common to/universal in set..
kunci (kuc kui) related to..by relation..'kin'
kupta (kup) cup of/containing..
kurfa (kur) square with vertices..
kurma (-) worm n.
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kurni (kun) wam..of/about danger..
kurti (-) curtain of/across aperture..
kusmo (kus kuo) custom/habit of..under..
kuspo (-) spreads/expands over/into..
kusti (-) costly, more - than..for..
kutla (klu) cut..into pieces..
kutra (-) bitter, more - than..to..
kuvga (kuv kua) cover../be a - of..
kuvla (-) cave/cavity/cavem in..
ladzo (-) louse n.
lakse (laic) wax from source..
laldo (lal) old, -er than..by..
landi (lan lai) land, a parcel/expanse of - langa (lag laa) long, -er than..by..
larte (lar lae) art of making..among..
lasti (las) elastic, more - than..
latci (-) light, -er than..by..in field..
ledri (led) lightning from..to..
ledzo (lez) left of../-hand side of..
lelpi (lei lep) level in gravity field..
lengu (len leu) language of people(s)..
lenki (lek) electric, - charge on..; -ity
lenzo (leo) lens of system..
lerci (ler) letter to..from..about..
lesta (les) east of../an -ern part of..
letei (let lei) let/permit..do..under..
letra (lea) letter/-al in character-set..
lidji (lid) religion of people(s)..
likro (lio) liquor/distilled spirits
llkta (lik) week of month/year..
lOfa (lil) law against..by..under.'legal'
limp (lim lij) limit of..
linbu (-) linen from source..
linco (lie) lean, thinner than..by..
lista (lis) list of set..in order..
litla (lit) light from source..on..
litmi (liu) restrain../keep..from doing..
lodji (lod) logic for getting..from..
logla (log) Loglan language
logli (-) Loglander person
loglo (-) Loglandic culture
lokti (loi) local to../confined to..
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lufta (-) lift..to..from..in field..
lunli (lul) wool from source..
lunra (lun) lunar, pert, to Earth's moon
lusta (lus) west of../a -ern part of..
madji (maj) magician; do magic before..
madzo (mad mao) make..out of., 'made'
magne (-) magnet n.; -ic a.
makri (-) mark, be worth., -s; default 1
malbi (mal) sick with..from.. 'malady'
malna (man) milk from source..
mande (-) manage function..in..
manko (mak) mouth of..
manti (-) ant of hill/colony..
marka (mra mar) mark, be a - on..made by..
marli (-) mile, be., -s long; default 1
marpi (-) snake/serpent 'reptile*
marte (mae) market of community., 'mart'
matci (mac mai) machine for use/function..
matma (mat mam maa) mother of..by father..
megdo (meg) millionfold of., 'mega-'
melno (-) melon from source..
mendi (men) male of species., 'men'
menki (mek) eye of..
mensa (mea) month of year., 'menses'
merji (mer) marry, be -ied to..; spouse
merka (-) American dialect
meriti (-) American person
merko (-) American culture
merE (mel mei) measure..to be..on scale.,
metca (-) match/incendiary device
metli (met) metal, be -ic/made of metro (meo) meter, be., -s long; default 1
nridju (mid mij) middle/at the center of.,
imksa (mis) mixture of ingredients.,
imkti (mik) millionth part of., 'micro-'
mildo (-) mild, be gentle to/with..
mi]fa (mia) meal composed of dishes.,
milti (mil) thousandth part of., 'milli-'
minku (miu) mineral, ore from source.,
imnta (-) minute, lasts., -s; default 1
mipli (mip mii) example of.,
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ndrdo (mir) ten-thousand of., 'myriad'
misme (-) maize/com from source.,
mitro (mit mio) meat from source.,
modvi (mov moi) motive for..to do..under..
mold (-) mill of community.,
molro (-) soft, -er/more malleable than.,
monca (mon moa) mountain of landmass..
monza (moz) morning of day.,
mardu (mro mou) more, exceeds.tin prop'ty.. by..
morto (mor) dead a. 'mortal'
motd (moc) motor n.
mrenu (mre) man n. 'men'
mroza (roz roa) hammer n.
mubre (mub) wood from source.,
munce (mun) community of organisms.,
murki (muk) monkey n.
mursi (mur) sea of planet.,
muslo (mus) muscle of.,
imitce (mut muc mue) much, more extreme than..in..
muvdo (muv muo) move to..from..over path..
muzgi (muz mui) music by composer..
nable (nab) problem to..in doing task..
nadri (nad) sodium Na
nadzo (naz nao) now/simultaneous with..
najda (naj) knife n.
nakso (-) fix..for use/user..
naMi (nail) nail n.
namd (nam) name of..to/used by..
nanda (-) knot in/between..
nanti (nan) billionth part of., 'nano-'
nardu (nau) difficult for..under.. 'hard'
narmi (-) army of..
narti (-) apart separate from..
natli (nat nai) night, -time of day..
natra (nar naa) natural/not caused by man
nazbi (-) nose of..
nedza (ned nea) next to..
negda (neg) egg of/from source..
nemdi (-) enemy of..in struggle..
nenri (nen nei) in/-side/interior of., 'inner'
nensu (-) nest of..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
nerbi (neb) necessary for process..
nerji (nej) energy, have more - than..by..
nervo (nev) nervous about., 'nervy'
nesta (nes) honest with..about..
netre (net) net n.
nidla (-) needle n.
nigro (nig) black, -er than..
nikle (-) nickel Ni
nikri (nik) cheese from source., 'curd'
dlca (-) beneath/vertically below..in..
nimla (nim nia) animal n.
nirda (-) bird n.
nirli (nil) girl n.
nime (nin nie) year of epoch..
nitd (nit) neat, -er than..
dtro (-) nitrogen N
nordi (nod) north of../a -em part of..
norji (-) orange, be more - than..
norma (nom noa) average, the - ..of., 'normal'
notbi (not) other, not same as., 'not be'
numcu (num nuu) number n.
nurvi (nuv) nerve of..; body-part 'neuro-'
nutra (-) neutral in fight..between..
nuzvo (nuz) news about..from source..
packe (-) pocket of garment..
padzi (paz) cushion/pillow 'padded'
pafko (-) dig..up out of..
palci (-) polish n.
palto (-) potato from source..
panba (pan) pan n.
pandi (-) pound, be worth., -s; default 1
panki (-) panic, be -ked by.,
pantu (-) pants/trousers
papre (pre) paper n.
parti (par pai) part of whole.,
pasko (pas pak pao) past, before..; default now
paspo (-) passport issued to..by..for..
pasti (-) paste n.
patce (pac pae) apparatus/device for doing.,
patpe (pat) pot n.
pazda (pad) pause, wait for..before..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
pelpi (-) leather/skin/hide from..'pelt'
klogu (klo) closed, be - , as of a door
kokta (kok) cook..for.. kokne (-) coal, an amount of kolro (kol koo) color, be a - perceived by.,
komcu (kom) comb n.
komfu (kof kou) comfortable, be more - than..to
kompi (-) company chartered by..for..
konbi (-) vagina of.,
konsu (kos) consul of..in..
konte (kon) count, the number in set.,
kopca (kop) copy of..
koree (koc koe) cord/rope/an amount of -age
korji (koj koi) order/command..to do.,
korka (-) cork from source.,
korti. (kor) body of., 'corpus'
korva (kov koa) curve through pts..
kosta (-) coat n.
kraco (-) smash..into pulp., 'crush'
kraju (raj) scratch..; v.t.
kraku (kra) cry/cry out; v.i.
krani (-) drive/make..go to..from..
kredi (-) credit..with..under..
kreni (kre) ray from energy source..
krido (kri) believe..about.. 'creed'
krilu (-) wheel of device/vehicle..
krima (-) cream from source..
krinu (-) nut of plant., 'kernel'
kroli (kro) flow/current from..to..'crawl'
kruli (-) cruel, be - to..
kruma (kru) room of/in..
kubra (kub) broad, be -er/wider than..by..
kukra (kuk) quick, be faster than..by..
kultu (kul) culture of people(s)..
kumtu (kum kuu) common to/universal in set..
kunci (kuc kui) related to..by relation..'kin'
kupta (kup) cup of/containing..
kurfa (kur) square with vertices..
kurma (-) worm n.
kurni (kun) wam..of/about danger..
kurti (-) curtain of/across aperture..
kusmo (kus kuo) custom/habit of..under..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
kuspo (-) spreads/expands over/into..
kusti (-) costly, more - than..for..
kutla (klu) cut..into pieces..
kutra (-) bitter, more - than..to..
kuvga (kuv kua) cover../be a - of..
kuvla (-) cave/cavity/cavern in..
ladzo (-) louse n.
lakse (lak) wax from source..
laldo (lal) old, -er than..by..
landi (lan lai) land, a parcel/expanse of langa (lag laa) long, -er than..by..
larte (lar lae) art of making..among..
lasti (las) elastic, more - than..
latci (-) light, -er than..by..in field..
ledri (led) lightning from..to..
ledzo (lez) left of../-hand side of..
lelpi (lei lep) level in gravity field..
lengu (len leu) language of people(s)..
lenki (lek) electric, - charge on..; -ity
lenzo (leo) lens of system..
lerci (ler) letter to..from..about..
lesta (les) east of../an -ern part of..
letei (let lei) let/permit..do..under..
letra (lea) letter/-al in character-set..
lidji (lid) religion of people(s)..
likro (lio) liquor/distilled spirits
likta (lik) week of month/year..
lilfa (lil) law against..by..under.'legal*
limji (lim lij) limit of..
linbu (-) linen from source..
linco (lie) lean, thinner than..by..
lista (lis) list of set..in order..
litla (lit) light from source..on»
litmi (liu) restrain../keep..from doing..
lodji (lod) logic for getting..from..
logla (log) Loglan language
logli (-) Loglander person
loglo (-) Loglandic culture
lokti (loi) local to../confined to..
lufta (-) lift..to..from..in field..
limli (lul) wool from source..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
lunra (lun) lunar, pert, to Earth's moon
lusta (lus) west of../a -ern part of..
madji (maj) magician; do magic before..
madzo (mad mao) make..out of., 'made'
magne (-) magnet n.; -ic a.
makri (-) mark, be worth., -s; default 1
malbi (mal) sick with..from.. 'malady'
malna (man) milk from source..
mande (-) manage function..in..
manko (mak) mouth of..
manti (-) ant of hill/colony..
marka (mra mar) mark, be a - on..made by..
marli (-) mile, be., -s long; default 1
marpi (-) snake/serpent 'reptile'
marte (mae) market of community., 'mart'
matci (mac mai) machine for use/function..
matma (mat mam maa) mother of ..by father..
megdo (meg) millionfold of., 'mega-'
melno (-) melon from source..
mendi (men) male of species., 'men'
menki (mek) eye of..
mensa (mea) month of year., 'menses'
merji (mer) marry, be -ied to..; spouse
merka (-) American dialect
merki (-) American person
merko (-) American culture
merli (mel mei) measure..to be..on scale.,
metca (-) match/incendiary device
metli (met) metal, be -ic/made of metro (meo) meter, be., -s long; default 1
midju (mid mij) middle/at the center of.,
miksa (mis) mixture of ingredients.,
mikti (mik) millionth part of., 'micro-'
mildo (-) mild, be gentle to/with..
miifa (mia) meal composed of dishes.,
milti (mil) thousandth part of., 'milli-'
minku (miu) mineral, ore from source.,
minta (-) minute, lasts., -s; default 1
mipli (mip mii) example of.,
mirdo (mir) ten-thousand of., 'myriad'
nrisme (-) maize/com from source.,
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mitro (mit mio) meat from source.,
modvi (mov moi) motive for ..to do..under..
molci (-) mill of community.,
molro (-) soft, -er/more malleable than.,
monca (mon moa) mountain of landmass..
monza (moz) morning of day.,
mordn (mro mou) more, exceeds..in prop'ty.. by..
morto (mor) dead a. 'mortal'
motci (moc) motor n.
mrenu (mre) man n. 'men'
mroza (roz roa) hammer n.
mubre (mub) wood from source.,
munce (mun) community of organisms.,
murki (muk) monkey n.
mursi (mur) sea of planet.,
muslo (mus) muscle of.,
mutce (mut muc mue) much, more extreme than..in..
rauvdo (muv muo) move to..from..over path..
muzgi (muz mui) music by composer..
nable (nab) problem to..in doing task..
nadri (nad) sodium Na
nadzo (naz nao) now/simultaneous with..
najda (naj) knife n.
nakso (-) fix..for use/user..
naldi (nal) nail n.
namei (nam) name of..to/used by..
nanda (-) knot in/between..
nanti (nan) billionth part of., 'nano-'
nardu (nau) difficult for..under.. 'hard'
narmi (-) army of..
narti (-) apart separate from..
natli (nat nai) night, -time of day..
natra (nar naa) natural/not caused by man
nazbi (-) nose of..
nedza (ned nea) next to..
negda (neg) egg of/from source..
nemdi (-) enemy of..in struggle..
nenri (nen nei) in/-side/interior of., 'inner'
nensu (-) nest of..
nerbi (neb) necessary for process..
nerji (nej) energy, have more - than..by..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
nervo (nev) nervous about., 'nervy'
nesta (nes) honest with..about..
netre (net) net n.
nidla (-) needle n.
nigro (nig) black, -er than..
nikle (-) nickel Ni
nikri (nik) cheese from source., 'curd'
nilca (-) beneath/vertically below..in..
nimla (nim nia) animal n.
nirda (-) bird n.
nirli (nil) girl n.
nime (nin nie) year of epoch..
nitci (nit) neat, -er than..
nitro (-) nitrogen N
nordi (nod) north of../a -ern part of,.
norji (-) orange, be more - than..
norma (nom noa) average, the - ..of., 'normal'
notbi (not) other, not same as., 'not be’
numcu (num nuu) number n.
nurvi (nuv) nerve of..; body-part 'neuro-'
nutra (-) neutral in fight..between..
mizvo (nuz) news about..from source..
packe (-) pocket of garment..
padzi (paz) cushion/pillow 'padded'
palko (-) dig..up out of..
palci (-) polish n.
palto (-) potato from source..
panba (pan) pan n.
pandi (-) pound, be worth., -s; default 1
panki (-) panic, be -ked by.,
pantu (-) pants/trousers
papre (pre) paper n.
parti (par pai) part of whole.,
pasko (pas pak pao) past, before..; default now
paspo (-) passport issued to..by..for..
pasti (-) paste n.
patce (pac pae) apparatus/device for doing.,
patpe (pat) pot n.
pazda (pad) pause, wait for..before..
pelpi (-) leather/skin/hide from..'pelt'
petto (-) yellow, -er than..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
penbi (-) pen/writing instrument
pendi (ped) hang from., 'pendulum'
penja (pej) sponge n.
penso (pen peo) think about., 'pensive'
penre (-) parent, is a - of..by..
penta (pet pea) point, be a/the - of..
perli (-) pear from source..
pemu (per peu) person/people
perti (pei) pertain to../concern..
pesro (-) peso, be worth., -s; default 1
pesta (-) peseta, be worth., -s; def'lt 1
petci (pec) pay..to..for goods/service..
petri (-) distribute/share-out among..
pidri (-) page of document..
pifno (pif pio) frequent, more - than..under..
pikti (pik) trillionth part of., 'pico-'
pilno (pil) plane through pts..; flat
pinca (pic) urine of., 'piss'
pinda (pid) pin n.
pingu (-) penis of..
pinsi (-) pencil n.
pint! (pin) paint n.
pirle (pie) parallel to..
pisku (piu) piece of..
piami (pis) peace, be at - with..
plado (lad) plow n.
plata (pla) plate n.
pleci (pie) play with..
pligo (-) apple from source..
plizo (pli) use..for..
pluci (plu) please..by..
pluma (lum lua) feather of., 'plume'
poldi (pod) nation of people., 'polity'
panda (poa) respond..to..under..
panja (-) Japanese language 'Nippon-jin'
ponji (-) Japanese person 'Nippon-jin'
ponjo (-) Japanese culture 'Nippon-jin'
ponsu (pon pou) own..under law/custom..
porju (poj) pig n. 'pork'
porli (por poi) power, -ful; have - over..
posta (pot) post/mail..to..from..by..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
pozfa (poz) oppose..on issue..
prali (ral) profit be the - to..from..
prano (-) run to..from..over path..
prase (pra) process, -ceeding thru stages..
prati (rat) price of..to..set by vendor..
preni (-) prisoner of..for act/state..
prire (pri) behind/in back of., 'rear'
prizi (riz) private to..
proju (pro) produce..by process..
proza (-) prose, be a - work by..
pruci (pru) test, a - for..among.. 'proof'
prusa (rus) approve plan/action..by..
prutu (ruu) protest..to..by doing..
publi (pub) public, more - among..than..
pubmu (pum) lead Pb
pucto (puc puo) push..to..from..via..
pudja (-) thumb of..
pudru (pud) powder from source..
pulso (pul) impulse, have an - to do..
pundo (-) pound, weigh., -s; default 1
punfo (-) be purer than., 'uniform'
puntu (pun puu) pain, -ed; hurt/feel - in..
purcu (-) poor, -er than..in..
purda (pur pua) word, be the - for..in lang..
purfe (puf pue) perfect by standard..
purpu (pup) purple, more - than..
radjo (-) radio receiver in network..
rande (rad rae) round/circular; a disk/circle
ran jo (-) range to - /extend over..
ranta (ran) rotten, be more - than..
rapcu (-) ripe, -er than..
rasto (ras) brass, made of ratcu (rau) rat n.
raznu (raz) reason for..'s doing..under..
redro (red) red, -der than..
renro (ren reo) throw..to/at..
resfu (res ref) garment/clothing 'dress'
resra (-) restaurant of community..
resto (ret) rest/repose/lie down on..
retca (rec rea) differ, be -ent from..in..
retpi (rep) reply..to questioner..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
revri (rev rei) dream../that.. 'reverie'
ridle (rid) read..from surface/document..
rilri (rii) regular, more - than..
rindi (-) Amerind person
rinje (rin) ring, be a -/band on/around..
rinta (rit) rhythm, be the - of..
rirda (rir) record of..on medium..
rirgu (-) buttock/-s of., 'rear-end'
rismi (-) rice from source..
rispe (ris) respect..for doing/being..
ritco (ric) right of../-hand side of..
ritma (-) wheat from source..
rodja (roj) grow into..
rodlu (-) road between points..via..
rofsu (rof ros) rough, -er/more abrasive than..
rolgu (rol) roll/-s/be a -er/cylinder
romni (-) Roman person 'Romano'
rozme (-) rose from source..
rubli (-) ruble, worth., -s; default 1
rulni (rul rui) rule prescribing..to..imder..
rulpi (-) rupee, be worth., -s; default 1
ruska (-) Russian language 'Russkii'
ruski (-) Russian person 'Russkii'
rusko (-) Russian culture 'Russkii'
rutma (rut rua) route/path to..from..via pts..
sadji (saj) sage, wiser than..about..
sadna (-) acid -ic
sagro (-) cigar n.
sakli (sak) sack/bag of/containing..
sakta (-) sugar n. 'saccharine'
saldi (sal) solid below temp. & pressure..
salfa (saf) sail of vessel..
samto (sam sao) same, be the - thing as..
sanca (sna) sand from source..
sange (-) suggest action..to..
sanpa (san saa) sign of..to..urging..under..
sanla (-) umbrella n.
sanse (sas sae) sense stimulus..under..
santi (sai) quiet, -er than., 'silent*
sapla (sap) simple, -er than..in respect..
sami (sar) sour, more - than..to..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
satci (sac) start/origin/beginning of..
satro (sat) stroke/rub..with..
sekci (sec) sexual, behave -ly toward..
sekmi (-) second, lasts., -s; default 1
sekre (-) secretary of
sekta (sek) insect n,
selji (sel) self of../-image of..
senai (ses) science of/about..
sento (seo) holy/sacred to., 'saint'
setci (set sei) set/group of elements..
setfa (sea) put/place/set..on/at.. 'set'
sidza (siz) seed of organism..
sigre (-) cigarette n.
siltu (sil siu) shake/oscillate at rate..
simba (sib) lion n.
simci (sim sii) seem to be..to..under..
sinma (sin) cinema made by..
sima (sir) certain/sure that..is true
sisto (sis sio) system of function..& parts..
sitci (sic) city with hinterland..
sitfia (sit sif sia) site/place/location of..
skaca (-) Scottish dialect
dead (-) Scot/-tish person
skaco (-) Scottish culture
skafi (-) coffee n.
skalu (ska) scale measuring..among..
skapi (-) skin/rind/outer covering of..
skara (-) skirt n.
skati (-) sky, an expanse of - at place.,
skesa (-) kiss..on.,
skitu (ski) sit on.,
skizo (kiz) ski n.
skori (sko) screw n. a threaded device
slano (sla) slow, -er than by..
sliti (sli) sweet, -er than..to..
slopu (slo) slope, steeper than..by..
sluko (slu) lock of/on..
smano (sma) smoke from source..
smike (smi) secret, be kept - from..by..
smina (min) mind of..
smupi (smu) smooth, -er than..by..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
snatu (-) tin Sn
saeku (sne) neck of..
snice (nic) snow, a quantity/expanse of aaire (sni) near, -er than..to..by..
snola (sno) entail/implies..under rules..
sodi (sol) interact, -s socially with..
sofna (-) sofa n.
sokcu (-) oak from source..
solda (sod) soldier of army..
solra (-) solar pert, to Earth's sun
solte (sot) salt, an amount of sonda (son soa) sound, a - emitted by..
sonli (soi) sleep v. be asleep
sordi (sro) store/deposit/reserve of..
sorgu (sog) ear of., 'aural'
sorme (som soe) sister of..thru.. 'sorority'
spadi (-) mattress/pallet 'pad'
spali (pal) side of..bounded by edges..
spana (-) Spanish language
spam (-) Spanish person
spano (-) Spanish culture
spasi (spa) space/volume occupied by..
sped (peb) specific to..among..
sped (-) species of genus..
sped (spe) experience., 'spend'
spetu (-) spit/spittle of..
spicu (spi) spirit/ghost of..seen by..
spopa (spo) hope for../that..happens
spori (-) spring n. an elastic device
spuro (spu) expert/skilled at..under..
sputa (put) spoon n.
srisu (riu) serious, be - about..
srite (sri) write..on surface..
stadi (sta) stage of hall/theater..
staga (-) stalk/stem/trunk of..
stali (tai) stand on..
stana (-) station of transport system..
stari (-) surprise..by.. 'startle'
steti (ste) sentence about..in language..
stifa (-) stiff, -er than..in direction..
stire (tir tie) stairs of structure..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
stise (sti) cease/stop doing..
stolo (sto) stay/remain at/with..
stuci (stu) story about..told by.,
stude (-) student of ..at institution.,
stuka (-) stick of/made of.,
stuli (tui) adjust..for function.,
suemi (-) swim to..from..via..
sudna (sua) sudden, be -/abrupt to.,
suksi (sku) succeed in..by effort.,
sulba (sul) swelling at/in/on..caused by.,
sulfa (-) sulfur S
sumji (sum) sum, mathematical - of..plus..
sundi (sud sui) send..to..from...via route.,
sunho (sun suo) son of..parents..and..
supta (sup) soup/stew of ingredients.,
surdi (sur) south of../a -ern part of.,
suraa (sru) hurt/harm/injure..at/in..
surva (suv) serve..in/by..; a -ant of.,
sutme (sut) smell n. an odor emitted by.,
takma (-) attack..with goal.,
tadco (-) tobacco n.
takna (tak taa) talk to../speak to..about..
talna (-) Italian language
talni (-) Italian person
talno (-) Italian culture
tarci (tar) star of galaxy..
targo (tag tao) argue with/against..that..
tarle (tal tae) tired by effort..
tarmu (tarn tau) weapon for use., 'arm1
tasgu (-) disgusted, be -ed by..
tatro (tat) theater of community..
tcaku (cak) shock..with/by..
tcali (cal) wall of/around..
tcaro (tea) car/truck; a motor vehicle
tcati (-) tea from source..
tcela (-) wing of..
tcena (-) chain, a length of teem (tee) penetrate..in dir'n.. 'thru'
tceti (-) chest of..; body part
tcidi (-) food, a - of/edible to., 'feed*
tciha (-) child/offspring/progeny of..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
tcina (-) chin of..
tciro (-) mat n.
tcoko (-) chocolate, an am't of - 'cocoa'
tcori (-) authority, be an - in/on/over..
tcure (tcu) picture of..by..
tedji (ted tej tei) attend pay attention to..
tekto (-) architect of..
telfo (-) telephone rec'r in network..
telvi (-) television rec'r in network..
tenri (ten) increase by..in..during..
tenta (-) tent, a fabric dwelling of..
tepli (tep) temple/church of religion..
terla (tel) terrestrial, pert, to Earth testi (-) testicle of., 'testes'
tetcu (tec teu) stretch to length..from..
tetri (tet) weather of place/region..
tidjo (tid tio) heavy, -ier than..by..in f'Id..
tifru (tiu) offer..to..for use..
tigra (-) tiger n.
tilba (-) tail of..
tinmo (tin) ink, an amount of tirca (tic) wire, a length of tisra (tia) choose/select..from set..
titci (tci) eat v.t.
titfa (-) breast of., 'teat'
tobme (tob toe) table n.
tocki (-) key, a - to lock..
togri (tog toi) agree with..about/that..
tokna (toa) take..away from..
tokri (-) chalk from source..
tomki (tok) automatic in function..
tomto (-) tomato from source..
tongu (-) tongue of..; body-part
tomi (ton) twist under load., 'torque'
tosku (-) skull of..
totco (tco) touch..with..
totnu (tot) thick, -er than..by.. 'stout*
tovru (tov) over/vert'ly above..in field..
trad (rac) travel to..from..via route..
tradu (tra) true by rule/standard..
trali (-) tray of/containing..
trana (tan) turn/rotate around axis..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
trati (rai) try to do/attain..by..
treei (-) interest/-s../be -ing to..in..
trelu (rel reu) rail n. -ing/bar
trena (tre) train of system..
tricu (tri) tree n.
trida (-) street of..
trili (til) attract..by doing/being..
trime (rim rie) tool for doing., 'instrument'
troku (tro) rock/stone from source..
troE (tol) control..in performance..
troti (-) trot to..from..; trotter
trufa (ruf) roof of..
truke (tru) structure of..
tsani (-) sneeze v.i.
tsero (tse) error in..by standard..
tsime (tsi) crime punished by..among..
tsodi (-) hate..for doing/being..
tsufi (tsu) sufficient/enough for..
tubE (tub) tube, a length of -ing
tugle (tul tue) leg of..; body-part
tulpi (-) tulip from source..
turka (tur tua) work on/at..with goal..
vaksi (-) vaccine against disease..in..
valda (vad) develop into/toward..; v.i.
valna (van vaa) violent in response to..
valpu (vap) wave in medium..
vamtu (-) vomit../throw..up on..
vapro (vao) gas, -eous above temp., 'vapor'
vatlu (vat vau) value of..to..for use..
vedma (ved vea) sell..to..for price., 'vend'
vegri (-) green, -er than..
vendu (ven veu) poison, -ous to., 'venom'
veslo (veo) vessel of /containing..
vetci (vet vei) happen/occur to., 'event'
vetfa (-) invent..for use..
vidju (vij viu) view of..from point..
vidre (vid vie) idea about..by thinker..
vinjo (vin) wine, an amount of virsa (vir) verse, a poem by..
virta (vit) ad for..in medium., 'advertise'
visra (-) gut of., 'viscera'
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Notebook 3-Phonology
vizka (viz vik via) see..against.. 'vision'
vlaci (-) wash..in..
vlako (via) lake of landmass..
volsi (vol voi) voice of individual..
volta (-) volt, have..-s e.m.f.; def'lt 1
valti (val vai) vault/jump over/across..
vrano (-) liver of..
vreti (vre) vertical in gravity field..
vrici (vri) river of landmass..
zakra (-) grind..into powder., 'crush*
zavlo (zav zao) bad, worse than..for.. 'evil'
zavno (zan) oven of..
zbuma (zbu) explode into., 'boom'
zfnko (-) zinc Zn
zlupi (-) lip of..
zvoto (zvo) out/-side of/exterior to..
LIST 2. PRIMITIVE PREDICATES, E-L (Sorted by English)
account bill for..to..by.. kanti (-)
acid -ic sadna (-)
across ..from., karsa (kas)
act do..with goal., kakto (kak kao)
ad for..in medium., 'advertise' virta (vit)
adjust ..for function., stuli (tui)
adorn ../be an -ment of., durna (dun dua)
affair of/involving., ferci (fei)
again a recurrence of., genza (gen gea)
agree with..about/that.. togri (tog toi)
air a quantity of - kerti (ker)
American culture merko (-)
American dialect of English merka (-)
American person merki (-)
Amerind person rindl (-)
amused be - by../by doing., cmiza (cmi)
angle between pts.. 'jagged' jaglo (jag jao)
angry at..for.. 'growl' groci (roi)
animal n. nimla (rum nia)
ant of hill/colony., manti (-)
anus of., gasno (gas gao)
apart separate from., narti (-)
apparatus device for doing.,
patce (pac pae)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
apple from source., pligo (-)
approve plan/action..by., prusa (rus)
arch over/be an - over., farka (-)
architect of., tekto (-)
argue with/against..that.. targo (tag tao)
arm of.., body-part barma (bar baa)
army of., narmi (-)
art of making..among.. larte (lar lae)
ashamed of doing/being., comtu (com cot cou)
attack ..with goal., takma (-)
attend pay attention to., tedji (ted tej tei)
attract ..by doing/being., trili (til)
authority be an - in/on/over., tcori (-)
automatic in function., tomki (tok)
average the - ..of., 'normal' norma (nom noa)
awake be - ddja (cid)
bad worse than..for.. 'evil' zavlo (zav zao)
balance -d under forces., balpi (bal)
balcony of building., balko (-)
ball sphere n., spherical a. balma (bam)
banana from source., banla (-)
band orchestra of players., bendu (ben beu)
bank of community., banko (-)
bar tavern of community., barcu (-)
base foundation/basis of., basni (bas)
basket of/containing., banse (-)
bathe in.. band (ban)
bay of coast., banbe (-)
be purer than., 'uniform' punfo (-)
be real/exist for..under., dzabi (dza)
beautiful more - than., bilti (bil bii)
bed n. bedpu (bed)
bee n. bifci (-)
beefsteak an amount of - bifte (-)
beer an amount of - birsu (-)
beg request..of/from., begco (beg beo)
behave ..under., bivdu (biv bid biu)
behind in back of., 'rear' prire (pri)
believe ..about., 'creed' krido (kri)
bell producing sound/note., bekli (bel)
belly abdomen of., beldu (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
beneath vertically below..in.. miM (-)
bent more -/crooked than., betcu (bet)
between ..and., 'beside* bitsa (bit bia)
big -ger than..by.. 'gross' groda (gro)
billiards play - with., bilra (-)
billion -fold of., 'giga-' gigdo (gig)
billionth -part of., 'nano-' nanti (nan)
bird n. nirda (-)
bite ..on/at., ditka (dit)
bitter more - than..to.. kutra (-)
black -er than., nigro (nig)
blade of tool/weapon., blada (bla)
block of material., bloku (-)
blood of organism., bludi (blu)
blouse n. blusa (-)
blue -r than., blanu (-)
board of material., barta (-)
boat n. botsu (bot bou)
body of., 'corpus' korti (kor)
boil at temperature., bulju (buj)
bomb n. bomba (-)
bone of., bongu (bon)
book about..by.. bukcu (buk buu)
boot n. butpa (-)
born be - to., brana (bra)
bottle of/containing., batpi (bap)
bough limb/branch of., badjo (baj)
bow for arrows., borku (bor)
box of/containing., bakso (bao)
boy n. botci (boi)
brain of., berna (-)
brake of., breko (rek)
brass made of - rasto (ras)
brave -er than..under.. briga (rig ria)
bread an amount ofbreba (reb)
break into pieces., broko (bro)
breast of., 'teat' titfa (-)
breathe v.t. brute (rue)
breeze wind from., brize (bri)
brick n. bciku (rik)
bridge over/across., cibra (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
brilliant brighter than..by.. ME (ril)
broad be -er/wider than..by.. kubra (kub)
broken inoperable broda (rod)
brooch n. bruci (-)
brother of..through.. Midi (bru)
brown -er than., brona (-)
brush n. brocu (roc rou)
bucket pail of/containing., bakto (bak)
build ..from materials., balci (bac bai)
bulb of plant/species., bulbi (bul bui)
bundle package of/containing., badlo (bad)
bum at temperature.. caM> (cab cao)
butter an amount of - batra (-)
buttock -s of., 'rear-end' rirgu (-)
button of., botni (-)
cabaret night-club of., kabre (-)
cabin of., kabni (-)
cafe of community., ckafe (-)
cake n. 'gateau, torte' grato (-)
camel genus Camelus «nnie (-)
camera n. kamra (kar)
camp of at kampo (-)
can be able to do..under.. kanmo (kan)
canal between points..via.. kanla (-)
cane n. rod/staff kanra (-)
cap n. hat kapma (-)
captain of., kapta (-)
car -/truck, a motor vehicle tcaro (tea)
carbon C carbo (car)
card n. karda (-)
care for/take - of., kerju (kej keu)
carry ..to..from.. 'bear' berti (ber bei)
cart carriage/wagon karti (-)
cat n. a feline animal katma (-)
cause -/be a - of ..under., ckozu (cko)
cave cavity/cavern in.. kuvla (-)
cease stop doing., stise (sti)
certain sure that..is true sima (sir)
chain a length of - tcena (-)
chair n. cersi (cei)
chalk from source., tokri (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
chance random under., canse (can cae)
change into/become..from.. cenja (cej cea)
chart map of..by.. cartu (cat)
cheese from source., 'curd' nikri (nik)
chemical a pure instance of., kemdi (kem)
chest of.., body part teeti (-)
chief of..for activity.. cefE (cef)
child offspring/progeny of., tdha (-)
chin of., tcina (-)
Chinese culture 'Zhungwo' jungo (-)
Chinese language 'Zhungwo' junga (-)
Chinese person 'Zhungwo' jungi (-)
chlorine Cl clori (clo)
chocolate an am't of - 'cocoa' tcoko (-)
choose select..from set., tisra (tia)
cigar n. sagro (-)
cigarette n. sigre (-)
cinema made by., sinma (sin)
city with hinterland., sitd (sic)
class of..with property., klesi (kle)
clean -er than.. Mini (-)
clear -er than., kliri (kli)
clock n. jokla (jok)
close be -d, as of a door Mogu (klo)
cloth an amount of - klabu (kla)
cloud of airmass.. klada (-)
coal an amount of - kolme (-)
coat n. kosta (-)
coffee n. skafi (-)
cold -er than..by.. kleda (-)
collar of garment., kalra (-)
color be a - perceived by.. kolro (kol koo)
comb n. komcu (kom)
come from..to..via.. kamla (kam kaa)
comfortable be more - than..to komfu (kof kou)
comic be funny to..in.. kamki (-)
committee of..with task., kamti (-)
common to/universal in set., kumtu (kum kuu)
community of organisms., munce (mun)
company chartered by..for.. kompi (-)
compare ..with..in.. kambi (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
compete with..over.. kanpi (-)
complete by standard.. kapE (kal)
conscious be -/aware of., kance (kac kae)
consul of..in.. konsu (kos)
control ..in performance.. troE (tol)
cook ..for., kokfa (kok)
copper Cu cupri (cup)
copulate with., 'coitus' Mtsa (-)
copy of., kopca (kop)
cord rope/an amount of -age korce (koc koe)
cork from source., korka (-)
correct by standard., dreti (dre)
costly more - than..for.. kusti (-)
cotton from source., katna (-)
cough up/out., kafso (-)
count the number in set., konte (kon)
country of people., gunti (gun gui)
cover ../be a - of., kuvga (kuv kua)
cow cattle 'kine' kasni (-)
crack be a -/fissure in.. karku (-)
crazy insane/mad 'frenzy' frelo (-)
cream from source., krima (-)
credit ..with..under.. kredi (-)
crime punished by..among.. tsime (tsi)
cruel be - to., kruli (-)
cry cry out, v.i. kraku (kra)
culture of people(s).. kultu (kul)
cup of/containing., kupta (kup)
curtain of/across aperture., kurti (-)
curve through pts.. korva (kov koa)
cushion pillow 'padded' padzi (paz)
custom habit of..under.. kusmo (kus kuo)
cut ..into pieces., kutla (klu)
dance to., danse (-)
danger -ous to..under.. denro (den)
dark -er than..by.. draka (rak)
daughter of..and.. detra (det dea)
day -time of day., 'daily' denli (del dei)
dead a. 'mortal' morto (mor)
dear precious to., dipri (dip)
decide ../to do..about.. disri (dii)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
deep -er than..by.. condi (con)
delicious more - than..to., dflko (-)
design be a plan for..by.. danci (dan dai)
desire want..for.. danza (daa)
destroy v.t. Imtii (hut hui)
detail of., citlu (cil)
develop into/toward.., v.i. valda (vad)
differ be -ent from..in.. retca (rec rea)
difficult for..under.. 'hard' nardu (nau)
dig ..up out of., pafko (-)
digest .., v.t. djesi (-)
direction be in - ..from., dirco (dir dio)
dirt soil/earth from/of., dertu (der deu)
discover ..about., duvri (duv dui)
discuss ..with., dislu (diu)
disgusted be -ed by., tasgu (-)
distribute share..out among., petri (-)
do ..to., durzo (dru dur duo)
doctor -s..for..with.. 'cure' kicmu (kic kiu)
dog n. 'canine' kangu (kau)
dollar be worth..-s, default 1 dalra (-)
door of/in.. darto (dao)
doubt that..is true of., dutci (dut)
down lower than..by..in f'ld.. damni (dam)
drain of..into.. godru (-)
drawer of/containing., drara (-)
dream ../that., 'reverie' revri (rev rei)
dress gown/frock cadre (-)
drink ..from., hompi (horn hoi)
drive make..go to..from.. krani (-)
drop of liquid., drida (-)
dry -er than..by.. drani (dra)
dupe deceive/trick..about..by. dupma (dup)
dust n. dustu (dus)
ear of., 'aural' sorgu (sog)
earn ..for work/service., jurna (-)
east of../an -ern part of., lesta (les)
easy for..under.. 'facile' fasru (fas)
eat v.t. titd (tci)
edge of ..between., bidje (bie)
egg of/from source., negda (neg)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
elastic more - than., lasti (las)
electric - charge on.., -ity lenki (lek)
end of thing/process., 'final' fando (fad fao)
enemy of..in struggle., nemdi (-)
energy have more - than..by.. nerji (nej)
English culture gleco (-)
English language gleca (-)
English person gleci (-)
entail implies..under rules., saola (sno)
equal ..in/on dimension., ciktu (cik ciu)
error in..by standard., tsero (tse)
example of., mipli (mip mii)
experience v.t. 'spend' speni (spe)
expert skilled at..under.. spuro (spu)
explode into., 'boom' zbuma (zbu)
eye of., menki (mek)
face of., fasli (-)
fact about..observed by., fekto (fek feo)
fail to do/be..under.. falba (fab faa)
fall to..from.. 'fell' felda (fel fed fea)
false by standard., falji (fal fai)
family with members., famji (fam)
famous for..among., famva (-)
far -ther than..from..by.. darli (dar)
farm of community., fanra (fan)
fat plumper/stouter than., fotpa (-)
father of ..out of mother., farfu (fra far)
fear be afraid of/that., firpa (fir fia)
feather of., 'plume' pluma (lum lua)
feces of., 'stool' ctuda (ctu)
feeble weaker than..by.. fibru (fib)
feel ..about., filmo (fil fio)
female of species., femdi (fern)
fertile more - than..for.. ferti (fet)
fiction a work of - by., fikco (fik)
field of farm/community., fildi (fii)
fight ..over., 'combat' kamda (kad)
finger of., 'digit' dedtjo (ded dej)
fire be a - in.. fagro (fag)
fish n. ficli (fic)
fix ..for use/user., nakso (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
flag of., flaci (-)
flame of fire/device., flami (fla)
float on/in.. flofu (-)
floor of., fordi (-)
flow current from..to..'crawl' kroli (kro)
flower of plant., flora (lor loa)
fly n. flaki (-)
fly to..from..via.. fleti (fie)
fog be -gy/covered by - fragu (rag)
fold .. ..times, v.t. foldi (fod)
fond be -er of/prefer..to.. fundi (-)
food a - of/edible to., 'feed' tcidi (-)
fool be -ish about., 'boob' bunbo (bun)
foot of., fitpi (fit fip)
football -er/play - with., futbo (-)
force compeL.to do/be., fosli (fos foi)
fork n. forka (-)
form shape of., forma (fom foa)
frame of/around., frama (ram)
franc be worth., -s, default 1 fraki (-)
free to do/be., frezi (rez)
French culture 'Francais' fraso (-)
French language 'Francais' frasa (-)
French person 'Francais* frasi (-)
frequent more - than..under.. pifno (pif pio)
fresh -er than., frese (-)
friend of., fremi (rem)
front be in - /ahead of., firena (fre)
fruit of., fruta (fru)
full -er than..by.. folma (flo)
future after/later than., futci (fut fuc fui)
garden of family/community., gardi (-)
garment clothing 'dress' resfu (res ref)
gas -eous above temp., 'vapor' vapro (vao)
German culture 'Deutsch' dotco (-)
German language 'Deutsch' dotca (-)
German person 'Deutsch' dotci (-)
get ..from..for.. getsi (get gei)
girl n. nirli (nil)
give ..gift., 'donate' donsu (don dou)
glass made of - gliso (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
glove n. gluva (-)
go to..from..via.. godzi (god goz goi)
goat n. gotca (goa)
god of people(s).. gandi (gad)
good better than..for.. gudbi (gud gub)
govern rule over/-or of., ganii (gar gai)
grab seize..with.. jugra (jug jua)
grain from source., grunu (run)
gram weigh., -s, default 1 gramo (-)
grass a blade/expanse of - grasa (raa)
grateful be - to..for.. garti (gat)
grease fat/oil, an amount of gresa (gre)
great -er than., 'grand' grada (gra)
green -er than., vegri (-)
grey -er than., grisi (-)
grind ..into powder., 'crush' zakra (-)
group with members., grupa (gru)
grow into., rodja (roj)
guide ..to..from..via.. glida (gli)
gummy adhere/stick to., gomni (gom)
gut of., 'viscera' visra (-)
gymnast at feat., gimna (-)
hair of., herfa (her)
hammer n. mroza (roz roa)
hand of., banco (han)
hang from., 'pendulum' pendi (ped)
happen -/occur to., 'event' vetci (vet vei)
happy about., hapci (hap hai)
harbor shelter for ..from., harko (har hao)
hard more resistant than., hardu (had)
harmonious with..to., harmo (ham)
hate ..for doing/being., tsodi (-)
head of.., body-part hedto (hed)
hear ..over noise., hirti (hir)
heart of., 'cardiac' karci (-)
heavy -ier than..by..in fid., tidjo (tid tio)
help ..do., helba (hel hea)
here attend/be present at., hijra (hia)
high -er than..by..in field., ganta (gan gaa)
Hindi language hinda (-)
history of..by.. cisti (cis)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
hit ..with., 'blow' bloda (bio)
hole pit/depression in.. holdu (hoi hou)
holy sacred to., 'saint' sento (seo)
honest with..about.. nesta (nes)
hook n. 'crook' gokru (gok)
hope for../that..happens spopa (spo)
horn of.., body part homo (-)
horse n. horma (hor hoa)
hose stocking/sock hozda (-)
hospital of community., hospi (hos)
hot -ter than..by.. hatro (hat)
hotel of community., hotle (-)
hour last., -s, default 1 jorto (jor joo)
house a dwelling/home of., hasfa (has haf haa)
human be -/a - being humni (hum hun)
hundred -fold of., 'hecto-1 hekto (hek)
hundredth -part of., 'cent' centi (cen)
hunt game/quarry., janto (jan)
hurt harm/in jure., at/in.. suma (sru)
hydrogen H hidro (hid)
ice an amount of - bisli (bis)
ufia about..by thinker., vidre (vid vie)
important to..in/for.. djipo (jip jio)
impulse have an - to do., pulso (pul)
hi -side/interior of., 'inner' nenri (nen nei)
increase by..in..during.. tenri (ten)
Indian culture 'Hindi, Hindu' hindo (-)
Indian person 'Hindi, Hindu' hindi (-)
industry producing..among.. gotri (got)
infant baby of., cinta (cin)
inflate ..with..to dimension., flati (-)
ink an amount of - tinmo (tin)
insect n. sekta (sek)
insure ..against..for fee., curdi (-)
interact -s socially with., socli (sol)
interest -s../be -ing to..in.. treci (-)
invent ..for use., vetfa (-)
iron Fe femu (fen feu)
island in sea., cilda (-)
Italian culture talno (-)
Italian language talna (-)
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Italian person talni (-)
Japanese culture 'Nippon-jin' ponjo (-)
Japanese language 'Nippon-jin' ponja (-)
Japanese person 'Nippon-jin' ponji (-)
jelly an amount of - dzeli (dze)
jewel in/of jeweled object., djula (jul)
join be -ed to..at.. djine (dji)
judge ..to be.., be a - djudl (dju)
keen -er/sharper than., kinku (kik)
keep retain., klipu (-)
kettle of/containing., ketli (ket)
key a - to lock., tocki (-)
kick v.t. kekti (-)
kind be - to., ckano (cka)
kiss ..on., skesa (-)
knife n. najda (naj)
knot in/between., nanda (-)
know ..about., djano (dja)
lake of landmass.. vlako (via)
land a parcel/expanse of - landi (lan lai)
language of people(s).. lengu (len leu)
laugh at., clafo (-)
law against..by..under.'legal' lilfa (lil)
lead Pb pubmu (pum)
leaf of plant., clife (lif)
lean thinner than..by.. linco (lie)
learn ..from source., ciraa (cir cia)
leather skin/hide from..'pelt' pelpi (-)
left of../-hand side of., ledzo (lez)
leg of.., body-part tugle (tul tue)
lens of system., lenzo (leo)
let permit..do..under.. letei (let lei)
letter -al in character-set., letra (lea)
letter to..from..about.. lerci (ler)
level in gravity field., lelpi (lei lep)
lift ..to..from..in field., lirfta (-)
light -er than..by..in field., latci (-)
light from source..on.. litla (lit)
lightning from..to.. ledri (led)
like similar to..in.. clika (cli)
likely -ier than..under.. dakli (dak)
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limit of., limji (lim lij)
line through points., clina (lin lia)
linen from source., linbu (-)
lion n. simha (sib)
lip of., zlupi (-)
liquid from temp..to.. 'fluid' flidu (fli)
liquor distilled spirits likro (lio)
list of set..in order., lista (lis)
live be alive divi (liv lii)
liver of., vrano (-)
local to../confined to., lokti (loi)
lock of/on., sluko (slu)
logic for getting..from., lodji (lod)
Loglan language logla (log)
Loglander person logli (-)
Loglandic culture loglo (-)
long -er than..by., langa (lag laa)
look at., bleka (ble)
lose person/thing., dirlu (-)
loud -er than..by.. dado (cla)
louse n. ladzo (-)
love v.t. duva (clu)
lunar pert, to Earth's moon lunra (lun)
machine for use/function., matd (mac mai)
magic -ian, do - before., madji (maj)
magnet n., -ic a. magne (-)
maize corn from source., misme (-)
make ..out of., 'made' madzo (mad mao)
male of species., 'men' mendi (men)
man n. 'men' mrenu (mre)
manage function..in.. mande (-)
mark be a - on..made by., marka (mra mar)
mark be worth., -s, default 1 makri (-)
market of community., 'mart' marte (mae)
marry be -ied to.., spouse merji (mer)
mat n. tciro (-)
match incendiary device metca (-)
mattress pallet 'pad* spadi (-)
meal composed of dishes., milfa (mia)
measure ..to be..on scale., merli- (mel mei)
meat from source., mitro (mit mio)
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meet encounter..at/in.. jmite (jmi)
melon from source., melno (-)
member of set/group., 'join1 djori (djo)
metal be -ic/made of - metli (met)
meter be., -s long, default 1 metro (meo)
middle at the center of., midju (mid mij)
mild be gentle to/with., mildo (-)
mile be., -s long, default 1 marli (-)
military of., 'militia' bilca (bic)
milk from source., malna (man)
mill of community., molci (-)
million -fold of., 'mega-' megdo (meg)
millionth -part of., 'micro-' mikti (mik)
mind of., anina (min)
mineral ore from source., minku (miu)
minute lasts., -s, default 1 minta (-)
mixture of ingredients., ndksa (mis)
money issued by., cmeni (erne)
monkey n. murid (muk)
month of year., 'menses' mensa (mea)
more exceeds..in prop'ty..by.. mordu (mro mou)
morning of day., monza (moz)
mother of..by father., matma (mat mam
maa)
motive for..to do..under., modvi (mov moi)
motor n. motci (moc)
mountain of landmass.. mcmca (mon moa)
mouth of., manko (mak)
move to..from..over path., muvdo (muv muo)
much more extreme than..in.. mutce (mut muc mue)
muscle of., muslo (mus)
music by composer., muzgi (muz mui)
nail n. naldi (nal)
name of..to/used by., namci (nam)
narrow -er than..by., janro (jar)
nation of people., 'polity' poldi (pod)
natural not caused by man natra (nar naa)
near -er than..to..by.. snire (sni)
neat -er than., nitci (nit)
necessary for process., nerbi (neb)
neck of., sneku (sne)
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need ..for., cnida (cni)
needle n. nidla (-)
nerve of.., body-part 'neuro-' nurvi (nuv)
nervous about., 'nervy' nervo (nev)
nest of., nensu (-)
net n. netre (net)
neutral in fight..between.. nutra (-)
new to..in feature.. <minu (cnu)
news about..from source., nuzvo (nuz)
next to., nedza (ned nea)
nickel Ni nikle (-)
night -time of day., natli (nat nai)
nitrogen N nitro (-)
north of../a -em part of., nordi (nod)
nose of., nazbi (-)
now simultaneous with., nadzo (naz nao)
number n. numcu (num nuu)
nut of plant., 'kernel' krinu (-)
oak from source., sokcu (-)
object enduring in space-time bekti (bek)
offer ..to..for use., tifiru (tiu)
office of., fiisto (-)
old -er than..by.. laldo (lal)
open be -/not shut kapni (kap)
operate ..with goal., bapra (-)
opine think..true of., jupni (jui)
oppose ..on issue., pozfa (poz)
opposite from..in quality., bufpo (buf)
orange be more - than., norji (-)
order command..to do., korji (koj koi)
ordinary more - than..in.. danri (-)
organize ..into..for.. ganli (gal)
other not same as., 'not be' notbi (not)
out -/-side of/exterior to., zvoto (zvo)
oven of., zavno (zan)
over vert'ly above..in field., tovru (tov)
owe ..to..for.. 'debt' djeta (jet)
own ..under law/custom., ponsu (pon pou)
page of document., pidri (-)
pain -ed, hurt/feel - in.. puntu (pun puu)
paint n. pinti (pin)
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pan n. panba (pan)
panic be -ked by., panki (-)
pants trousers pantu (-)
paper n. papre (pre)
parallel to., pirle (pie)
parent is a - of..by.. penre (-)
part of whole., parti (par pai)
passport issued to..by..for.. paspo (-)
past before.., default now pasko (pas pak pao)
paste n. pasti (-)
pause wait for ..before., pazda (pad)
pay ..to..for goods/service., petci (pec)
peace be at - with., pisan (pis)
pear from source., perli (-)
pen writing instrument penbi (-)
pencil n. pinsi (-)
penetrate ..in dir'n.. 'thru' tceru (tee)
penis of., pingti (-)
perfect by standard., purfe (puf pue)
person -/people pemu (per peu)
pertain to../concern.. perti (pei)
peseta be worth., -s, def'lt 1 pesta (-)
peso be worth., -s, default 1 pesro (-)
physical non-mental fizdi (fiz fid)
picture of..by.. tcure (tcu)
piece of., pisku (piu)
pig n. 'pork* porju (poj)
pin n. pinda (pid)
plane through pts.., flat pilno (pil)
plant n. 'herb' herba (heb)
plate n. plata (pla)
play with., pleei (pie)
please ..by., pluci (plu)
plow n. plado (lad)
pocket of garment., packe (-)
point be a/the - of., penta (pet pea)
poison -ous to., 'venom1 vendu (ven veu)
polish n. palci (-)
poor -er than..in.. purcu (-)
possible under conditions., blicu (bli)
post mail..to..from..by.. posta (pot)
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pot n. patpe (pat)
potato from source., palto (-)
pound be worth., -s, default 1 pandi (-)
pound weigh., -s, default 1 pundo (-)
powder from source., pudru (pud)
power -ful, have - over.. porE (por poi)
price of..to..set by vendor., prati (rat)
print v.t., - ..on., capri (cap)
prisoner of..for act/state., preni (-)
private to., prizi (riz)
problem to..in doing task., nable (nab)
process -ceeding thru stages., prase (pra)
produce ..by process., proju (pro)
product of..multiplied by., jalti (jai)
profit be the - to..from., prali (ral)
prose be a - work by., proza (-)
protest ..to..by doing., prutu (ruu)
public more - among..than.. publi (pub)
pull ..to..from.. cpula (cpu)
pump for -ing..from..into.. dampa (-)
punish ..for..by doing., kasfa (kaf)
purple more - than., purpu (pup)
push ..to..from..via.. pucto (puc puo)
put place/set..on/at.. 'set' setfa (sea)
quality have -/feature., katli (kat kai)
quantity of..on scale., canli (cna cai)
question about..by..to.. kenti (ken)
quick be faster than..by.. kukra (kuk)
quiet -er than., 'silent' santi (sai)
radio receiver in network., radjo (-)
rail n. -ing/bar trelu (rel reu)
rain be -ed on by., crina (cri)
range to - /extend over., ran jo (-)
rat n. ratcu (rau)
ratio of..divided by.., math, brato (rao)
ray from energy source., kreni (kre)
read ..from surface/document., ridle (rid)
ready for., bredi (bre)
reason for..'s doing..under.. raznu (raz)
record of ..on medium., rirda (rir)
red -der than., redro (red)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
regular more - than., rilri (rii)
related to..by relation..'kin' kunci (kuc kui)
religion of people(s).. lidji (lid)
remember ..about., driki (dri)
reply ..to questioner., retpi (rep)
reply to..with response., dapli (-)
represent ..in/under., dilri (-)
respect ..for doing/being., rispe (ris)
respond ..to..under.. panda (poa)
responsible for..to.. daspa (das dap)
rest repose/lie down on., resto (ret)
restaurant of community., resra (-)
rande (rad rae)
rutma (rut rua)
restrain keep..from doing., litnu (liu)
reverse of../in - order from., fanve (fav)
reward ..for..with.. barda (-)
rhythm be the - of., rinta (rit)
rice from source., rismi (-)
rich wealthier than..in.. fulri (-)
right of../-hand side of., ritco (ric)
ring be a -/band on/around., rinje (rin)
ripe -er than., rapcu (-)
river of landmass.. vrici (vri)
road between points..via.. rodlu (-)
rock stone from source., troku (tro)
roll -s/be a -er/cylinder rolgu (rol)
Roman person romni (-)
roof of., trufa (ruf)
room of/in.. kruma (kru)
root of plant., ginru (gin)
rose from source., rozme (-)
rotten be more - than., ranta (ran)
rough -er/more abrasive than., rofsu (rof ros)
round circular, a disk/circle route path to..from..via pts..
mini (rul rui)
ruble be worth., -s, default 1 rubli (-)
rule prescribing..to..under..
run to..from..over path., prano (-)
rupee be worth., -s, default 1 rulpi (-)
Russian culture 'Russkii' rusko (-)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
Russian language 'Russkii' ruska (-)
Russian person 'Russkii' ruski (-)
sack bag of/containing., sakli (sak)
sad be - about., 'regret' kecri (kec kei)
sage wiser than..about.. sadji (saj)
sail of vessel., salfa (saf)
salt an amount of - solte (sot)
same be the - thing as., samto (sam sao)
sand from source., sanca (sna)
say ..to., cutse (cus cue)
scale measuring..among.. skalu (ska)
school of community., ckela (kea)
science of/about., sensi (ses)
Scot -tish person skaei (-)
Scot -tish dialect skaca (-)
Scot -tish culture skaco (-)
scratch .., v.t. kraju (raj)
screw n. a threaded device skori (sko)
sea of planet., mursi (mur)
second lasts., -s, default 1 seknd (-)
secret be kept - from..by.. smike (smi)
secretary of., sekre (-)
secure safe from., 'sure' curca (cur)
see ..against., 'vision' vizka (viz vik via)
seed of organism., sidza (siz)
seem to be..to..under.. simci (sim sii)
self" of ../-image of., selji (sel)
sell ..to..for price., 'vend' vedma (ved vea)
send ..to..from...via route., sundi (sud sui)
sense stimulus..under.. sanse (sas sae)
sentence about..in language., steti (ste)
serious be - about., srisu (riu)
serve ..in/by.., a -ant of.. surVa (suv)
set group of elements., setd (set sei)
sew ..to., djoso (jos)
sexual behave -ly toward., sekci (sec)
shade shadow of..from source., cedzu (ced)
shake oscillate at rate., siltu (sil siu)
shears scissors cirzo (cio)
sheep n. berci (-)
shelf of/containing., celna (cel)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
shirt upper-body garment curta (-)
shock ..with/by., tcaku (cak)
shoe n. cutci (cue)
short -er than..by.. corta (cor coa)
shovel n. cavle (cav)
sick with..from.. 'malady' malbi (mal)
side of..bounded by edges., spali (pal)
sign of..to..urging..under.. sanpa (san saa)
silk made of - colku (col)
simple -er than..in respect., sapla (sap)
sing ..to., 'greet, tune' gritu (gri)
sister of..thru.. 'sorority' sorme (som soe)
sit on., skitu (ski)
site place/location of., sitfa (sit sif sia)
ski n. skizo (kiz)
skin rind/outer covering of., skapi (-)
skirt n. skara (-)
skull of., tosku (-)
sky an expanse of - at place., skati (-)
sleep v. be asleep sonli (soi)
slide slip on., clidu (-)
slope steeper than..by.. slopu (slo)
slow -er than..by.. slano (sla)
small -er in volume than..by.. em»in (cma)
smash ..into pulp., 'crush' kraco (-)
smell n. an odor emitted by., sutme (sut)
smile at., 'grin' crano (era)
smoke from source., smano (sma)
smooth -er than..by.. smupi (smu)
snake serpent 'reptile' marpi (-)
sneeze v.i. tsani (-)
snow a quantity/expanse of - snice (nic)
soap an amount of - HMM (zas)
sodium Na nadri (nad)
sofa n. sofna (-)
soft -er/more malleable than., molro (-)
solar pert, to Earth's sun solra (-)
soldier of army., solda (sod)
solid below temp. 6c pressure., saldi (sal)
son of..parents..and.. sunho (sun suo)
sound a - emitted by., sonda (son soa)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
soup -/stew of ingredients., supta (sup)
sour more - than..to.. sami (sar)
south of../a -era part of., surdi (sur)
space volume occupied by., spasi (spa)
Spanish culture spano (-)
Spanish language spana (-)
Spanish person spam (-)
species of genus., sped (-)
specific to..among.. spebi (peb)
spirit ghost of..seen by., spicu (spi)
spit spittle of., spetu (-)
sponge n. penja (pej)
spoon n. sputa (put)
spread -s/expands over/into., kuspo (-)
spring n. an elastic device spori (-)
square with vertices., kurfa (kur)
stage of hall/theater., stadi (sta)
stairs of structure., stire (tir tie)
stalk stem/trunk of., staga (-)
stand on., stali (tai)
star of galaxy., tarci (tar)
start origin/beginning of., satci (sac)
station of transport system., stana (-)
stay remain at/with., stole (sto)
steel made of - gasti (-)
step on/in.. buste (bus bue)
stick of/made of., stuka (-)
stiff -er than..in direction., stifa (-)
store deposit/reserve of., sordi (sro)
story about..told by., stuei (stu)
strange to..in features., gutra (gur)
street of., trida (-)
stretch to length..from.. tetcu (tec teu)
stroke rub..with.. satro (sat)
strong -er than..by.. 'fort' forli (fol)
structure of., truke (tru)
student of..at institution., stude (-)
stuff matter/material ctifu (cti)
succeed in..by effort., suksi (sku)
sudden be -/abrupt to., sudna (sua)
sufficient enough for., tsufi (tsu)
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sugar n. 'saccharine' sakta (-)
suggest action..to.. sange (-)
sulfur S sulfa (-)
sum mathematical - of..plus.. sumji (sum)
summer of year., cimra (cim)
support ..with/by., djupo (jup juo)
surprise..by.. 'startle' atari (-)
sweet -er than..to.. sliti (sli)
swelling at/in/on..caused by., sulba (sul)
swim to..from..via.. sucmi (-)
system of function..& parts., sisto (sis sio)
table n. tobme (tob toe)
tail of., tilba (-)
take ..away from., tokna (toa)
talk to../speak to..about.. takna (tak taa)
taste flavor of., 'gusto' gusto (gus gut)
tax on..by..for use., cteki (cte)
tea from source., tcati (-)
teach ..to do/know., ditca (die dia)
telephone rec'r in network., telfo (-)
television rec'r in network., telvi (-)
temple church of religion., tepli (tep)
ten -fold of., 'deka-' dekto (dek)
ten-thousand of., 'myriad' mirdo (mir)
tent a fabric dwelling of., tenta (-)
tenth -part of., 'deci-' decti (dec)
terrestrial pert, to Earth terla (tel)
test a -~Tor..among., 'proof' prud (pru)
testicle of., 'testes' testi (-)
theater of community., tatro (tat)
thick -er than..by.. 'stout* totnu (tot)
think about., 'pensive' penso (pen peo)
thousand -fold of., 'kilo-' kilto (kil)
thousandth -part of., 'milli-' milti (mil)
thread an amount/length of - citre (cit cie)
throat of., 'gullet' goltu (-)
throw ..to/at., renro (ren reo)
thumb of., pudja (-)
ticket to..from..on..for.. ketpi (-)
tiger n. tigra (-)
tight be -er than..on.. djitu (jit jiu)
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Notebook 3-Phonology
tile n. kadta (-)
/
time interval from..to 'tempo' ckemo (eke)
tin Sn snatu (-)
tired by effort., tarle (tal tae)
tobacco n. tabko (-)
toe of., djoto (-)
tomato from source., tomto (-)
tongue of.., body-part tongu (-)
tool for doing., 'instrument' trims (rim rie)
tooth of., 'dental' dante (dat)
touch ..with., totco (tco)
trade ..for..with., 'barter' batmi (bat)
train of system., trena (tre)
travel to..from..via route., trad (rac)
tray of/containing., trali (-)
tree n. tricu (tri)
trillionth -part of., 'pico-' pikti (pik)
trot to..from.., trotter troti (-)
trouble v. disturb..by.. fatru (fat fau)
true by rule/standard., tradu (tra)
try to do/attain..by.. trati (rai)
tube a length of -ing tubli (tub)
tulip from source., tulpi (-)
turn rotate around axis., trana (tan)
twist under load., 'torque' torni (ton)
umbrella n. sanla (-)
unit of scale., 'degree' dugri (-)
urine of., 'piss' pinca (pic)
use ..for., plizo (pli)
vaccine against disease..in.. vaksi (-)
vagina of., konbi (-)
value of..to..for use., vatlu (vat vau)
vault jump over/across., valti (val vai)
verse a poem by., virsa (vir)
vertical in gravity field., vreti (vre)
vessel of/containing., veslo (veo)
view of..from point., vidju (vij viu)
violent in response to., valna (van vaa)
voice of individual., volsi (vol voi)
volt have..-s e.m.f., def'lt 1 volta (-)
vomit ../throw..up on., vamtu (-)
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walk to..from..via.. dzoru (dzo)
wall of/around., tcali (cal)
war be at - with..over., dorja (dor)
warn ..of/about danger., kurni (kun)
wash ..in vlaei (- )
waste ..on/by doing., festi (fes)
wateh observe..do.. katca (-)
water an amount/expanse of - cutri (cut cui)
wave in medium., valpu (vap)
wax from source., lakse (lak)
weapon for use., 'arm* tarmu (tarn tau)
weather of place/region., tetri (tet)
week of month/year., likta (lik)
well healthier than.. <ijela (dje jel)
west of../a -em part of., lusta (lus)
wet with., cetlo (cet)
wheat from source., ritma (-)
wheel of device/vehicle., krilu (-)
whip n. lash 'switch' bitce (-)
whistle n. caslo (cas)
white -er than., 'blank' blabi (lab)
win ..from/over., 'gain' gancu (gac gau)
window of., cundo (cuo)
wine an amount of - vinjo (vin)
wing of., tcela (-)
winter of year., dotra (dot)
wire a length of - tirca (tic)
with - ../companion of..in.. kinci (kin kii)
without be - ../be..less clesi (cle)
woman n. 'feminine' fumna (fum fua)
wood from source., mubre (mub)
wool from source., lunli (lul)
word be the - for ..in lang.. purda (pur pua)
work on/at..with goal., turka (tur tua)
worm n. kurma (-)
write ..on surface., srite (sri)
year of epoch., nirae (nin nie)
yellow -er than., pelto (-)
young -er than..by.. 'junior' junti (jun)
zinc Zn zinko (-)
LIST 3. SHORT AFFIXES
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baa (barma) arm of.., body-part
bac (balci) build ..from materials..
bad (badlo) bundle package of/containing..
bai (balci) build ..from materials..
baj (badjo) bough limb/branch of..
bak (bakto) bucket pail of/containing..
bal (balpi) balance -d under forces..
bam (balma) ball sphere n., spherical a.
ban (band) bathe in..
bao (bakso) box of /containing..
bap (batpi) bottle of/containing..
bar (barma) arm of.., body-part
bas (basni) base foundation/basis of..
bat (batmi) trade ..for..with.. 'barter'
bed (bedpu) bed n.
beg (begco) beg request,.of/from..
bei (berti) carry ..to..from.. 'bear'
bek (bekti) object enduring in space-time
bel (bekli) bell producing sound/note..
ben (bendu) band orchestra of players..
beo (begco) beg request..of/from..
ber (berti) carry ..to..from.. 'bear'
bet (betcu) bent more -/crooked than..
beu (bendu) band orchestra of players..
bia (bitsa) between ..and., 'beside'
bic (bilca) military of., 'militia'
bid (bivdu) behave ..under..
bie (bidje) edge of..between..
bii (bilti) beautiful more - than..
bH (bilti) beautiful more - than..
bis (bisli) ice an amount of bit (bitsa) between ..and., 'beside'
bin (bivdu) behave ..under..
biv (bivdu) behave ..under..
bla (blada) blade of tool/weapon..
bin (bleka) look at..
bli (blicu) possible under conditions..
bio (bloda) hit ..with., 'blow'
bin (bludi) blood of organism..
boi (botci) boy n.
bon (bongu) bone of..
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bor (borku) bow for arrows..
bot (botsu) boat n.
bou (botsu) boat n.
tea (brana) bom be - to..
toe (bredi) ready for..
toi (brize) breeze wind from..
too (broko) break into pieces..
tou (brudi) brother of..through..
bue (buste) step on/in..
buf (bufpo) opposite from..in quality..
bui (bulbi) bulb of plant/species..
buj (bulju) boil at temperature..
buk (bukcu) book about..by..
bul (bulbi) bulb of plant/species..
bun (bunbo) fool be -ish about., 'boob'
bus (buste) step on/in..
buu (bukcu) book about..by..
cab (cabro) bum at temperature..
cae (canse) chance random under..
cai (canli) quantity of..on scale..
cak (tcaku) shock ..with/by..
cal (tcali) wall of/around..
can (canse) chance random under..
cao (cabro) bum at temperature..
cap (capri) print v.t., - ..on..
car (carbo) carbon C
cas (caslo) whistle n.
cat (cartu) chart map of..by..
cav (cavle) shovel n.
cea (cenja) change into/become..from..
ced (cedzu) shade shadow of..from source..
cef (cefli) chief of..for activity..
cei (cersi) chair n.
cej (cenja) change into/become..from..
cel (celna) shelf of/containing..
cen (centi) hundredth -part of., 'cent'
cet (cetlo) wet with..
cia (cima) learn ..from source..
cid (cidja) awake be cie (citre) thread an amount/length of cik (ciktu) equal ..in/on dimension..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
cil (citlu) detail of..
cim (cimra) summer of year..
dn (cinta) infant baby of..
cio (cirzo) shears scissors
cir (cima) learn ..from source..
cis (cisti) history of..by..
cit (citre) thread an amount/length of ciu (ciktu) equal ..in/on dimension..
cka (ckano) kind be - to..
dee (ckemo) time interval from..to 'tempo'
cko (ckozu) cause -/be a - of..under..
da (clado) loud -er than..by..
de (clesi) without be - ../be..less
di (clika) like similar to..in..
do (clori) chlorine Cl
ciu (cluva) love v.t.
cma (cmalo) small -er in volume than..by..
cme (cmeni) money issued by..
end (cmiza) amused be - by ../by doing..
ena (canli) quantity of..on scale.,
cni (cnida) need ..for.,
cnu (cninu) new to..in feature.,
coa (corta) short -er than..by..
col (colku) silk made of com (comtu) ashamed of doing/being.,
am (condi) deep -er than..by..
cor (corta) short -er than..by..
cot (comtu) ashamed of doing/being.,
cou (comtu) ashamed of doing/being.,
cpu (cpula) pull ..to..from..
era (crano) smile at., 'grin'
cri (crina) rain be -ed on by.,
cte (cteki) tax on..by..for use.,
cti (ctifu) stuff matter/material
ctu (ctuda) feces of., 'stool1
cue (cutci) shoe n.
cue (cutse) say ..to.,
cui (cutri) water an amount/expanse of cuo (cundo) window of.,
cup (cupri) copper Cu
cur (curca) secure safe from., 'sure'
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Notebook 3-Phonology
cus (cutse) say ..to.,
cut (cutri) water an amount/expanse of daa (danza) desire want..for..
dai (danci) design be a plan for..by..
dak (dakli) likely -ier than..under..
dam (damni) down lower than..by..in f'ld..
dan (danci) design be a plan for..by..
dao (darto) door of/in..
dap (daspa) responsible for..to..
dar (darli) far -ther than..from..by..
das (daspa) responsible for..to..
dat (dante) tooth of., 'dental*
dea (detra) daughter of..and..
dec (decti) tenth -part of., 'deci-'
ded (dedjo) finger of., 'digit'
dei (denli) day -time of day., 'daily'
dej (dedjo) finger of., 'digit'
dek (dekto) ten -fold of., 'deka-'
del (denli) day -time of day., 'daily'
daa (denro) danger -ous to..under..
der (dertu) dirt soil/earth from/of.,
det (detra) daughter of..and..
deu (dertu) dirt soil/earth from/of.,
dia (ditea) teach ..to do/know.,
die (ditea) teach ..to do/know.,
dii (disri) decide ../to do..about..
dio (dirco) direction be in - ..from.,
dip (dipri) dear precious to.,
dir (dirco) direction be in - ..from.,
dit (ditka) bite ..on/at..
diu (dislu) discuss ..with..
dja (djano) know ..about..
dje (djela) well healthier than..
dji (djine) join be -ed to..at..
djo (djori) member of set/group., 'join'
dju (djudi) judge ..to be.., be a don (donsu) give ..gift., 'donate'
dor (dorja) war be at - with..over..
dot (dotra) winter of year..
dou (donsu) give ..gift., 'donate'
dra (drani) dry -er than..by..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
dre (dreti) correct by standard..
dri (driki) remember ..about..
dru (durzo) do ..to..
dua (duma) adorn ../be an -ment of..
did (duvri) discover ..about..
dun (duma) adorn ../be an -ment of..
duo (durzo) do ..to..
dup (dupma) dupe deceive/trick..about..by.
dur (durzo) do ..to..
dus (dustu) dust n.
dut (dutci) doubt that..is true of..
duv (duvri) discover ..about..
dza (dzabi) be real/exist for..under..
dze (dzeli) jelly an amount of dzo (dzoru) walk to..from..via..
faa (falba) fail to do/be..under..
fab (falba) fail to do/be..under..
fad (fando) end of thing/process., 'final'
fag (fagro) fire be a - in..
fai (falji) false by standard..
fal (falji) false by standard..
fam (famji) family with members..
fan (fanra) farm of community..
fao (fando) end of thing/process., 'final'
far (farfu) father of..out of mother..
fas (fasru) easy for..under.. 'facile'
fat (fatru) trouble v. disturb..by..
fau (fatru) trouble v. disturb..by..
fav (fanve) reverse of ../in - order from..
fea (felda) fall to..from.. 'fell'
fed (felda) fall to..from.. 'fell'
fei (ferci) affair of/involving..
fek (fekto) fact about..observed by..
fel (felda) fall to..from.. 'fell'
fem (femdi) female of species..
fen (femu) iron Fe
feo (fekto) fact about..observed by..
fer (fe) five five of..
fes (festi) waste ..on/by doing..
fet (ferti) fertile more - than..for..
feu (femu) iron Fe
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fla (firpa) fear be afraid of/that.,
fib (fibru) feeble weaker than..by..
fie (ficli) fish n.
fid (fizdi) physical non-mental
fii (fildi) field of farm/community.,
fik (fikco) fiction a work of - by.,
fii (filmo) feel ..about..
Ho (filmo) feel ..about..
flp (fitpi) foot of..
fir (firpa) fear be afraid of/that..
fit (fitpi) foot of..
fiz (fizdi) physical non-mental
fia (flami) flame of fire/device..
fie (fleti) fly to..from..via..
fii (flidu) liquid from temp..to.. 'fluid1
flo (folma) full -er than:.by..
foa (forma) form shape of..
fod (foldi) fold .. ..times, v.t.
foi (fosli) force compel..to do/be..
fol (forli) strong -er than..by.. 'fort'
fan (forma) form shape of..
for (fo) four four of..
fos (fosli) force compel..to do/be..
fra (farfu) father of..out of mother..
fre (frena) front be in - /ahead of..
fru (fruta) fruit of..
fua (fumna) woman n. 'feminine'
fue (futci) future after/later than..
fid (futci) future after/later than..
fum (fumna) woman n. 'feminine'
fiir (fu) -ed 2nd converse
fiit (futci) future after/later than..
gaa (ganta) high -er than..by..in field..
gae (gancu) win ..from/over., 'gain'
gad (gandi) god of people(s)..
gai (garni) govern rule over/-or of..
gal (ganli) organize ..into..for..
gan (ganta) high -er than..by..in field..
gao (gasno) anus of..
gar (garni) govern rule over/-or of..
gas (gasno) anus of..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
gat (garti) grateful be - to..for..
gau (gancu) win ..from/over., 'gain'
gea (genza) again a recurrence of..
gei (getsi) get ..from..for..
gen (genza) again a recurrence of..
get (getsi) get ..from..for..
gig (gigdo) billion -fold of., 'giga-'
gin (ginru) root of plant..
gli (glida) guide ..to..from..via..
goa (gotca) goat n.
god (godzi) go to..from..via..
goi (godzi) go to..from..via..
gok (gokru) hook n. 'crook'
gom (gomni) gummy adhere/stick to..
got (gotri) industry producing..among..
goz (godzi) go to..from..via..
gra (grada) great -er than., 'grand'
gre (gresa) grease fat/oil, an amount of
gri (gritu) sing ..to., 'greet, tune'
gro (groda) big -ger than..by.. 'gross'
gru (grupa) group with members..
gub (gudbi) good better than..for..
gud (gudbi) good better than..for..
gui (gunti) country of people..
gun (gunti) country of people..
gur (gutra) strange to..in features..
gus (gusto) taste flavor of., 'gusto'
gut (gusto) taste flavor of., 'gusto'
haa (hasfa) house a dwelling/home of..
had (hardu) hard more resistant than..
haf (hasfa) house a dwelling/home of..
hai (hapci) happy about..
ham (harmo) harmonious with..to..
han (hanco) hand of..
hao (harko) harbor shelter for ..from..
hap (hapci) happy about..
har (harko) harbor shelter for..from..
has (hasfa) house a dwelling/home of..
hat (hatro) hot -ter than..by..
bea (helba) help ..do..
heb (herba) plant n. 'herb'
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Notebook 3-Phonology
bed (hedto) head of.., body-part
bek (hekto) hundred -fold of., 'hecto-'
hel (helba) help ..do..
her (herfa) hair of..
bia (hijra) here attend/be present at..
hid (hidro) hydrogen H
hir (hirti) hear ..over noise..
boa (horma) horse n.
hoi (hompi) drink ..from..
bol (holdu) hole pit/depression in..
horn (hompi) drink ..from..
hor (horma) horse n.
bos (hospi) hospital of community..
hou (holdu) hole pit/depression in..
taui (hutri) destroy v.t.
hum (humni) human be -/a - being
bun (humni) human be -/a - being
but (hutri) destroy v.t.
jag (jaglo) angle between pts.. 'jagged'
jai (jalti) product of..multiplied by..
jan (janto) hunt game/quarry..
jao (jaglo) angle between pts.. 'jagged'
jar (janro) narrow -er than..by..
jel (djela) well healthier than..
jet (djeta) owe ..to..for.. 'debt'
jio (djipo) important to..in/for..
jip (djipo) important to..in/for..
jit (djitu) tight be -er than..on..
jiu (djitu) tight be -er than..on..
jmi (jmite) meet encounter ..at/in..
jok (jokla) clock n.
joo (jorto) hour last., -s, default 1
jor (jorto) hour last., -s, default 1
joe (djoso) sew ..to..
jua (jugra) grab seize..with..
jug (jugra) grab seize..with..
jui (jupni) opine think..true of..
jul (djula) jewel in/of jeweled object..
jun (junti) young -er than..by.. 'junior'
juo (djupo) support ..with/by..
jup (djupo) support ..with/by..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
jur (ju) -ed 3rd converse
kaa (kamla) come from..to..via..
kac (kance) conscious be -/aware of..
kad (kamda) fight ..over., 'combat'
kae (kance) conscious be -/aware of..
kaf (kasfa) punish ..for..by doing..
kai (katli) quality have -/feature..
kak (kakto) act do..with goal..
kal (kapli) complete by standard..
kam (kamla) come from..to..via..
kan (kanmo) can be able to do..under..
kao (kakto) act do..with goal..
kap (kapni) open be -/not shut
kar (kamra) camera n.
kas (karsa) across ..from..
kat (katli) quality have -/feature..
kau (kangu) dog n. 'canine'
kea (ckela) school of community..
kec (kecri) sad be - about., 'regret'
kei (kecri) sad be - about., 'regret'
kej (kerju) care for/take - of..
kem (kemdi) chemical a pure instance of..
ken (kenti) question about..by..to..
ker (kerti) air a quantity of ket (ketli) kettle of/containing..
keu (kerju) care for/take - of..
kic (kicmu) doctor -s..for..with.. 'cure'
kii (kinci) with - ../companion of..in..
kik (kinku) keen -er/sharper than..
kil (kilto) thousand -fold of., 'kilo-'
kin (kinci) with - ../companion of..in..
kiu (kicmu) doctor -s..for..with.. 'cure'
kiz (skizo) ski n.
kla (klabu) cloth an amount of kle (klesi) class of ..with property..
kli (kliri) clear -er than..
klo (klogu) close be -d, as of a door
klu (totla) cut ..into pieces..
koa (korva) curve through pts..
koc (korce) cord rope/an amount of -age
koe (korce) cord rope/an amount of -age
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Notebook 3-Phonology
kof (komfu) comfortable be more - than..to
koi (korji) order command..to do..
koj (korji) order command..to do..
kok (kokfa) cook ..for..
kol (kolro) color be a - perceived by..
kom (komcu) comb n.
kon (konte) count the number in set..
koo (kolro) color be a - perceived by..
top (kopca) copy of..
tor (korti) body of., 'corpus'
kos (konsu) consul of..in..
tou (komfu) comfortable be more - than..to
kov (korva) curve through pts..
kra (kraku) cry cry out, v.i.
kre (kreni) ray from energy source..
kri (krido) believe ..about., 'creed'
kro (kroli) flow current from..to..'crawl'
kru (kruma) room of/in..
kua (kuvga) cover ../be a - of..
kub (tobra) broad be -er/wider than..by..
kue (kunci) related to..by relation..'kin'
kui (kunci) related to..by relation..'kin'
kuk (kukra) quick be faster than..by..
kul (kultu) culture of people(s)..
tom (kumtu) common to/universal in set..
ton (kumi) warn ..of/about danger..
kuo (kusmo) custom habit of..under..
top (kupta) cup of/containing..
tor (kurfa) square with vertices..
kus (kusmo) custom habit of..under..
tou (kumtu) common to/universal in set..
kuv (kuvga) cover ../be a - of..
laa (langa) long -er than..by..
lab (blabi) white -er than., 'blank'
lad (plado) plow n.
lae (larte) art of making..among..
lag (langa) long -er than..by..
lai (landi) land a parcel/expanse of lak (lakse) wax from source..
lal (laldo) old -er than..by..
Ian (landi) land a parcel/expanse of Page 216 of 280
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Notebook 3-Phonology
lar (larte) art of making..among..
las (lasti) elastic more - than.,
lea (letra) letter -al in character-set..
led (ledri) lightning from..to..
lei (letci) let permit..do..under..
lek (lenki) electric - charge on.., -ity
lei (lelpi) level in gravity field..
lot (lengu) language of people(s)..
leo (lenzo) lens of system..
lep (lelpi) level in gravity field..
ler (lerci) letter to..from..about..
les (lesta) east of../an -em part of..
let (letci) let permit..do..under..
leu (lengu) language of people(s)..
lez (ledzo) left of../-hand side of..
lia (clina) line through points..
lie (linco) lean thinner than..by..
lid (lidji) religion of people(s)..
lif (clife) leaf of plant..
lii (clivi) live be alive
lij (limji) limit of..
lik (likta) week of month/year..
lil (lilfa) law against..by..under.'legal'
lim (limji) limit of..
lin (clina) line through points..
Ho (likro) liquor distilled spirits
lis (lista) list of set..in order..
lit (litla) light from source..on..
liu (litnu) restrain keep..from doing..
liv (clivi) live be alive
loa (flora) flower of plant..
lod (lodji) logic for getting..from..
log (logla) Loglan language
loi (lokti) local to../confined to..
lor (flora) flower of plant..
lua (pluma) feather of., 'plume'
lul (lunli) wool from source..
lum (pluma) feather of., 'plume'
lun (lunra) lunar pert, to Earth's moon
lus (lusta) west of../a -em part of..
maa (matma) mother of..by father..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
mac (matci) machine for use/function..
mad (madzo) make ..out of., 'made'
mae (marte) market of community., 'mart*
mai (matci) machine for use/function..
maj (madji) magic -ian, do - before..
mak (manko) mouth of..
mai (malbi) sick with..from.. 'malady'
mam (matma) mother of..by father..
man (malna) milk from source..
mao (madzo) make ..out of., 'made'
mar (marka) mark be a - on..made by..
mat (matma) mother of..by father..
mea (mensa) month of year., 'menses'
meg (megdo) million -fold of., 'mega-'
mei (merli) measure ..to be..on scale..
mek (menki) eye of..
mel (merli) measure ..to be..on scale..
men (mendi) male of species., 'men*
meo (metro) meter be., -s long, default 1
mer (merji) marry be -ied to.., spouse
met (metli) metal be -ic/made of mia (milfa) meal composed of dishes..
mid (midju) middle at the center of..
mii (mipli) example of..
mij (midju) middle at the center of..
mik (mikti) millionth -part of., 'micro-'
mil (milti) thousandth -part of., 'milli-'
min (smina) mind of..
ndo (mitro) meat from source..
imp (mipli) example of..
nnr (mirdo) ten-thousand of., 'myriad'
mis (miksa) mixture of ingredients..
mit (mitro) meat from source..
miu (minku) mineral ore from source..
moa (monca) mountain of landmass..
moc (motci) motor n.
moi (modvi) motive for..to do..under..
mon (monca) mountain of landmass..
mor (morto) dead a. 'mortal'
mou (mordu) more exceeds..in prop'ty..by..
mov (modvi) motive for..to do..under..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
moz (monza) morning of day..
mra (marka) mark be a - on..made by..
mre (mrenu) man n. 'men'
mro (mordu) more exceeds..in prop'ty..by..
mub (mubre) wood from source..
muc (mutce) much more extreme than..in..
mue (mutce) much more extreme than..in..
mui (muzgi) music by composer..
muk (murki) monkey n.
mun (munce) community of organisms..
imao (muvdo) move to..from..over path..
mur (mursi) sea of planet..
mus (muslo) muscle of..
mut (mutce) much more extreme than..in..
muv (muvdo) move to..from..over path..
muz (muzgi) music by composer..
naa (natra) natural not caused by man
nab (nable) problem to..in doing task..
nad (nadri) sodium Na
nai (natli) night -time of day..
naj (najda) knife n.
nal (naldi) nail n.
nam (namci) name of..to/used by..
nan (nanti) billionth -part of., 'nano-'
nao (nadzo) now simultaneous with..
nar (natra) natural not caused by man
nat (natli) night -time of day..
nau (nardu) difficult for..under.. 'hard'
naz (nadzo) now simultaneous with..
nea (nedza) next to..
neb (nerbi) necessary for process..
ned (nedza) next to..
neg (negda) egg of/from source..
nei (nenri) in -side/interior of., 'inner'
nej (nerji) energy have more - than..by..
nen (nenri) in -side/interior of., 'inner'
ner (ne) one one of..
nes (nesta) honest with..about..
net (netre) net n.
nev (nervo) nervous about., 'nervy'
nia (nimla) animal n.
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nic (snice) snow a quantity/expanse of nie (nime) year of epoch..
nig (nigro) black -er than..
nik (nikri) cheese from source., 'curd'
nil (nirli) girl n.
nim (nimla) animal n.
nin (nime) year of epoch..
nir (ni) zero none of..
nit (nitci) neat -er than..
noa (norma) average the - ..of., 'normal'
nod (nordi) north of../a -ern part of..
nom (norma) average the - ..of., 'normal'
nor (no) non- negative
not (notbi) other not same as., 'not be'
num (numcu) number n.
nur (nu) -ed 1st converse
nuu (numcu) number n.
nuv (nurvi) nerve of.., body-part 'neuro-'
nuz (nuzvo) news about..from source..
pae (patce) apparatus device for doing..
pad (pazda) pause wait for..before..
pae (patce) apparatus device for doing..
pai (parti) part of whole..
pak (pasko) past before.., default now
pal (spali) side of..bounded by edges..
pan (panba) pan n.
pao (pasko) past before.., default now
par (parti) part of whole..
pas (pasko) past before.., default now
pat (patpe) pot n.
paz (padzi) cushion pillow 'padded'
pea (penta) point be a/the - of..
peb (spebi) specific to..among..
pec (petci) pay ..to..for goods/service..
ped (pendi) hang from., 'pendulum'
pei (perti) pertain to../concern..
pej (penja) sponge n.
pen (penso) think about., 'pensive'
peo (penso) think about., 'pensive'
per (pemu) person -/people
pet (penta) point be a/the - of..
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peu (pemu) person -/people
pic (pinca) urine of., 'piss'
pid (pinda) pin n.
pie (pirle) parallel to..
pif (pifno) frequent more - than..under..
pik (pikti) trillionth -part of., 'pico-'
pil (pilno) plane through pts.., flat
pin (pinti) paint n.
pio (pifno) frequent more - than..under..
pis (pismi) peace be at - with..
pin (pisku) piece of..
pla (plata) plate n.
pie (pleci) play with..
pli (plizo) use ..for..
pin (pluci) please ..by..
poa (ponda) respond ..to..under..
pod (poldi) nation of people., 'polity'
poi (porli) power -ful, have - over..
poj (porju) pig n. 'pork'
pon (ponsu) own ..under law/custom..
par (porli) power -ful, have - over..
pot (posta) post mail..to..from..by..
pou (ponsu) own ..under law/custom..
poz (pozfa) oppose ..on issue..
pra (prase) process -ceeding thru stages..
pre (papre) paper n.
pri (prire) behind in back of., 'rear'
pro (proju) produce ..by process..
pru (pruci) test a - for..among.. 'proof'
pua (purda) word be the - for..in lang..
pub (publi) public more - among..than..
puc (pucto) push ..to..from..via..
pud (pudru) powder from source..
pue (purfe) perfect by standard..
puf (purfe) perfect by standard..
pul (pulso) impulse have an - to do..
pum (pubmu) lead Pb
pun (puntu) pain -ed, hurt/feel - in..
puo (pucto) push ..to..from..via..
pup (purpu) purple more - than..
pur (purda) word be the - for..in lang..
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put (sputa) spoon n.
puu (puntu) pain -ed, hurt/feel - in..
raa (grasa) grass a blade/expanse of rac (traci) travel to..from..via route..
rad (rande) round circular, a disk/circle
rae (rande) round circular, a disk/circle
rag (fragu) fog be -gy/covered by rai (trati) try to do/attain..by..
raj (kraju) scratch v.t.
rak (draka) dark -er than..by..
ral (prali) profit be the - to..from..
ram (frama) frame of/around..
ran (ranta) rotten be more - than..
rao (brato) ratio of..divided by.., math.
rar (ra) all every..
ras (rasto) brass made of rat (prati) price of..to..set by vendor..
rail (ratcu) rat n.
raz (raznu) reason for..'s doing..under..
rea (retea) differ be -ent from..in..
reb (breba) bread an amount of rec (retca) differ be -ent from..in..
red (redro) red -der than..
ref (resfu) garment clothing 'dress'
rei (revri) dream ../that., 'reverie'
rek (breko) brake of..
rel (trelu) rail n. -ing/bar
rem (fremi) friend of..
ren (renro) throw ..to/at..
reo (renro) throw ..to/at..
rep (retpi) reply ..to questioner..
rer (re) most most..
res (resfu) garment clothing 'dress'
ret (resto) rest repose/lie down on..
reu (trelu) rail n. -ing/bar
rev (revri) dream ../that., 'reverie'
rez (frezi) free to do/be..
ria (briga) brave -er than..under..
ric (ritco) right of../-hand side of..
rid (ridle) read ..from surface/document..
rie (trime) tool for doing., 'instrument'
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rig (briga) brave -er than..under..
rii (rilri) regular more - than..
rik (briku) brick n.
ril (brili) brilliant brighter than..by..
rim (trime) tool for doing., 'instrument'
rin (rinje) ring be a -/band on/around..
rir (rirda) record of..on medium..
ris (rispe) respect ..for doing/being..
rit (rinta) rhythm be the - of..
riu (srisu) serious be - about..
riz (prizi) private to..
roa (mroza) hammer n.
roe (brocu) brush n.
rod (broda) broken inoperable
rof (rofsu) rough -er/more abrasive than..
rai (groci) angry at..for.. 'growl'
roj (rodja) grow into..
rol (rolgu) roll -s/be a -er/cylinder
ror (ro) many of../multi-..
ros (rofsu) rough -er/more abrasive than.
rou (brocu) brush n.
roz (mroza) hammer n.
rua (rutma) route path to..from..via pts..
rue (brute) breathe v.t.
ruf (trufa) roof of..
rui (rulni) rule prescribing..to..under..
rul (rulni) rule prescribing..to..under..
run (grunu) grain from source..
rus (prusa) approve plan/action..by..
rut (rutma) route path to..from..via pts..
run (prutu) protest ..to..by doing..
saa (sanpa) sign of..to..urging..under..
sac (satci) start origin/beginning of..
sae (sanse) sense stimulus..under..
saf (salfa) sail of vessel..
sai (santi) quiet -er than., 'silent'
saj (sadji) sage wiser than..about..
sak (sakli) sack bag of/containing..
sal (saldi) solid below temp. & pressure..
sam (samto) same be the - thing as..
san (sanpa) sign of..to..urging..under..
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sao (samto) same be the - thing as..
sap (sapla) simple -er than..in respect..
sar (sarni) sour more - than..to..
sas (sanse) sense stimulus..under..
sat (satro) stroke rub..with..
sea (setfa) put place/set..on/at.. 'set'
see (sekci) sexual behave -ly toward..
sei (setci) set group of elements..
sek (sekta) insect n.
sel (selji) self of../-image of..
seo (sento) holy sacred to., 'saint'
ser (se) seven seven of
ses (sensi) science of/about..
set (setci) set group of elements..
aia (sitfa) site place/location of..
sib (simba) lion n.
sic (sitci) city with hinterland..
sif (sitfa) site place/location of..
sii (simci) seem to be..to..under..
sil (siltu) shake oscillate at rate..
sim (simci) seem to be..to..under..
sin (sinma) cinema made by..
sio (sisto) system of function..& parts..
sir (sima) certain sure that..is true
sis (sisto) system of function..& parts..
sit (sitfa) site place/location of..
siu (siltu) shake oscillate at rate..
siz (sidza) seed of organism..
ska (skalu) scale measuring..among., ski (skitu) sit on..
sko (skori) screw n. a threaded device
sku (suksi) succeed in..by effort..
sla (slano) slow -er than..by..
sli (sliti) sweet -er than..to..
slo (slopu) slope steeper than..by..
sin (sluko) lock of/on..
sma (smano) smoke from source..
smi (smike) secret be kept - from..by..
smu (smupi) smooth -er than..by..
sna (sanca) sand from source..
sne (sneku) neck of..
sni (snire) near -er than..to..by..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
sno (snola) entail implies-under rules..
soa (sonda) sound a - emitted by..
sod (solda) soldier of army..
soe (sorme) sister of..thru.. 'sorority'
sog (sorgu) ear of., 'aural'
soi (sonli) sleep v. be asleep
sol (socli) interact -s socially with..
som (sorme) sister of..thru.. 'sorority'
son (sonda) sound a - emitted by..
sor (so) six six of..
sot (solte) salt an amount of spa (spasi) space volume occupied by..
spe (speni) experience v.t. 'spend'
spi (spicu) spirit ghost of..seen by..
spo (spopa) hope for../that..happens
spu (spuro) expert skilled at..under..
sri (srite) write ..on surface..
sro (sordi) store deposit/reserve of..
sru (suma) hurt harm/injure..at/in..
sta (stadi) stage of hall/theater..
ste (steti) sentence about..in language..
sti (stise) cease stop doing..
sto (stolo) stay remain at/with..
stu (stuci) story about..told by..
sua (sudna) sudden be -/abrupt to..
sud (sundi) send ..to..from...via route..
sui (sundi) send ..to..from...via route..
sul (sulba) swelling at/in/on..caused by..
sum (sumji) sum mathematical - of..plus..
sun (sunho) son of..parents..and..
suo (sunho) son of..parents..and..
sup (supta) soup -/stew of ingredients..
sur (surdi) south of../a -ern part of..
sut (sutme) smell n. an odor emitted by..
suv (surva) serve ..in/by..f a -ant of..
taa (takna) talk to../speak to..about..
tae (tarle) tired by effort..
tag (targo) argue with/against..that..
tai (stali) stand on..
tak (takna) talk to../speak to..about..
tal (tarle) tired by effort..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
tarn (tarmu) weapon for use., 'arm'
tan (trana) turn rotate around axis..
tao (targo) argue with/against..that..
tar (tarci) star of galaxy..
tat (tatro) theater of community..
tau (tarmu) weapon for use., 'arm'
tea (tcaro) car -/truck, a motor vehicle
tee (tceru). penetrate ..in dir'n.. 'thru'
tci (titci) eat v.t.
tco (totco) touch ..with..
tcu (tcure) picture of..by..
tec (tetcu) stretch to length..from..
ted (tedji) attend pay attention to..
tei (tedji) attend pay attention to..
tej (tedji) attend pay attention to..
tel (terla) terrestrial pert, to Earth
ten (tenri) increase by..in..during..
tep (tepli) temple church of religion..
ter (te) three three of..
tet (tetri) weather of place/region..
teu (tetcu) stretch to length..from..
tia (tisra) choose select..from set..
tie (tirca) wire a length of tid (tidjo) heavy -ier than..by..in f'ld..
tie (stire) stairs of structure..
til (trili) attract ..by doing/being..
tin (tinmo) ink an amount of tio (tidjo) heavy -ier than..by..in f'ld..
tir (stire) stairs of structure..
tiu (tifru) offer ..to..for use..
toa (tokna) take ..away from..
tob (tobme) table n.
toe (tobme) table n.
tog (togri) agree with..about/that..
toi (togri) agree with..about/that..
tok (toraki) automatic in function..
tol (troli) control ..in performance..
ton (tomi) twist under load., 'torque'
tor (to) two two of..
tot (totnu) thick -er than..by.. 'stout'
tov (tovru) over vert'ly above..in field..
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Notebook 3-Phonology
tra (tradu) true by rule/standard..
tre (trena) train of system..
tri (tricu) tree n.
tro (troku) rock stone from source.,
tru (truke) structure of*,
tse (tsero) error in..by standard.,
tsi (tsime) crime punished by..among..
tsu (tsufi) sufficient enough for..
tua (turka) work on/at..with goal..
tub (tubli) tube a length of -ing
tue (tugle) leg of.., body-part
tui (stuli) adjust ..for function..
tul (tugle) leg of.., body-part
tur (turka) work on/at..with goal..
vaa (valna) violent in response to..
vad (valda) develop into/toward.., v.i.
vai (valti) vault jump over/across..
val (valti) vault jump over/across..
van (valna) violent in response to..
vao (vapro) gas -eous above temp., 'vapor'
vap (valpu) wave in medium..
vat (vatlu) value of..to..for use..
vau (vatlu) value of..to..for use..
vea (vedma) sell ..to..for price., 'vend'
ved (vedma) sell ..to..for price., 'vend'
vet (vetci) happen -/occur to., 'event'
ven (vendu) poison -ous to., 'venom'
veo (veslo) vessel of/containing..
ver (ve) nine nine of..
vet (vetci) happen -/occur to., 'event'
veu (vendu) poison -ous to., 'venom'
via (vizka) see ..against., 'vision'
vid (vidre) idea about..by thinker..
vie (vidre) idea about ..by thinker..
vij (vidju) view of ..from point..
vik (vizka) see ..against., 'vision*
vin (vinjo) wine an amount of vir (virsa) verse a poem by..
vit (virta) ad for..in med'm.. 'advertise'
yiu (vidju) view of ..from point..
viz (vizka) see ..against., 'vision'
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Notebook 3-Phonology
via (vlako) lake of landmass..
voi (volsi) voice of individual..
vol (volsi) voice of individual..
vor (vo) eight eight of..
vre (vreti) vertical in gravity field..
vri (vrici) river of landmass..
zan (zavno) oven of..
zao (zavlo) bad worse than..for.. 'evil'
zas (dzaso) soap an amount of zav (zavlo) bad worse than..for.. 'evil'
zbu (zbuma) explode into., 'boom'
zvo (zvoto) out -/-side of/exterior to..
LIST 4. THE CASES OF THE PRIMITIVE ARGUMENTS
badjo P is a bough/limb/branch of W
hadin B is a bundle/package of/containing P
bakso B is a box of/containing P
bakto B is a pail/bucket of/containing P
balci A builds W from parts/materials P
balko P is a balcony of building W
balma P is a ball/sphere
balpi P balances/is balanced under forces C
banbe P is a bay of coastline W
band A bathes/takes bath in B
banko P is a bank of community W
banla O is a banana from source S
banse B is a basket of/containing P
bapra A operates P to accomplish/with goal O
barcu P is a bar/tavern of community W
barju P is a bar/tavern of community W
barda A rewards S for O with P
barma P is an arm of W
barta P is a board/plank of material W
basni C is the base foundation/basis of P
batmi A trades P for P with A
batpi B is a bottle of/containing P
batra P is butter/an amount of butter
bedpu P is a bed
begco A asks for/requests P of/from S
bekli S is a bell producing sound/note O
bekti P is an object enduring in spacetime C
beldu P is the belly/abdomen of W
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bendu W is a band/orchestra of players P
berd P is a sheep
beraa P is a brain of W
berti A carries P to B from S
betcu G is more bent/crooked than L
bidje P is an edge of W between surfaces C and C
bifd P is a bee
bifte P is a beefsteak, an amount of beefsteak
bilca P is a member of the military forces of government W
bilra A plays billiards with A
bilti G is more beautiful than L is
birsu P is beer/an amount of beer
biali P is ice/an amount of ice
bitce P is a whip
bitsa A is between B and B
bivdu A behaves D in situation S
blabi G is whiter than L
blada P is the blade of tool/weapon W
blako A publicizes P among public W
blanu G is bluer than L
bleka A looks at P
blicu P is possible under conditions C
bloda A hits B with P
bludi P is the blood of organism W
blusa P is a blouse
bomba P is a bomb
bongu P is a bone of W
borku W is a bow for arrows P
botd P is a boy
botni P is a button of W
botsu P is a boat
brana O is bom to S
brato Q is the ratio of P divided by W
breba P is bread/an amount of bread
bredi A is ready for/to do D
breko P is a brake of W
briga G is braver than L before danger C
briku P is a brick
MR G is brighter than L by amount Q
brize O is a breeze/wind from P
brocu P is a brush
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broda P is broken/inoperable
broko W breaks into pieces P
brona G is browner than L
brad P is a brooch
bradi O is the brother of P with parents S
Mite A breathes
bufpo W is opposite from W in quality P
bukcu O is a book about P by S
bulbi O is a bulb of plant/species W
bulju P boils at temperature C
bunbo A is a fool/foolish about P
buste A steps in/on B
butpa P is a boot
cabro P burns/ignites at temperature C
cadre P is a dress/gown/frock
cnmte p is a camel (genus Camelus)
cadi Q is a quantity of W on scale D
canse P is accidental/a chance/random event under knowledge-state C
capri A prints P on B
carbo P is carbon
cartu O is a chart/map of P by S
caslo P is a whistle
cavle P is a shovel
cedzu O is the shadow of S cast by light- source P
cefli A is a/the chief among/of B for activity D
celna P is a shelf of/containing W
cenja S changes into/becomes O from state C
centi P is one hundredth part of W
cersi P is a chair
cetlo B is wet with liquid S
cibra A is a bridge over/across P
cidja P is awake
ciktu W equals W in/on dimension P
cilda P is an island in sea B
cimra P is the summer of year W
cinta O is an infant/baby of S
cirna A learns P from source S
cirzo P is a pair of shears/scissors
cisti O is a history of P by historian S
citlu P is a detail of/about W
citre P is thread/an amount/length of thread
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ckafe P is a cafe of community W
ckano P is kind to B by standards C
ckela P is a school of community W
ckemo P is the time interval from S to O
ckozu S causes/is a cause of O under conditions C
clado G is louder than L by amount Q
dafo A laughs at P
clesi W is without/less quality /feature P
clidu A slips/slides on P
dife P is a leaf of plant W
clika W is similar to/like W in feature P
clina W is a line through points P
clivi A is live/alive
clori P is chlorine (Cl)
cluva A loves P
cmalo G is smaller in volume than L by amount Q
ctneni O is an amount of money issued by S
cmiza A is amused by/has fun being/doing D
cnida A needs P for purpose O
cninu W is new to A in feature P
colku P is silk/made of silk
comtu A feels ashamed of being/doing D
condi G is deeper than L by amount Q
corta G is shorter than L by amount Q
cpula A pulls P to B from S
crano A smiles at P
crina B is rained on by S
cteki Q is a tax imposed on B by A for use D
ctifu P is stuff/matter/material
ctuda O is the feces of S
cundo P is a window of W
cupri P is copper/a quantity of copper (Cu)
curca P is safe from danger C
curdi A insures B against hazard P for fee Q
curta P is a shirt /upper -body garment
cutci P is a shoe
cutri P is water an amount/expanse of water
cutse S says O to B
dakli G is more probable/likelier than L under conditions C
dalra Q is a dollar/is worth a dollar
damni G is down/lower than L by measurement P in gravity field C
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dampa D is a pump for pumping P from S into O
danci O is plan/design for D/doing D by planner S
danri G is more ordinary than L in features P
dansa A dances to P
dante P is a tooth of W
danza A desires/wants state/object P for purpose O
dapli A replies to person B with answer/ response P
darli G is farther than L from P by route D
darto P is a door of/in W
daspa A is responsible for object/person P to B
deeti P is a tenth/tenth part of W
dedjo P is a finger of W
dekto W is ten of/tenfold P
denli P is the daytime of day W
denro P is a danger/dangerous to A in situation C
dertu P is dirt soil/earth from/of W
detra O is a daughter of S and S
dilko G is more delicious/delicate than L to A
dQri A represents P in setting C, of persons
dipri P is dear/precious to A
dirco P lies in the direction B/of B from S
dirlu A loses person/thing P
dislu A discusses topic P with A
disri A decides D/to do D about P
ditea A teaches B to do/know D
ditka A bites B on/at locus P
djano A knows P about W
djela G is well/healthier than L
djesi A digests P
djeta A owes P to S for loan/service O
djine A is joined to B at P
djipo W is important to B in/for P
djitu G is tighter than L on P
djari P is a member/element of group/set W
djoso A sews P to B
djoto P is the toe of W
djudl A judges P to be O
djula P is a jewel in/of jeweled object W
djupo A supports B by /with D
dansu A gives B gift P
dorja A is at war with B over P
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Notebook 3-Phonology
dotca P is German/of the - language •
dotd A is a German person
dotco D is German/of the - culture
dotra P is the winter of year W
draka G is darker /less illuminated than L by amount Q
drani G is drier than L by amount Q
drara B is a drawer of/containing P
dreti P is correct by standard C
drida P is a drop of liquid W
driki A remembers P about W
dugri P is a unit of/degree on scale W
dupma A deceives/tricks B about P by D
duma P adorns/is an adornment of B
durzo A does D to B
dustu P is dust
dutd A doubts that P is true of W
duvri A discovers P about W
dzabi P exists for A/is non-fictitious to A given metaphysics C
dzaso P is soap/an amount of soap
dzeli P is jelly/an amount of jelly
dzoru A walks to B from S via D
fagro O is a fire in/fed by fuel S
falba A fails to do/be D under conditions C
falji O is false, as of sentences, under epistemology C
famji W is a family composed of members P
famva P is famous for D among W
fando P is the end of thing/process/ interval W
fanra P is a farm in countryside/ community W
fanve P is the reverse of P/in reverse order from P
farfu S is the father of O with mother A
farka D is an arch over P
fasli P is the face of W
fasru D is easy for A under conditions C
fatru A troubles/disturbs B by being/doing D
fekto O is a fact about event S to observer A
felda P falls to B from S in gravity field C
femdi P is a female of species W
ferci P is a matter/affair/concern of/ involving B
femu P is iron, Fe
ferti G is more fertile than L for crops O
festi A wastes B on/by doing D
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fibru G is weaker than L at tasks D by amount Q
fidi P is a fish
fikco O is fiction/a work of fiction by writer S
fildi P is a field of farm/community W
filmo A feels O about P
firpa A fears P/that P
fitpi P is a foot of W
fizdi P is physical/non-mental
fiaci O is the flag of P
fiaki P is a fly
flarai O is a flame of S
fiati A inflates P with S to dimension Q
fleti A flies to B from S via D
fiidu P is a liquid from temperature C to C
fiofu P floats on/in B
flora O is a flower of plant S
foldi A folds P Q times
folma G is fuller than L of/by P
fordi P is the floor of W
forka P is a fork
fotli G is stronger than L at tasks D
forma P is the form/shape of W
fosli A forces/compels B to do/be D
fotpa G is fatter/stouter than L
fragu P is foggy/covered by fog
firaki P is a franc/worth a franc
frama P is the frame of/around W
firasa P is French/of the - language
frasi A is a French person
fraso D is French/of the - culture
fiend A is a friend of B
fiena A is in front/ahead of B
fiese G is fresher than L
fiezi P is free to do/be D
fruta O is a fruit of S
fulri G is rich/wealthier than L in dimension P
fumna P is a woman
fundi A likes G more than/prefers G to L
fusto P is the office of W
futbo A plays football with A
futci G is after/future/later than L
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gancu A wins prize P from/over competitors C
gandi A is the god of B
genii A organizes P into system W for function O
ganta G is higher than L by amount Q in gravity-field C
gardi O is a/the garden of family/ community S
garni A rules/governs B
garti B is grateful to S for O
gasno P is the anus of W
gasti P is steel/made of steel
genza P is a recurrent instance of W
getsi A gets P from S for purpose O
gigdo W is a billion/billion fold of P
grama A is a gymnast at feat O
gfnru P is a/the root of plant W
gleca P is English/of the - language
gleci A is an English person
gleco D is English/of the - culture
glida A guides P to B from S via D
gliso P is glass/made of glass
ghiva P is a glove
godru P is a drain of S into B
godzi A goes to B from S via D
gokru P is a hook
goltu P is a throat of W
gomni A adheres/sticks to B
gotca P is a goat
gotri D is. an industry producing O among P
grada G is greater than L by standard C
gramo P is/weighs a gram
grasa P is a blade/an expanse of grass
grato P is a cake
gresa P is an amount of grease/fat/oil
grisi G is greyer than L
gritu S sings O to B
grod A is angry at P for doing D
groda G is bigger than L by amount Q
grunu O is grain from source S
grupa W is a group composed of members P
gudbi G is good/better than L for purpose O
gunti W is the country/territory of people P
gusto P is the taste/flavor of food W
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gutra W is strange to A in features P
hanco P is a hand of W
hapci A is happy about P
hardu G is harder/more resistant than L
harko P is a shelter for B from A
hanno P is more harmonious with P to A
hasfa P is a house/dwelling/home of B
hatro G is hotter than L by amount Q
hedto P is the head of W
hekto W is one hundred/a hundred-fold P
helba A helps B do D
herba P is a plant in/from habitat W
herfa P is hair/a strand of hair of W
hidro P is hydrogen, H
hijra A attends/is present at P
hinda P is Hindi/of the - language
hind! A is an Indian person (Hindu)
hindo D is Indian/of the - culture (Hindu)
hirti A hears sound P over/against noise C
holdu P is a hole/pit/depression in surface B
hompi A drinks P from B (or a-o-s)
horma P is a horse
homo P is a horn/antler of W
hospa P is the hospital of community W
hotte P is the hotel of community W
hozda P is hose/stocking/sock
humni P is human/a human being
hutri A destroys B
jaglo O is the angle between points S
jalti W is the product of P multiplied by P
janro G is narrower than L by amount Q
janto A hunts prey/quarry B
jmite A meets A at in B
jokla P is a clock
jorto P is a hour/lasts an hour
jugra A grabs/grasps/siezes B with P
junga P is Chinese/of the - language, 'Zhungwo'
jungi A is a Chinese person, 'Zhungwo'
jungo D is Chinese/of the - culture 'Zhungwo'
junti G is younger than L by amount Q
jupni A thinks P is true of W
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jurna A earns wages O for work/service D
kabna P is a/the cabin of passenger B
kabre P is a nightclub of community W
kafso A coughs up/out O
kakto A undertakes action D with purpose O
kalra P is a collar of garment W
kambi A compares W to/with W in features P
kamda A fights B over P
kamki P is funny to A by being/doing D
kamla A comes from S to B via D
kampo O is a camp of S at B
kamra P is a camera
kamti P is a committee of organization W with function/task O
kance A is conscious/aware of P
kangu P is a dog
kanla P is a canal between points S over route D
kanmo A can/is able to do D under conditions C
kanpi A competes with B for/over P
kanra P is a cane/rod
kanti O is a bill for goods/services P to B from/by S
kapli P is complete by standard C
kapma P is a hat/cap
kapni P is open/not shut
kapta A is the captain of P, nautical
karci P is the heart of W
karda P is a card
karkii A is a crack/fissure in surface B
karsa A is across B from P
karti P is a cart/carriage/wagon
kasfa A punishes B for doing/being D by O
kasni P is cow/cattle
katca A watches/observes P doing/being D
katli W has quality/feature P
katma P is a cat/a feline animal
katna O is cotton from source S
kecri A is sad/sorrowful about P
kekti A kicks B
kemdi P is a chemical/a chemically pure state of substance W
kenti O is a question about P put by S to B
kexju A cares for/takes care of B
kerti P is air/a quantity of air
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ketli B is a kettle of/containing P
ketpi P is a ticket to B from S on carrier A for price Q
kicmu A treats/doctors B for infirmity P with D
kilto W is a thousand/a thousand fold P
kind A is with P/accompanies P in doing/being D
kinku G is sharper than L
kitsa A copulates with A
klabu P is cloth/an amount of cloth
klada O is a cloud of air-mass S
kleda G is colder/cooler than L by amount Q
klesi P is a class of W with defining property C
klini G is cleaner than L
klipu A keeps/retains B in her/his possesion
kliri G is clearer/more transparent than L
klogu P is closed, as a door
kokfa A cooks P for B
kolme P is coal/an amount of coal
kolro P is a color perceived by A
komcu P is a comb
komfu G is more comfortable than L to A
kompi P is a company chartered by agency A for purpose O
konbi P is the vulva/vagina of W
konsu O is the consul of country S in place B (or p-w-b)
konte Q is the numerical count/number in set W
kopca O is a copy of S
korce P is cord rope/an amount of cordage
korji A orders/commands P to do D
korka P is a cork/a piece of cork from source W
korti P is the body of organism W
korva W is a curve through points P
kosta P is a coat
kraco A smashes/crushes W into pulp P
kraju A scratches B
kraku A cries/cries out
krani A drives/makes P go to B from S
kredi A extends credit to B in amount Q on conditions C
kreni O is a ray/particle/wave from energy source S
krido A believes O to be true of/about P
krilu P is a wheel of device/vehicle W
krima O is cream from source S
krinu P is a nut/kernel of plant W
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kroli O is a current flowing from S to B
kruli A is cruel to B
kruma P is a room of/in W
kubra G is broader/wider than L
kukra G is faster than L by amount Q
kultu O is the culture of people(s) S
kumtu P is a common to/universal in set W
kund A is related to P by relation S
kupta B is a cup of/containing P
kurfa W is a square with vertices P
kurma P is a worm
kumi A warns B of/about danger P
kurti P is a curtain of/across aperture B
kusmo D is a habit/custom of S under conditions C
kuspo A spreads over area B/expands into B
kusti G is more expensive than L for doing D
kutla A cuts W into pieces P
kutra G is more bitter than L to A
kuvga A covers/is a cover of P
kuvla P is a cave/cavity/cavern in B
ladzo P is a louse
lakse O is wax from source S
laldo G is older than L by amount Q
landi P is a parcel/expanse of land
langa G is longer than L by amount Q
larte D is an art/technique of making O among P (or s)
lasti G is more elastic than L
latci G is lighter /less heavy than L by amount Q in gravity-field C
ledri O is a clap of thunder /bolt of lightning from S to S
tedzo A is to the left/left-hand side of B
lelpi P is level/horizontal in gravity-field C
lengu O is a/the language of people(s) S
lenki A is an electric charge on B
lenzo P is a lens of optical system W
lerci O is a letter to B from S about P
lesta G is east of/more eastern than L
letei A lets/permits B to do D under conditions C
tetra P is a letter in alphabet/character set W
lidji D is a religious practice/religion of people S
likro P is liquor /distilled spirits
likta P is a week of month/year W
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infa O is a law proscribing acts D to actors A under conditions C
limit A limits P/is the limiting value/bound of P
linbu O is linin from source
linco G is thinner than L by amount Q
lista O is a list of the elements of set S as ordered by principle A
litla O is a light from source S on surface P
litnu A restrains/keeps B from doing D
lodji D is a logical rule/principle for reasoning from S to O
logla P is Loglan/of the - language
logli A is a Loglander/loglaphone
loglo D is Loglandic/of the - culture
lokti A is local to/confined to B
tefta A lifts P to B from S under gravity-field C
lunli O is wool from source S
lunra P is lunar/pertaining to Earth's moon
testa G is west of/more western than L
madji A performs magic before B
madzo S makes state/object W out of materials P
magne P is a magnet/magnetic
makri P is a Mark/is worth a Mark
malbi B is sick with disease/malady O caused by S
main* O is milk of/from source S
mande A manages function P in organization W
manko P is the mouth of W
manti P is an ant of hill/colony W
marka P is a mark on B made by A
marli P is a mile/a mite long
marpi P is a snake/serpent
marto P is a market of community W
matci P is a machine for use/function D
matma S is the mother of O with father A
megdo W is a million/a million-fold P
meteo O is a melon from source S
mendi P is a male of species W
menki P is an eye of W
mensa P is a month of year W
merji A is married to A
merka P is the/an American dialect
merki A is an American person
merko O is the/an American culture
merli A measures P to be/have value Q on scale C
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metca P is a match, an incendiary device
metli P is metal/metallic/made of metal
metro P is a meter/a meter long
nddju A is in the middle/center of figure/ solid B
miksa O is a mixture of ingredients P
mikti P is a millionth/a millionth part of W
mildo A is mild/gentle to/with B
milfa W is a meal composed of foods/dishes P
milti P is a thousandth/a thousandth part of W
mmku O is an ore/mineral from source S
ndnta P is a minute/lasts a minute
mipli P is an example of W
mirdo W is ten thousand/ten thousand of P
misme P is maize/corn from source S
ndtro P is a piece of meat from animal/ source W
modvi S is the motive to A for doing D under conditions C
molci P is a mill of community W
molro G is softer/more malleable than L
monca P is a mountain/hill of land mass W
monza P is the morning of day W
mordu G exceeds/is more than L in property P by amount Q
morto P is dead
motci P is a motor
mrenu P is a man/a male human
mroza P is a hammer
mubre O is wood from source S
munce W is a community of organisms P
murid P is a monkey
mursi P is a sea on planet W
musio P is a muscle of W
mutce G is more extreme than L in quality/feature P
muvdo A moves to B from S over path P (or D)
muzgi O is music/a piece of music by composer S
noble P is a problem to B in task/inquiry D
nadri P is sodium, Na
nadzo P is now/current/simultaneous with P
najda P is a knife
nakso A fixes/repairs P for use/user D
midi P is a nail/a driven metal fastener
namci P is the name of B to/used by A
nanda P is knot in/between (cords) W
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nanti P is a billionth/a billionth part of W
nardu D is difficult for A to do/be under conditions C
narnd P is an army of W
narti P is separate/apart from P
natli P is the night/night-time of day W
natra P is a natural phenomenon/not caused by humans
nazbi P is the nose of W
nedza P is in contact with/next to P
negda O is an egg of S
nemdi B is an/the enemy/foe of A in struggle P
nenri A is in/inside/the interior of B
nensu O is a/the nest of S
nerbi S is a factually necessary condition for process O
nerji G has more potential energy/capacity for doing work than L by amount Q
nervi A is nervous about P
nesta A is honest with B about matter P
netre P is a net
nidla P is a needle
nigro G is blacker than L
nikle P is nickel, Ni
nikri O is cheese from source S
nilca A is vertically below B in gravity- field C
nimla P is an animal in/from habitat W
nirda P is a bird
nirli P is a girl/a female human child
nirne P is a year of epoch W
nitci G is neater than L
nitro P is nitrogen, N
nordi G is north of/more northern than L
norji G is more orange than L
norma P is the average/mean distribution of W
notbi P is other/not the same as P
numcu P is a number
mirvo P is a nerve of organism W
mitra P is neutral in dispute D between A (and A)
nuzvo O is a piece of news about P from source S
packe P is a pocket in of garment W
padzi P is a cushion/pillow/pad
pafko A digs up B out of/from S
paid P polish/a quantity of polish
palto O is a potato from source S
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panba B is a pan/basin/shallow container of/containing P
pandi P is a pound, a monetary measure/ worth a pound
panko A panics/is panicked by S
pantu P is a pair of pants/trousers
papre P is a piece/sheet of paper
parti P is a part of W
pasko G is before/earlier than L
paspo O is a passport issued to P by S for travel to B
pasti P is paste/glue/a quantity of paste/ glue
patce P is an apparatus for doing D
patpe P is a pot/a deep container
pazda A waits for event/person P before doing D
pelpi P is leather/skin/hide from animal W
pelto G is more yellow than L
penbi P is a pen/writing instrument
pendi P hangs from B
penja P is a sponge penso A thinks about P
penta P is/the point of W
perli O is a pear from source S
penm P is a person
perti P is about/pertains to/concerns B
pesro P is a peso/worth a peso
pesta P is a peseta/worth a peseta
petci A pays Q to S for goods/services P
petri A distributes/shares P to/among B
pidri P is a page of document W
pifkio G is more frequent than L under conditions C
pflcti P is one trillionth/a trillionth part of W
pilno W is a plane surface through points P
pinca 0 is urine from S
pinda P is a pin
pingu P is the penis of W
pinsi P is a pencil, a writing implement
pinti P is paint
pirle P is parallel to P
pisku P is a piece of W
pisnri A is at peace with B
plado P is a plow
plata B is a plate of P
pleci A plays with B
pligo O is an apple from source S
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plizo A uses means S for end O
pluci A pleases B by being/doing D
phima P is a feather of W
poldi W is a state/nation/polity of citizens P
ponda A responds with D to stimulus S under conditions C
ponja P is Japanese/of the - language, 'Nippon-jin'
ponji A is a Japanese person, 'Nippon-jin'
ponjo O is Japanese/of the - culture, 'Nippon-jin'
ponsu A owns P under law/custom C
porju P is a pig/a piece of pork
porli A has power over B (to make B do D)
posta A posts mail to B from S by postal system W
pozfa A opposes B on issue P
prali O is the profit to B from transaction S (or p-b-w)
prano A runs to B from S over path P
prase D is a process/proceeding through stages P (of system W)
prati P is the price of W to B set by vendor A
preni B is a prisoner of A for doing/being D
prire A is in back of B
prizi P is private to person W
proju S produces O by process D
proza O is prose/a prose work by S
pruci D is a test of/for property/condition P in class W
prusa A approves of plan/action O by agent S
prutu A protests P/against P to S by action D
publi G is more public among people B than L
pubmu P is lead/a quantity of lead, Pb
pucto A pushes P to B from S via D
pudja P is a thumb of W
pudru O is powder from source
pulso A is impelled to D/feels an impulse to do D
pundo P weighs a pound
punfo G is purer/more homogeneous/uniform than L
puntu B feels pain/is sore in body part P
purcu G is poorer than L in dimension P
purda P is the/a word for W in language O
purfe P is perfect by standard C
purpu G is more purple than L radio P is a radio receiver in network W
rande P is round/circular/a disk/circle
ranjo A extends/ranges over region B
ranta G is more rotten than L
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rasto P is brass/made of brass
ratcu P is a rat
raznu P is a reason for A to do D under circumstances C
redro G is redder than L
renro A throws P to/at B
resfU P is a garment/clothing
resra P is a restaurant of community W
resto A rests/reposes/lies down on B
retca W is different from W in property/ properties P
retpi O is a/the answer/reply given by S to question(er) A
revri A dreams P/that P
ridle A reads P from surface/document C
rilri G is more regular/periodic than L
rindi A is an Amerind person
riiije P is a ring/band on/around B
rinta P is rhythm of W
rirda O is the record of event/process D on medium B
rirgu P is a buttock of W
rismi O is rice from source S
rispe A respects P for doing/being D
ritco A is to the right/right-hand side of B
ritma O is wheat from source S
rodja S grows naturally into O
rodlu P is a/the road between places B via route D
rofsu G is rougher/more abrasive than L
rolgu P rolls/is a cylinder
ronmi A is a Roman person
rozme O is a rose from source S
rubli P is a ruble/worth a ruble
rulni O is a rule prescribing D to A under conditions C
rulpi P is a rupee/worth a rupee
ruska P is Russian/of the - language, 'Russkii'
ruski A is a Russian person, 'Russkii'
rusko O is Russian/of the - culture, 'Russkii'
rutma D is a/the route to B from S via P
sadji G is wiser than L about/in matter P
sagro P is a cigar
sakli B is a sack of/containing P
sakta P is sugar (o is sugar from s)
saldi P is solid below temp, and pressure C
salfa P is a sail of vessel/boat W
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samto P is the same thing as P
sanca O is sand from source S (or p-s)
sange A suggests action D to P
Mnh P is an umbrella
sanpa O is a sign of S to A disposing/urging behavior D under conditions C
sanse A senses stimulus P under conditions C
santi G is quieter than L
sapla G is simpler than L on parameter/in respect P
sami G is more sour than L to A
satd P is the beginning/origin of process/ interval W
satro A strokes/rubs B with P
sekci A courts/flirts with/behaves sexually towards P
sekmi P is a second/lasts a second
sekre P is the secretary of B
sekta P is an insect
selji P is a/the self/self-image of person W
sad P is the science of/about W
sento P is holy/sacred to B
setci W is a set comprising members/ elements P
setfa A sets/places P at/on B
sidza O is a seed of S
sigre P is a cigarette
siltu A shakes/oscillates at rate Q
simba P is a lion
simci P seems/appears to be O to A under conditions C
sinma O is a cinema/movie made by S
sirna A is certain of the truth of sentence P
sisto W is a system with function O composed of elements P
sitci P is a town/city of region/country W
sitfa P is the site /place /location of A
skaca P is a/the Scot-tish dialect
skaci A is a Scot-tish person
skaco O is Scot -tish culture
skafe P is a cafe of community W
skafi P is coffee
skalu D is a scale for measuring P among W
skapi P is the skin/rind/outer covering of W
skara P is a skirt
skati P is sky/an expanse of sky at B
skesa A kisses B on/at P
skitu A sits on P
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skizo P is a ski
skori P is a screw, a threaded device
slann G is slower than L by amount Q
sliti G is sweeter than L to A
slopu G is steeper than L by amount Q
sluko P is the lock of/on W
ammo O is a quantity of smoke from source/fire S
sndke P is secret/hidden from B by A
smina P is the mind of W
simipi G is smoother than L by amount Q
snatu P is tin/a quantity of tin, Sn
sneku P is the neck of W
aiice P is a quantity/expanse of snow
snire G is nearer than L to P by amount Q
snola S entails/implies O by rules/logic C
sodi A interacts/interacts socially with A
sofna P is a sofa
sokcu O is an oak from source S
solda P is a soldier of army/nation W
solra P is solar/pertaining to Earth's sun
solte P is salt/an amount of salt
sonda O is a sound emitted/produced by S
sonli P sleeps/is asleep
sard! P is a store/reserve/deposit of W
sorgu P is an ear of W
sorme O is a sister of P with parents S
spadi P is a mattress/pallet
spali P is a side of object W bounded by edges D
spana P is Spanish/of the - language
spani A is a Spanish person
spano O is Spanish/of the - culture
spasi W is the region/space/volume occupied by P
spebi O is specific to S in set/among W
speci P is a species of genus W
speni A experiences P
spetu O is a quantity of spit from S
spicu P is a spirit/ghost of B percieved by A
spopa A hopes that P will happen
spori P is a spring/an elastic device
spuro A is competent in/skilled at doing D under conditions C
sputa P is a spoon
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srisu A is serious about P
srite S writes O on surface B (with means P)
stadi P is the stage/platform of hall/theatre W
staga P is the stem/stalk/trunk of W
stali A stands in/on B
stana P is a station in transport system W
stari A surprises B by being/doing D
steti O is a sentence/statement about P in language S
stifa G is stiffer than L in direction B
stire P is a stairway/a set of stairs of structure W
stise A stops doing/being D
stolo A stays/remains at/with B
stud O is a story about P told by S
stude A is a student of D at institution W
stuka W is a stick of/made of P
stuli A adjusts P for function O
suemi A swims to B from S via D
sudna P is sudden/abrupt to A
suksi A achieves/suceeds in O by effort S
sulba P is a swelling of/on/in W caused by S
sulfa P is sulfur/a quantity of sulfur, S
sumji W is the sum of P and/plus P
sundi A sends P to recipient B from S via route D
sunho O is a/the son of parents S and S
supta W is a soup/stew of ingredients P
surdi G is south of L
surna A hurts/damages/injures B at/in P
surva A serves B in/by doing D
sutme O is the odor emitted by S
tabko P is tobacco
takma A attacks P with goal/objective O
takna A talks to/speaks to B about P
talna P is Italian/of the - language
talni A is an Italian person
talno O is Italian/of the - culture
tarci P is a star of galaxy W
targo A argues with/debates A that/over P
tarle A is tired by effort D
tarmu P is a weapon for use D
tasgu A is disgusted by P
tatro P is a theatre of community W
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tcaku A shocks B with/by P
tcali P is a wall of/around W
tcaro P is a car/truck/motor vehicle
tcati O is tea from source S
tcela P is a/the wing of W
tcena P is chain/a length of chain
tceru A penetrates B in direction O
tceti P is the chest/breast of W
tcidi P is a piece of food to A
tcina P is the chin of W
tcoko P is chocolate/an amount of chocolate
tcori A is an authority in/on/over P
tcure O is a picture of P made by S
tedji A pays attention to P
tekto S is the architect of O
telfo P is a telephone receiver in network W
telvi P is a television receiver in network W
tenri A increases by quantity Q in dimension P during time C
tenta P is a tent, a fabric dwelling of B
tepli P is a church/temple of religion B
terla P is terrestrial, pertaining to Earth
testi P is a gonad (testicle or ovary) of W
tetcu A stretches to length Q from length S
tetri P is a weather phenomenon of place/ region W
tidjo G is heavier than L by amount Q in gravity-field C
tifru A offers P to B for use D
tigra P is a tiger
tilba P is the tail of W
tmmo P is ink/an amount of ink
tirca P is wire/a length of wire
tisra A selects P from/among set W
titci A eats B
titfa P is a breast/teat of W
tobme P is a table
tocki P is a key to (lock) W.
togri A agrees with B about/that P
tokna A takes P away from B
tokri O is chalk from source S
tomki P is automatic in function D
tomto O is a tomato from source S
tongu P is the tongue of W
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tomi P twists/is twisted under load C
tosku P is the skull of W
totco A touches B with body part P
totnu G is thicker than L by amount Q
tovru A is vertically above P in gravity- field C
traci A travels to B from S by route D
tradu O is true, as of sentences, by rule/ standard C
trail B is a tray of/containing P
trana A turns around axis P
trati A tries to do attain O by effort S
treci W is interesting to A in aspect P
trelu P is a rail/railing/bar
trena P is a train of system W
tricu P is a tree
trida P is the street of W
trili A attracts B by being/doing A
trime P is an implement for doing D
troku O is a rock/stone from source S
troli A controls B in performance D
trufa P is the roof of W
truke P is a/the structure/load-bearing portion of W
tsani D is a sneeze
tsero P is an error of/in W by standard C
tsime A behaves criminally according to laws O among S
tsodi A hates P for doing/being D
tsufi P is enough/sufficient for purpose O
tubli P is a tube/a length of tubing
tugle P is a leg of W
tulpi O is a tulip from source S
turka A works at/on B with goal O
vaksi P is a vaccine against disease O in/among B
valda S develops into/toward O, as of ideas/systems
valna A is violent in response to P
valpu P is a wave in medium W
valti A vaults/jumps over/across P
vamtu S vomits/throws up O on/in P
vapro P is a gas/gaseous above temperature and pressure C
vatli P is the value of W to A for use D
vedma A sells P to B for price Q
vegri G is greener than L
vendu P is a poison to/poisonous to organism A
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veslo B is a vessel of/containing P
vetci D happens to objects/persons B
vetfa S invents P for use/function D
vidju P is a view of W from point C
vidre O is an idea about P by thinker S
vinjo P is wine/an amount of wine
virsa O is verse/a poem by poet S
virta O is an advertisement of/for P in medium B
visra P is the gut/viscera of W
vizka A sees P against background C
vlad A washes B in/with P
vlako P is a lake of/in land mass W
void O is the voice of individual S
volta P is a volt/has a volt, e.m.f
valti A vaults/jumps over/across P
vrano P is the liver of W
vreti A is vertical in gravity-field C
vrid O is a river of land mass W
zakra A crushes/grind W into powder/ particles P
zavlo G is bad/worse than L for purpose O
zavno P is an oven
zbuma W bursts/explodes into fragments P
zinko P is zinc, Zn
zlupi P is the lip of W
zvoto A is outside of/exterior to P
LIST 5. THE TEACHING CORPUS (LWs listed where 1st used)
A. Imperatives 3c Responses (18) (eo ao ai ae ti tu nd no)
A01 Hapci hapci Be Happy!
A02 Eo skitu eo skitu Please sit!
A03 Stali eo stali eo
Stand up, please!
A 04 Hompi ti hompi ti Drink this!
A05 Ao kerju tu ao (kerju tu) I want you to take care of yourself!
A06 Ai mi kerju mi ai (mi [kerju mi]) Yes, I'll take care of myself.
A07 Eo helba mi eo (helba mi) Please help me!
A08 Ao no mi helba tu ao (no [mi (helba tu)]) 1 don't want to help you.
A09 No takna no takna Don't talk!
A10 Ae no takna mi ae ([no takna] mi) I wish you wouldn't talk to me.
All Eo no godzi eo (no godzi) Please don't go!
A12 No totco mi (no totco) mi Don't touch me!
A13 No mi totco tu no (mi [totco tu]) I'm not touching you.
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A14 Ae no mi puncko tu ae (no [mi (puncko tu)]) I hope I'm not hurting you.
A15 Eo no nordri mi eo ([no nordri] mi) Please don't forget me!
A16 No eo nordri mi ([no eo] nordri) mi Don't, please, forget me!
A17 No nordri eo mi (no [nordri eo]) mi Don't forget, please, me!
A18 No nordri mi eo (no nordri) (mi eo) Don't forget me, please!
B. Address & Response; Offers & Replies (20) (loi loa sia siu ea oi mu)
B01 Djim djim Jim.
B02 Loi loi Hello!
B03 Eo nenkaa eo nenkaa Please enter.
B04 Sia ai sia ai Thanks, I will.
B05 Loi, Fred loi fred Hello, Fred.
B06 Djin, loi djin loi Jean, hello!
B07 Sia, Ted sia ted Thanks, Ted.
B08 Oi resto oi resto You may lie down.
B09 Sia ao no (sia ao) no Thanks, I don't want to.
B10 Oi titci ti oi (titci ti) You may eat this.
B11 Sia ao sia ao Thanks, I want to.
B12 Siu, Selis siu selis You're welcome, Sally.
B13 Sia ae no (sia ae) no Thanks, I hope not to. (I'd rather not.)
B14 Ea mu gotso ea (mu gotso) Let's go. (I suggest we go.)
B15 Ao ao I want to. (OK./Alright./etc.)
B16 Eo mi titci ti eo (mi [titci ti]) Please, I eat this? (May I eat this?)
B17 Oi oi You may. (OK./Alright./etc.)
B18 Eo no mi titci ti eo (no [mi (titci ti)]) Please, I not eat this?
B19 Oi no oi no You may not. (It's ok if you don't.)
B20 Loa, Tcet loa tcet Goodbye, Chet.
C. Addressing vs. Naming (23) (la ta e hoi)
C01 Djan, santi djan santi John, be quiet!
C02 La Djan, santi (la djan) santi John is quiet.
C03 Prano, Mel prano mel Run, Mel!
C04 Prano la Mel prano (la mel) Run to Mel!
C05 Prano ta, Mel prano (ta mel) Run to that, Mel!
C06 Prano ta, Mel, e ti, Pol prano ([ta mel] e [ti pol]) Run to that, Mel, and to this, Paul!
C07 Keit, skesa mi keit (skesa mi) Kate, kiss me!
C08 Skesa, Keit, mi (skesa keit) mi Kiss, Kate, me!
C09 Skesa mi, Keit skesa (mi keit) Kiss me, Kate!
C10 skesa (mi [hoi keit]) Kiss me, O Kate!
C11 Skesa la Bab, Hoi Keit skesa (la [bab (hoi keit)]) Kiss Bob, O Kate!
C12 Skesa la Bab Keit skesa (la [bab keit]) Kiss Bob Kate (a person by the name of 'Bob
Kate').
C13 Karl, kukra la Dik karl (kukra [la dik]) Carl, be faster than Dick.
C14 La Karl, kukra la Dik (la karl) (kukra [la dik]) Carl is faster than Dick.
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C15 La Stivn, sunho, Ruf (la stivn) (sunho ruf) Steven is a son, Ruth.
C16 La Stivn, sunho la Ruf (la stivn) (sunho [la ruf]) Steven is a son of Ruth.
C17 La An, takna la Ritcrd, mi (la an) (takna [(la ritcrd) mi]) Anne talks to Richard about
me.
C18 An, takna la Ritcrd, mi an (takna [(la ritcrd) mi]) Ann, talk to Richard about me.
C19 La Djeik, farfu, Djan, mi la Suzn (la djeik) ([farfu djan] [mi (la suzn)]) Jake is the
father, John, of me through Susan.
C20 La Djeik, farfu la Djan, mi, Suzn (la djeik) (farfu [(la djan) (mi suzn)]) Jake is the
father of John by me, Susan.
C21 Mel, prano la Djan Pol Djonz mel (prano [la «djan pol> djonz)]) Mel, run to John Paul
Jones!
C22 Prano la Djan Pol Djonz Mel prano (la [«djan pol> djonz) mel]) Run to John Paul
Jones Mel!
C23 Prano la Djan Pol Djonz, Hoi Mel prano (la [(djan pol) (djonz <hoi mel>)]) Run to
John Paul Jones, O Mel!
D. Descriptions (11) tie ne su gu)
D01 Bleka le nirda bleka (le nirda) Look at the bird!
D02 Eo penso le nable eo (penso [le nable]) Please think about the problem.
D03 Eo penso ne nable eo (penso [ne nable]) Please think about one problem (i.e.,
exactly one problem).
D04 Eo penso su nable eo (penso [su nable]) Please think about a problem (i.e., at least
one problem).
D05 Ai mi ckano le bunbo ai (mi [ckano (le bunbo)]) I will be kind to the fool.
D06 Mi driki le purda mi (driki [le purda]) I remember the word.
D07 La Celdn, godzi le sitci (la celdn) (godzi [le sitci]) Sheldon goes to the city.
D08 Le rodlu ga gudbi le fitrua (le rodlu) (ga [gudbi (le fitrua)]) The road is better than the
path.
D09 Le ditca ga fundi mi le groda (le ditca) (ga [fundi (mi <le groda>)]) The teacher likes
me better than (he does) the big one.
D10 Le troli ga plizo la Frenk, ne mipli (le troli) (ga [plizo «la frenk > <ne mipli>)]) The
controller uses Frank as one example.
D11 Le tcaro ga djipo le ponsu le kolro (le tcaro) (ga [djipo (<le ponsu> <le kolro>)]) The
car is important to the owner for the color.
E. Questions with he; Demonstratives 3c Plurals; Replacement with da (18) (he da
na ri ro levi leva)
E01 Tu he tu he You're what? (How are you?)
E02 Mi djela mi djela I'm well.
E03 Ta he ta he That's what? (What's that?)
E04 Da muzgi da muzgi It's music.
E05 Le cersi ga he (le cersi) (ga he) The chair is what? (How's the chair?)
E06 Da komfu da komfu It's comfortable.
E07 Da he komfu da (he komfu) It's how comfortable? (How com-fortable is it?
E08 Da nurmue komfu da (nurmue komfu) It's moderately comfortable.
E09 le (nurtci he) The edible what?
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E10 Le nurtci herba le (nurtci herba) The edible plant.
E11 Le botci ga he sucmi (le botci) (ga [he sucmi]) The boy is what kind of swimmer?
E12 Le botci ga tarle sucmi (le botci) (ga [tarle sucmi]) The boy is a tired swimmer.
E13 Leva he tcaro leva (he tcaro) That what-kind-of car?
E14 Leva tcaro he leva (tcaro he) That car-type-of what?
E15 Levi ri herba ga he (levi ri herba) (ga he) These few plants are what?
E16 Da vendu da vendu They're poisonous.
E17 Leva ro junti na he (leva ro junti) (na he) Those many young ones are now
(doing/being) what?
E18 Da na takna da (na takna) They're now talking.
F. Identity Questions 3c Sentences; Replacement with de 3c dui (25) (ie bi hu i de
dui)
F01 Da mrenu da mrenu He's a man.
F02 Ie da ie da Which he?
F03 La Bab la bab Bob.
F04 le la Bab ie (la bab) Which Bob?
F05 La Bab, bi le hapci (la bab) (bi [le hapci]) Bob is the happy one.
F06 Da hapci hu da (hapci hu) He's happy about what?
F07 Le ckela le ckela The school.
F08 Ie le ckela IP (ip What school? (Which "the school"?)
F09 Le cninu ckela le (cninu ckela) The new school.
F10 Ta bi le cninu ckela ta (bi [le (cninu ckela)]) That is the new school.
F11 La Selis, cluva (la selis) cluva Sally loves. (Sally is in love.)
F12 Da cluva hu da (cluva hu) She loves whom?
F13 Da cluva la Pit da (cluva [la pit]) She loves Pete.
F14 1 de cluva hu i (de [cluva hu]) And he loves whom?
F15 La Alis la alis Alice.
F16 Ie la Alis ie (la alis) Which Alice?
F17 La Muhamed Alis la (muhamed alis) Muhamed Ali.
F18 Da godzi la Italias da (godzi [la italias]) He goes to Italy.
F19 Da godzi de hu da (godzi [de hu]) He goes to it from what? (He goes there from
where?
F20 Da godzi de la Danmark da (godzi [de (la danmark)]) He goes to it from Denmark.
(He goes there from Denmark.)
F21 Hu matma leva botci hu (matma [leva botci]) Who is the mother of that boy?
F22 Ti dui ti dui This (person) is.
F23 Mi gudbi tu mi (gudbi tu) I'm better than you.
F24 Tu gudbi mi hu tu (gudbi [mi hu]) You're better than me at/for what?
F25 Mi gudbi tu ti mi (gudbi [tu ti]) I'm better than you are at/for this.
G. Yes/No Questions & Answers; Utterance Demonstratives (12) (ei ia toi toa)
G01 Ei ti breba ei (ti breba) Is this bread?
G02 ia (da breba) Yes, it's bread.
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G03 Ei ti ckela ei (ti ckela) Is this a school?
G04 No. I da hasfa no . i (da hasfa) No; it's a house.
G05 Ei ta hasfa ei (ta hasfa) Is that a house?
G06 Ia no. I da vemsia ia no . i (da vemsia) Certainly not; it's a store.
G07 Ei tu cidja ei (tu cidja) Are you awake?
G08 No. I mi sonli no . i (mi sonli) No; I'm asleep.
G09 Ei tu cluva mi ei (tu [cluva mi]) Do you love me?
G10 Ia mi cluva tu ia (mi [cluva tu]) Yes, I love you.
Gil Ei toi tradu ei (toi tradu) Is that true? (Toi refers to the last remark.)
G12 Ei toa logla ei (toa logla) Was that Loglan? (Toa refers to an earlier remark.)
H. Tenses; Tune Questions 3c Answers; Local Modification; Punctuation (22) (pa
fa ji ipou nahu)
H01 Ei tu na bleka mi ei (tu [na (bleka mi)]) Are you now looking at me?
H02 No. Ipou mi fa bleka tu no . ipou (mi [fa (bleka tu)]) No. But I will look at you.
H03 Ei tu pa tidjo mi ei (tu [pa (tidjo mi)]) Were you heavier than me?
H04 Ia mi pa mutce tidjo tu ia (mi [pa (<mutce tidjo> tu)]) Yes, I was much heavier than
you.
H05 Eo tu fa helba mi eo (tu [fa (helba mi)]) Please, will you (later) help me?
H06 Ai mi fa helba tu ai (mi [fa (helba tu)]) Yes, I will (later) help you. (Both senses of 'will'
are involved.)
H07 Mi groda tu mi (groda tu) I'm bigger than you.
H08 Tu nahu groda mi (tu nahu) (groda mi) You as of when are, were, or will be, bigger
than me?
H09 Mi groda tu fa ti mi (groda [tu (fa ti)]) I will be bigger than you hereafter (after this).
H10 Mi penso toi fa mi (penso [toi fa]) I will think about that later.
Hll Na gi mi penso da (na gi) (mi [penso da]) Now I'm thinking about it.
H12 Na mi, penso da (na mi) (penso da) At me, think about it. (When I do, think about it.)
H13 Na mi penso da (na mi) (penso da) At me, think about it. (When I do, think about it.)
H14 Na gi la Djan, totco tu (na gi) ([la djan] [totco tu]) Now John is touching you.
H15 Na la Djan, totco tu (na [la djan]) (totco tu) When John (does), touch yourself.
H16 Mi na totco tu mi (na [totco tu]) I'm now touching you.
H17 Mi ji na, totco tu (mi [ji na]) (totco tu) I, as of now, touch you. (I.e., the present-I
touches you.)
H18 Mi na fundi tu ji pa mi (na [fundi (tu <ji pa>)]) I now like you as you were before.
H19 Mi no fundi tu pa mi ([no fundi] [tu pa]) I didn't like you then.
H20 Ei tu na saadja toi ei (tu [na (saadja toi)]) Do you now understand this?
H21 Ia mi dui ia (mi dui) Yes I do.
H22 No mi dui no (mi dui) No I don't.
I. Time Phrases (21)
(pahu fahu fazi pazu tiu)
I01 Ai mi ditca ai (mi ditca)
I intend to teach. (I'm going to teach.)
I02 Nahu nahu At what time/date/period?
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I03 Fa la Netomen fa (la netomen)
After December.
I04 Pa la Torin pa (la torin)
Before the Second.
I05 Na le monza na (le monza) In the morning.
I06 Pahu pahu Before when?
I07 Pa le natli pa (le natli)
Before (the) night.
I08 Fahu fahu
After when?
I09 Fa le cimra fa (le cimra)
After the summer.
I10 Fazi fazi
Right away.
I11 Fa la Nevesonin fa (la nevesonin) After 1960.
I12 Na tiu gi mi pa clafo ([na tiu] gi) (mi [pa clafo])
At that (reported event), I laughed.
I13 Fa ta gi ti rodja ([fa ta] gi) (ti rodja) After that, this (will) grow.
I14 Fa ta, rodja (fa ta) rodja
After that, grow!
I15 Fa gi ti rodja (fa gi) (ti rodja) Later this (will) grow.
I16 Ti fa rodja ti (fa rodja) This will grow.
I17 Mi kicmu pazu tu
mi (kicmu [pazu tu]) I was a doctor long before you (were).
I18 Ai mi fa traci na la Nenimen ai (mi [fa (traci <na (la nenimen) >)]) I intend to travel in
October.
I19 Na la nenimen gi mi fa traci la Frans ([na (la nenimen)] gi) (mi [fa (traci <la frans>)])
In October I will travel to France.
I20 Mi fa traci da pa la Netomen mi (fa [traci (da <pa (la netomen) >)]) I will travel to it
before December.
I21 Mi fa traci pa la Netomen da mi (fa [traci «pa (la netomen) > da)]) I will travel before
December to it.
J. Space Questions 3c Answers; Space Phrases (17) (vi va vu vihu vahu vuhu)
J01 La Djan, titci vi (la djan) (titci vi)
John eats here.
J02 Ei tu stolo vi ei (tu [stolo vi]) Do you stay here?
J03 No. I mi stolo va no . i (rai [stolo va]) No; I stay there.
J04 Ei tu stude vi ei (tu [stude vi])
Are you a student here?
J05 no . i (mi [stude vu]) No; I am a student far away.
J06 Ei tu ji vi, stude
ei ([tu (ji vi)] stude)
Are you, as are here, a student?
(I.e.,
the part of you that is here?)
J07 Vihu tu sonli vihu (tu sonli) Where do you sleep?
J08 Va tu va tu Near you.
J09 Vi le hasfa
vi (le hasfa) In the house.
J10Vahu vahu Near where?
Jll Va la Rain
va (la rain)
Near the Rhine.
J12Vuhu vuhu Far from where?
J13Vu le mursi
vu (le mursi) Far from the sea.
J14 Vi la Ditroit, gi da pa malbi ([vi (la ditroit)] gi) (da [pa malbi])
In Detroit he was
sick.
J15Da
fa zbuma va le vrici da
(fa [zbuma (va <le vrici>)]) It will explode near
the river.
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J16Da na genbalci de vu le
monca da (na [genbalci (de <vu (le monca)>)])
He's
now rebuilding it far from the mountain.
J17 Da na genbalci de ji vu le monca da (na [genbalci (de <ji (vu [le monca])>)])
He's
now rebuilding the one (that is) far from the mountain.
K. Existentials 8c Universals; Completion (34) (ba be bo bu raba rabe rabo nibe
ifeu inusoa vina uu)
K01 Ba najda ba najda Something is a knife. (There are knives.)
K02 Ei ba smano ei (ba smano) Is something smoke? (Is there smoke?)
K03 Ia ba smano ia (ba smano) Yes, something is smoke. (Yes, there is smoke.)
K04 Ei ba breba ei (ba breba)
Is something bread? (Is there any bread?)
K05 Ia. I ba breba vi ia . i (ba [breba vi]) Yes; something is bread here. (There's bread
here.)
K06 Ei ba bukcu vi ei (ba [bukcu vi])
Is something a book here? (Are there any books
here?)
K07 Uu no ba bukcu vi uu (no [ba (bukcu vi)]) Sorry, nothing is a book here. (There are
no books here.)
K08 No ba cutri vina no (ba [cutri vina]) Nothing is water here now. (There is no water
here now.)
K09 Vihu ba najda vihu (ba najda)
Where is something a knife? (Where are there
knives?)
K10 Ba najda vi levi drara ba (najda [vi (levi drara)]) Something is a knife in this drawer.
(There are knives in this drawer.)
K11 Nahu ba nilboi nahu (ba nilboi)
When is something a child? (When were
there/will there be children?)
K12 Ba nilboi na la Nevevonin ba (nilboi [na (la nevevonin)]) There are children in
1980. (There were /will be children in 1980.)
K13 Ei raba cninu ^^eTTIra^b^] cninu)' /
Is everything new?
K14 No. I ba no cninu
no . i (ba [no cninu]) No; something is not new. (No; some
things are not new.)
K15 Ei raba cluva rabe ei ([ra ba] [cluva (ra be)])
Does everybody love everybody
else?
K16
No. 1 ba no cluva rabe
no . i (ba [(no cluva) (ra be)]) No; there are some
who don't love everyone else.
K17 Ifeu ba no cluva be ifeu (ba [(no cluva) be])
In fact, there are some who don't
love anyone else.
K18
Ei raba kunci be
ei ([ra ba] [kunci be]) Is everyone related to someone
else?
K19 No. 1 ba kunci nibe no . i (ba [kunci (ni be)])
No; some are related to no one
else (to zero somethings).
K20 Raba gudbi be bo (ra ba) (gudbi [be bo]) Everyone is better than someone at/for
something.
K21 Ba paslinkui rabe bo ba (paslinkui [(ra be) bo])
Someone is an ancestor of
everyone through someone./
K22 Ba vegri be rabo / ba (vegri [be (ra bo)])
Something is greener than something
else to everyone.
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K23 La Djan, godzi la Frans (la djan) (godzi [la frans]) John goes to France.
K24 Inusoa de godzi da ba
inusoa (de [godzi (da ba)]) Therefore he goes there from
somewhere.
K25 Ti groda ti groda This is big.
K26 Inusoa da groda ba be
inusoa (da [groda (ba be)]) Therefore it's bigger than
something by some amount.
K27 Ti bitsa ti bitsa
This is in between.
K28 Inusoa da bitsa ba be
inusoa (da [bitsa (ba be)])
Therefore it's between
something and something else.
K29 Ti vedma ti vedma This (person) is a seller.
K30 Inusoa da vedma ba be bo inusoa (da [vedma (<ba be> bo)]) Therefore he sells
something to someone at some price.
K31 Ti racketpi ti racketpi This is a travel-ticket.
K32 Inusoa da ketpi ba be bo bu inusoa (da [ketpi (<(ba be) bo> bu)]) Therefore it is a
ticket to somewhere from somewhere on some carrier for some price.
K33 Mi no vizka mi (no vizka)
I do not (i.e., cannot) see.
K34 Inusoa mi no vizka raba rabe
inusoa (mi [(no vizka) «ra ba> <ra be>)])
Therefore I do not see anything against any background.
L. Predicate Strings; Grouping, Hyphenation, Connection Jc Inversion (22) (ge go
ci ce ke ki)
LOI La Frans, grada gunti (la frans) (grada gunti)
France is a great country.
L02 Da he grada gunti da ([he grada] gunti)
It's how great a country? (I.e., what kind
or degree of greatness isinvolved?)
L03 Da bilca grada gunti da ([bilca grada] gunti) It's a militarily great country.
L04 La Spat, simba janto kangu ' (la spat) ([simba janto] kangu)
Spot is a lionhunting dog.
L05 Da he simba janto kangu
da ([(he simba) janto] kangu) He's a what-kind-of-lion
hunting dog? (Used for what kind of lions?)
L06 Da frika simba janto kangu da ([(frika simba) janto] kangu) He's an African-lionhunting dog.
L07 Da cmalo ge janto kangu
da (cmalo [ge (janto kangu)]) He's small for a hunting
dog.
L08 Da cmalo janto ci kangu da (cmalo [janto ci kangu])
He's a small hunting-dog.
L09 La Mbelis, dorja cefli (la mbelis) (dorja cefli) Mbeli is a war chief.
L10 Da he dorja cefli da ([he dorja] cefli) He's what-kind-of-war chief? (A chief for what
kind of wars?)
L11 Da he ge dorja cefli da (he [ge (dorja cefli)])
He's what kind of a war-chief?
(What's he like as a war-chief?)
L12 Da ckano ge dorja cefli
da (ckano [ge (dorja cefli)]) He's kind for a war-chief.
L13 Da junti ge terla famva bilra da (junti [ge «terla famva > bilra)])
He's young for a
world-famous billiard-player.
L14 Da kusti ge slano torkrilu ci dampa da (kusti [ge (slano <torkrilu ci dampa>)])
It's
expensive for a slow bicycle- pump. (I.e., a slow-acting pump.)
L15 Da junti famva ce terla ci sadji da (junti [famva ce (terla ci sadji)]) He's young to be
famous and worldly-wise.
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L16 Da junti ke famva ki terla ci sadji da (junti [ke famva ki (terla ci sadji)])
He's young
to be both famous and worldly-wise.
L17 Da junti ce terla ci famva sadji da ([junti ce (terla ci famva)] sadji) He's a young (and)
world-famous sage.
L18 Da kubra kanpi ci tcaro rodlu
da ([kubra (kanpi ci tcaro)] rodlu) It's a wide race-car road. (I.e., a road for wide racecars.)
L19 La Djan, prano go kukra la Djek (la djan) ([prano go kukra] [la djek])
John runs
faster than Jack.
L20 Da botsu go vedji groda da (botsu go [vedji groda]) It's a boat that is very large.
L21 Da slano takna go staryfoa da ([slano takna] go staryfoa) He's a slow talker who is
full of surprises.
L22 Da ge slano takna go staryfoa
da ([ge (slano takna)] go staryfoa) He's, for a
slow talker, full of surprises.
M. More Connections 6c Groupings in Predicate Strings (26) (gue cui canoi ka
kanoi)
M01 Da bilti cmalo ce nirli da (bilti [cmalo ce nirli])
She's (a) beautifully small (thing)
and a beautiful girl.
M02 Da bilti ke cmalo ki nirli da (bilti [ke cmalo ki nirli]) She's beautifully both small and a
girl.
M03 Da bilti ge cmalo nirli gue ckela da ([bilti (ge <cmalo nirli> gue)] ckela) It's
a
beautiful small-girls' school.
M04 Da bilti cmalo ge nirli ckela da ([bilti cmalo] [ge (nirli ckela)]) It's beautifully small for
a girls' school.
M05 Da bilti cmalo nirli ci ckela da ([bilti cmalo] [nirli ci ckela]) It's a beautifully small
girls-school.
M06 Da bilti ge cmalo ge nirli ckela da (bilti [ge (cmalo <ge (nirli ckela) >)])
It's beautiful
for a small type of girls' school, i.e., for a girls' school which is small.
M07 Da bilti cmalo ci nirli ci ckela da (bilti [cmalo ci (nirli ci ckela)]) It's a beautiful smallgirl's-school.
M08 Da bilti ce cmalo nirli ckela da ([(bilti ce cmalo) nirli] ckela) It's a beautiful-and-small
girls' school, i.e., for girls who are both beautiful and small.
M09 Da bilti cmalo ca nirli ckela da ([bilti (cmalo ca nirli)] ckela) It's a beautifully small
and/or a (beautiful) girls', school.
M10 Da bilti ka cmalo ki nirli ckela da ([bilti (ka cmalo ki nirli)] ckela) It's a beautifully either
small and/or a girls', school.
M11 Da bilti cmalo nirli ce ckela da ([bilti cmalo] [nirli ce ckela]) It's a beautifully small girland- school, i.e, it's both a beautifully small girl and a beautifully small school (!).
M12 Da bilti ge cmalo ce nirli ckela da (bilti [ge «cmalo ce nirli > ckela)]) It's beautiful for a
small, and for a girls', school, i.e., for a school which is small and for girls.
M13 Da bilti ge cmalo nirli ce ckela da (bilti [ge (cmalo <nirli ce ckela>)]) It's beautiful for a
small girl and for a small school.
M14 Da cui bilti cmalo ce nirli ckela da ([cui (bilti cmalo) ce nirli] ckela) It's a beautifully
small, and a girls', school.
M15 Da bilti ci cmalo ce nirli ckela da ([(bilti ci cmalo) ce nirli] ckela) It's a beautifully-small
and a girls' school.
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M16 Da bilti canoi cmalo ci nirli ckela da ([bilti canoi (cmalo ci nirli)] ckela) It’s a beautiful if
for small-girls school.
M17 Da bilti ce cmalo ge nirli ckela da ([bilti ce cmalo] [ge (nirli ckela)]) It's beautiful and
small for a girls' school.
M18 Da bilti ce cmalo nirli ci ckela da ([bilti ce cmalo] [nirli ci ckela]) It's a beautiful, and a
small, girls- school.
M19 Da bilti cui cmalo nirli ce ckela da (bilti [cui (cmalo nirli) ce ckela]) It's a beautiful
small-girl and (a beautiful) school.
M20 Da bilti cmalo ci nirli ce ckela da (bilti [(cmalo ci nirli) ce ckela]) It's a beautiful smallgirl and school.
M21 Da bilti cmalo ce ge nirli ckela da (bilti [cmalo ce (ge <nirli ckela>)]) It's (a) beautifully
small (thing) and (beautiful for a) girls' school.
M22 Da bilti ce cmalo ca nirli ckela da ([(bilti ce cmalo) ca nirli] ckela) It's a beautiful and a
small, or it's a girls', school.
M23 Da bilti ce kanoi cmalo ki nirli ckela da ([bilti ce (kanoi cmalo ki nirli)] ckela) It's a
beautiful, and, if a small then a girls', school.
M24 Da bilti ce cmalo nirli ce ckela da ([bilti ce cmalo] [nirli ce ckela]) It's a beautiful-andsmall girl-and- school.
M25 Da bilti cmalo ce nirli ca nirli da (bilti [(cmalo ce nirli) ca nirli]) It's a beautifully small
thing and a beautiful girl, or it's a beautiful school.
M26 Da bilti cmalo ce ka nirli ki ckela da (bilti [cmalo ce (ka nirli ki ckela)]) It's a beautifully
small thing, and either a (beautiful) girl or a (beautiful) school.
N. Event/State Predicates; Other Abstractions (16) (po pu zo di)
N01 Da zbuma da zbuma It explodes (is an explosive).
N02 Da po zbuma da (po zbuma)
It's an explosion (an event of exploding).
N03 Da pa clado po zbuma
da (pa [clado (po zbuma)]) It was a loud explosion.
N04 Da po mrenu da (po mrenu) It's a manhood (a state of being a man).
N05 Da pa corta po mrenu
da (pa [corta (po mrenu)])
It was a short manhood.
N06 Da pa corta po mrenu bukcu
da (pa [(corta <po mrenu>) bukcu]) It was a
short-manhood book. (A book about short manhoods?)
N07 Da pa corta ge po mrenu bukcu da (pa [corta (ge <(po mrenu) bukcu>)]) It was short
for a manhood book.
N08 Da po ge corta mrenu
da (po [ge (corta mrenu)])
It's an event, state, or case
of being a short man.
N09 Da po, corta mrenu da (po [corta mrenu]) It's a case of being a short man.
N10 Da pa mutce po ge corta mrenu da (pa [mutce (po <ge (corta mrenu) >)]) It was an
extreme case of being a short man.
N11 Da po mi corta la Djan
da (po [mi (corta <la djan>)]) It's a case of my being
shorter than John.
N12 Da po la Pit, mutce corta la Djan da (po [(la pit) «mutce corta> <la djan>)])
It's a
case of Pete's being much shorter than John.
N13 Da pu de fotli di
da (pu [de (fotli di)]) X is a (the) property of Y being stronger
than W.
N14 Da pu de fotli da (pu [de fotli])
X is an instance of Y's strength.
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N15 Da zo de blanu di
da (zo [de (blanu di)]) X is an (the) amount by which Y is bluer
than W.
N16 Da zo de blanu da (zo [de blanu]) X is an (the) amount of blue in Y.
O. Mass 3c Event Descriptions; Mass Event Descriptions (27) (lo lovi lepo lopo)
1 Ei da fundi lo malna ei (da [fundi (lo malna)])
Is he fond of milk? (Does he like
milk?)
2 Ei tu pa titci lo nikri ei (tu [pa (titci <lo nikri>)])
Did you eat cheese?
3 Ei tu fa janto lo simba
ei (tu [fa (janto <lo simba>)]) Will you (be) hunt(ing)
lions? (Are you going to hunt lions?)
4 Ia mi fa janto da
ia (mi [fa (janto da)]) Yes, I'll (be) hunt(ing) them. (Yes, I'm
going to hunt them.)
5 Ei lo nirda vi sucmi ei ([lo nirda] [vi sucmi])
Do birds here-swim? (I.e., swim
here, in this place?)
6 Ei lo nirda vi, sucmi ei ([(lo nirda) vi] sucmi)
Do birds here swim? (More global;
does the event of birds swimming take place here?)
7 Ei lo nirda ji vi, sucmi ei ([(lo nirda) (ji vi)] sucmi)
Do (the) birds here swim? (I.e.,
the local birds?)
8 Ei lovi nirda ga sucmi ei ([lovi nirda] [ga sucmi])
Do local birds (here-birds) swim?
9 No. I da fleti no . i (da fleti) No; they fly.
10 Leva sonda ga he (leva sonda) (ga he)
That sound was what?
11 Lopo zbuma lopo zbuma Explosion(s).
12 Ei tu pa hirti lepo zbuma
ei (tu [pa (hirti <lepo zbuma>)]) Did you hear the
explosion?
13 Ia mi pa hirti da. I lopo zbuma ga clado
ia (mi [pa (hirti da)]) . i ([lopo zbuma] [ga
clado]) Yes, I heard it. Explosions are loud.
14 Ei tu pa hirti le clado po zbuma ei (tu [pa (hirti <le (clado [po zbuma])>)]) Did
you
hear the loud explosion?
15 Ei tu hirti lo clado po zbuma ei (tu [hirti (lo <clado (po zbuma) >)]) Do you hear loud
explosions?
16 Ei tu fundi lopo sucmi ei (tu [fundi (lopo sucmi)])
Do you like swimming?
17 Ei lepo prano pa nardu
ei ([lepo prano] [pa nardu]) Was the run difficult?
18 Ei lopo nilboi ga treci ei ([lopo nilboi] [ga treci])
Is childhood interesting?
19 Ei lopo mormao lo simba ga nardu ei ([lopo (mormao <lo simba>)] [ga nardu]) Is
killing lions difficult?
20 Lo ficli ga spalii lo mursi
(lo ficli) (ga [spalii (lo mursi)]) Fish live in the sea.
21 Lo tongu ga trime lopo takna (lo tongu) (ga [trime (lopo takna)]) The tongue is the tool
of speech.
22 Lo tcina ga hasfa lo tongu (lo tcina) (ga [hasfa (lo tongu)]) The chin is the house of
the tongue.
23 Lopo takna ga proju lo sonda (lopo takna) (ga [proju (lo sonda)]) Speech produces
sound.
24 Lopo dirlu ga ckozu lopo kecri (lopo dirlu) (ga [ckozu (lopo kecri)]) Loss is a cause of
sadness.
25 Lepo kanpi sucmi pa valna (lepo [kanpi sucmi]) (pa valna) The
swimming-meet
(event of competitive swimming) was violent.
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26 Le, po kanpi sucmi pa valna (le [(po kanpi) sucmi]) (pa valna) The competition
swimmer was violent.
27 Lo, po kanpi sucmi ga valna (lo [(po kanpi) sucmi]) (ga valna) Competition swimmers
are violent.
P. Specified 8c Nested Event Descriptions (22) (No new LWs.)
P01 Ei tu djano lepo mi stude
ei (tu [djano (lepo <mi stude>)]) Do you know that I am a
student?
P02 Tu danza lepo jmite hu
tu (danza [lepo (jmite hu)]) You want to meet whom?
P03 Le nirli pa takna mi lopo da traci (le nirli) (pa [takna (mi <lopo (da traci) >)])
The
girl talked to me about her travels.
P04 nu fatru
(le farfu) (pa [takna (<le detra > <lepo (de [nu fatru])>)])
The father
talked to the daughter about his being troubled.
P05 Ei tu danza lepo mi tcihea tu ei (tu [danza (lepo <mi (tcihea tu) >) ])
Do
you
want me to feed you? (I.e., help you eat?)
P06 Mi krido lepo la Paris, garsitci la Frans
mi (krido [lepo (<la paris > <garsitci (la
frans)>)])
I believe that Paris is the capital of France.
P07 Mi djacue lepo la Marz, redro levi carta
mi (djacue [lepo (<la marz> Credro (levi
carta)>)])
I claim that Mars is redder than this shirt.
P08 Le stude pa djadou le surva lepo da pluci de
(le stude) (pa [djadou (<le surva >
<lepo (da [pluci de])>)])
The student informed the servant that he/she (the servant)
pleased him/her (the student).
P09 La Ruprt, djacue lepo la Denvr, bitsa le vrici lepo kamda (la ruprt) (djacue [lepo «la
denvr > <bitsa ([le vrici] [lepo kamda])>)]) Rupert claims that Denver is between the river
and the fighting.
P10 La Dag, furmoi lepo trati lepo skesa la Meris
(la dag) (furmoi [lepo (trati <lepo
(skesa [la meris]) >)]) Doug intends to try to kiss Mary.
P11 Ei la Degol, pa krido lepo kanmo lepo rilnamdou la Frans ei ([la degol] [pa (krido
<lepo (kanmo [lepo (rilnamdou <la frans>)])>)])
Did de Gaulle believe that (he) could
glorify France?
P12 Lepo le mrenu pa trati ga fekto (lepo [(le mrenu) (pa trati)]) (ga fekto)
That
the
man tried is a fact.
P13 Lepo le botci pa fundi lopo sucmi ga gudcae (lepo [(le botci) (pa <fundi (lopo
sucmi)>)]) (ga gudcae)
That the boy was fond of swimming is lucky.
P14 Lepo lepo le matma pa kamla pa tradu pa fatru (lepo [(lepo <(le matma) (pa kamla)>)
(pa tradu)]) (pa fatru) The fact that the mother came was true was troubling.
P15 Mi pa viadja lepo lepo prano pa kukra
mi (pa [viadja (lepo <(lepo prano) (pa
kukra) >)])
I observed (saw-knew) that the running was fast.
P16 Mi jupni lepo lepo mi danza lepo helba la Meris, pa gudcae mi (jupni [lepo (<lepo (mi
[danza (lepo <helba (la meris)>)])> <pa gudcae>)]) I think that my desire to help Mary was
fortunate.
P17 Mi penso lopo firpa lopo crina mi (penso [lopo (firpa <lopo crina>)])
I think about
fear of (the) rain.
P18 Mi pa rulkao lepo santi gu, lepo helba la Bab mi (pa [rulkao (<lepo (santi gu)> <lepo
(helba [la babj)>)])
I was obliged to be silent in order to help Bob.
P19 lopo clivi (lo nimla) (ga [cnida «lopo (cluva gu)> <lopo clivi>)])
Animals need to
love in order to live.
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P20 Lo humni ga cnida lopo nu cluva gu, lopo hapci clivi (lo humni) (ga [cnida «lopo ([nu
cluva] gu)> <lopo (hapci clivi) >)])
Humans need love (i.e., to be loved) in order to live
happily.
P21 Da pa djano lepo fa crina gu, pa lepo le neri drida fa felda da (pa [djano (<lepo (fa
[crina gu])> <pa (lepo [(le <neri drida>) (fa felda)])»])
He knew it was going to rain
before the first drops fell.
P22 Da pa djano lepo fa nicfea pa lepo le neri clife fa felda da (pa [djano (lepo <fa (nicfea
[pa (lepo <(le [neri clife]) (fa felda)»])»])
He knew it was going to snow before the first
leaves fell.
Q. Attitude Indication; Conversion, Negation 3c Superlatives (33) (uo ue ua uu ui
mi fu)
Q01 Uo, la Keit, pa dupma mi
uo ([la keit] [pa (dupma mi)]) Damn, Kate deceived me!
(Annoyance.)
Q02 Ue tu nu dupma ue (tu [nu dupma]) Well, so you're deceivable! (Surprise.)
Q03 Ua tu no nu dupma ua (tu [no (nu dupma)])
Thank goodness you're not
deceivable! (Satisfaction.)
Q04 Da nu vegri de di
da ([nu vegri] [de di]) X is less green than Y to W.
Q05 Da gutra nu begco de
da ([gutra (nu begco)] de)
It's a strange request by
him. (A strange thing for him to request.)
Q06 Uu tu nu fatru uu (tu [nu fatru])
I'm sorry you're troubled.
Q07 Eo no nu fatru mi
eo ([no (nu fatru)] mi) Please don't be troubled by me! (Don't let
me bother you!)
Q08 Ui tu no nu fatru
ui (tu [no (nu fatru)]) I'm glad you're not troubled.
Q09 Da nu gudbi de ba da ([nu gudbi] [de ba]) X is bettered by (worse than) Y for some
purpose x.
Q10 Di no nu gudbi raba rabe
di ([no (nu gudbi)] [(ra ba) (ra be)]) W is not betterable
by anything for any purpose, i.e., is best.
Qll No nu gudbi no (nu gudbi)
Don't be betterable! (Be the best!)
Q12 No ge kukra prano no (ge [kukra prano]) Don't run fast!
Q13 No, kukra prano no (kukra prano) Don't run fast!
Q14 No kukra prano (no kukra) prano Not fast run! (Run but not fast!)
Q15 Da fu ge briga stuci da (fu ge [briga stuci]) X is a teller of brave stories.
Q16 Da fu brigystuci da (fu brigystuci) X is a teller of bravestories.
Q17 Ei da nu kamla de ei (da [(nu kamla) de]) Is X where Y comes from? (Is X the
departure-point of Y's coming?)
Q18 Da fu lerci de da ([fu lerci] de)
X sends letters to Y. (X corresponds with Y.)
Q19 Ei da sanpa de di ei (da [sanpa (de di)])
Does X mean Y to W? (Is X a sign of Y to
W?)
Q20 Ia de nu sanpa da di ia (de [(nu sanpa) (da di)])
Yes, Y is the meaning of X to W.
Q21 Ia di fu sanpa de da ia (di [(fu sanpa) (de da)])
Yes, W assigns meaning Y to X.
(Or: W sees significance Y in X.)
Q22 No fu sanpa mi ta (no [fu sanpa]) (mi ta) Don't think I'm meant by that! (Don't
interpret that sign as meaning me!)
Q23 No nu takna no (nu takna) Don't be talked to! (Don't let yourself be talked to.)
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Q24 No fu takna no (fu takna)
Don't be talked about. (Don't be someone people talk
about.)
Q25 Da fu gudbi da (fu gudbi)
It's a purpose for which some things are better than
others.
Q26 Mi fu namci da mi ([fu namci] da) I can name him. (I know him by name.)
ta (fu garti) That's something to be grateful for.
Q28 Nu garti mi ta (nu garti) (mi ta)
Be the recipient of my gratitude for that!
Q29 Uu no ba nu hompi vi
uu (no [ba «nu hompi> vi)]) Alas,
there's
nothing
potable here.
Q30 Da nu vizka ba be da ([nu vizka] [ba be]) X is visible to someone or something
against some background.
Q31 De no nu vizka raba rabe de ([no (nu vizka)] [(ra ba) (ra be)]) Y is invisible to
everything against every background.
Q32 Da no nu kukra rutma de ti raba da ([(no <nu kukra>) rutma] [(de ti) (ra ba)])
X is
the fastest route to Y from here by any path.
Q33 Da no nu plizo raba lopo roadru da ([no (nu plizo)] [(ra ba) (lopo roadru)])X
is
unusable by anyone for hammering. (X is useless for hammering.)
R. Counting, Quantifying & Numerical Questions (21) (to te fo fe so se vo ve iesu
iene ho hoba toba teba foba soba)
R01 Konduo le batpi konduo (le batpi) Count the bottles!
R02 Ne. I to. I te. I fo. I foba batpi ne . i to . i te . i fo . i ([fo ba] batpi) One. Two. Three.
Four. There are four bottles.
R03 Ne. To. Te. Fo. Foba batpi ne . to . te . fo . (fo ba) batpi One. Two. Three. Four.
There are four bottles.
R04 Bleka le fo batpi bleka (le fo batpi) Look at the four bottles!
R05 Totco to le fo batpi totco (to [le fo batpi])
Touch two of the four bottles! (Any two.)
R06 Kambei mi ne le to batpi
kambei (mi [ne (le to batpi)]) Bring me (either) one of
the two bottles!
R07 Su levi fe batpi ga veslo lo viski (su [levi fe batpi]) (ga [veslo (lo viski)]) At least one
of these five bottles contains whiskey.
R08 Iesu de dui (iesu de) dui
Which one (or more) of them do?
R09 Levi to de dui (levi to de) dui These two of them do. (Should this,really be ternary?)
R10 Foba tugle levi tobme
(fo ba) (tugle [levi tobme])
There are four legs on this
table. (This table has four legs.
Literally, 'Four somethings x are legs of this table.'
R11 Hoba tugle leva tobme
(ho ba) (tugle [leva tobme]) How many legs has that
table?
R12 Leva tobme ga nu tugle soba (leva tobme) (ga [(nu tugle) (so ba)])
That table is
belegged with six.
(...is six-legged.)
R13 mi ([nu tugle] [ho ba])
I am belegged by how many? (I have how many legs?)
R14 Ne uu ne uu One, alas!
R15 Ho mu nu tugle toba (ho mu) ([nu tugle] [to ba])
How many of us are belegged
with two? (...are two-legged?)
R16 Ho le se tobme ga nu tugle soba (ho [le se tobme]) (ga [(nu tugle) (so ba)])
How
many of the seven tables are six-legged?
R17 Iene da iene da
Which one of them?
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R18 Ho le bekti ji vi levi kruma, ga nu
(hoTle bekti) (ji <vi (levi kruma) >)) (ga [(nu tugle)
(te ba)])
How many of the objects in this room are three-legged?
R19 Ho le bekti ji vi, nu tugle
(ho [(le bekti) (ji vi)]) (nu tugle) How many of the objects
here are legged (have legs)?
R20 Ho le bekti vi nu tugle
(ho [le bekti]) (vi [nu tugle]) How many of the objects
are here legged (have legs here)?
R21 Ho le bekti vi levi kruma ga nu tugle foba ([ho (le bekti)] [vi (levi kruma)]) (ga [(nu
tugle) (fo ba)]) How many of the objects (while) in this room are four-legged?
S. Quantified Descriptions & Questions (18) (iete iefo ieho)
S01
Ne mrenu pa kamla (ne mrenu) (pa kamla) One man came.
S02
Su mrenu pa kamla (su mrenu) (pa kamla) At least one man came. (Some
men came.)
S03
Ru mrenu pa kamla (ru mrenu) (pa kamla) Enough men came.
S04
Le fo mrenu pa kamla (le fo mrenu) (pa kamla)
The four men came.
S05
Te le fo mrenu pa kamla
(te [le fo mrenu]) (pa kamla) Three of the four
men came.
S06
Ru le fo mrenu pa kamla
(ru [le fo mrenu]) (pa kamla) Enough of the four
men came.
S07
To le te le fo mrenu pa kamla (to [le te (le fo mrenu)]) (pa kamla) Two of the
three of the four men came.
S08
Le to le te le fo mrenu pa kamla (le to [le te (le fo mrenu)]) (pa kamla)
The
two of the three of the four men came.
S09
Ho le te mrenu ho (le te mrenu)
How many of the three men?
S10
Le ho mrenu le ho mrenu
The how many men? (How many men were
there?)
S11
Te le ho mrenu te (le ho mrenu)
Three of the how many men?
S12 Iete le mrenu iete (le mrenu) Which three of the men?
S13
Te le iefo mrenu te (le iefo mrenu) Three of the which four men?
S14
Ie le ho mrenu ie (le ho mrenu)
Which (set of) the how many men? (Two
questions.)
S15
Iesu le ho mrenu iesu (le ho mrenu) Which (one or more) of the how many
men?
S16
Ieho le ho mrenu ieho (le ho mrenu) Which how many of the how many men?
(Three questions.)
S17
Se sorme pa mercea le se brudi (se sorme) (pa [mercea (le se brudi) ])
(Each of some) Seven sisters married (each of) the seven brothers. (This doesn't say
what the literal translations seems to say in English.)
S18
Se sorme pa mercea ne le se brudi (se sorme) (pa [mercea (ne <le se
brudi»])
(Each of some) Seven sisters married (some) one of the seven brothers.
(Better, but not quite.)
T. Measurement, Dimensioned Numbers & Numerical Description (10) (lio lepa -ma
-mei -dai)
TOI Ti dalri lio te ti (dalri [lio te]) This measures in dollars the number 3. (This is worth 3
dollars.)
T02 Ti dalri ti dalri This is a dollar. (I.e., a dollars- worth of something, e.g., money).
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T03 Ta gramo lio tema ta (gramo [lio tema])
That measures in grams the number 300.
(That weighs 300 grams.)
T04 Ti langa ta lio tomeimei
ti (langa [ta (lio tomeimei)]) This is longer than that by
2mm (by the number 2 millimeters).
T05 Ti skakubra lio mei ti (skakubra [lio mei]) This measures in width the number m.
(By default, m = lm. So, this is one meter wide.)
T06 La Djan, pa donsu le botci le to dalri (la djan) (pa [donsu «le botci > <le to dalri>)])
John gave the boy the two dollars (the two things worth a dollar, e.g., one-dollar bills
or silver dollars).
T07 La Djan, pa penti lio totodai le mrenu le torkrilu (la djan) (pa [penti «(lio totodai) (le
mrenu)> <le torkrilu>)])
John paid 22 dollars (worth of money) to the man for the
bicycle.
T08 Lepa ckemo pa sekmi lio to (lepa ckemo) (pa [sekmi (lio to)]) That (former) timeinterval meas¬ured in seconds the number 2. (That was two seconds.)
T09 Lepo da clivi pa nime lio voto (lepo [da clivi]) (pa [nirne (lio voto)]) His life measured
in years the number 82. (He lived 82 years.)
T10 Ta pa miksekmi lio to ta (pa [miksekmi (lio to)])
That measured in microseconds
the number 2. (That was 2 micro¬seconds.)
U. Linked Description; Identity Clauses;
Replacement with Letter-Words; Mixed Predicates and Arguments (24) (je jue ze sui -mo
-ai -ei (dai/dei, etc.))
U01 Mi pa takna da ta
mi (pa [takna (da ta)]) I talked to X about that.
U02 Hu bi da hu (bi da) Who is X?
U03 Da bi le fremi je le botci
da (bi [le (fremi <je (le botci)>)]) X is the friend of the
boy.
U04 Ie le botci ie (le botci)
What (the) boy?
U05 Le botci ji le brudi je le merfua je le furvea (le botci) (ji [le (brudi <je (le [merfua (j®
<1® furvea > )])>)]) The boy who is the brother of the wife of the buyer.
U06 Le furvea je hu le (furvea [je hu]) The buyer of what?
U07 Le furvea je le hasfa jue la Djonz, jue lio nemomodai le (furvea [(je <le hasfa>) (<jue
(la djonz) > <jue (lio nemomodai) >)]) The buyer of the house from Jones for (the) one-million
dollars.
U08 Ie la Djonz ie (la djonz)
Which Jones?
U09 La Djonz, ji le farfu je la Meris, ze la Selis (la djonz) (ji [le (farfu <je ([la meris] ze [la
selis])>)])
The Jones who is the father of Mary and Sally jointly. (I.e., of the sib composed
of Mary and Sally.)
U10 La Djonz, ji le farfu je la Meris, e j© ifl selis (la djonz) (ji [le (farfu <(je [la meris]) e (je
[la selis])>)]) The Jones who is the father of Mary and of Sally (independently).
U11 Dai bi le farfu sui je le matma je la Bab, jue le ditca dai (bi [le «farfu sui> <je (le
[matma «je (la bab)> <jue (le ditca) >)])>)]) D is also the father of the mother of Bob by the
(male) teacher. (I.e., grandson Bob's father was a teacher.)
U12 Dai bi le farfu sui je le matma je la Bab gu, jue le ditca dai (bi [le (<farfu sui> <(je [le
(matma <(je [la bab]) gu>)]) (jue [le ditca])>)])
D is also the father of the mother of Bob,
through the (woman) teacher. (I.e., Bob's maternal grandmother was a teacher too.)
U13 Dai bi le farfu je Mai, jue le sorme je la Pidr dai (bi [le (farfu <(je mai) (jue [le (sorme
<je (la pidr)>)])>)])
D is the father of M through the sister of Peter.
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U14 Le sorme je Pai jue hu
le (sorme [(je pai) (jue hu)]) The sister of P through
whom?
U15 Jue la Rabrt, ze la Celis jue ([la rabrt] ze [la celis]) Through (parents) Robert and
Shelly jointly.
U16 Inusoa Dai bi le farfu je Mai jue le sorme je Pai jue Rai ze Cai inusoa (dai [bi (le
<farfu ([je mai] [jue (le <sorme ([je pai] [jue (rai ze cai)])>)])>)])
So D is the father of M by
the sister of P through R and C jointly.
U17 Inusoa Dai bi le farfu je Mai jue le sorme je Pai jue Rai e jue Cai inusoa (dai [bi (le
<farfu ([je mai] [jue (le <sorme ([je pai] [(jue cai) ])>)])>)]) So D is the father of M by the
sister of P through R and through C. (Independent claims.)
U18 Dai bi le farfu je Mai jue le sorme je Pai jue Rai, e la Celis dai (bi [le (farfu <(je mai)
(jue [le (sorme <(je pai) (jue [rai e (la celis)])>)])>)]) D is the father of M by the sister of P
through R and Shelly.
U19 Dai bi le farfu je Mai jue le sorme je Pai jue Rai gu, e je Cai
dai (bi [le (farfu <(je
mai) (jue [le (sorme <([je pai] [jue rai] gu) e (je cai)>)])>)]) D is the father of M through the
sister of P through (parent) R, and (she is also the sister) of C.
U20 Dai bi le brudi je Mai jue le sorme je Pai jue Rai, e jue Cai dai (bi [le (brudi <(je mai)
(jue [le (sorme <(je pai) ([jue rai] e [jue cai]) >) ]) >)])
D is the brother of M through (one
parent who is) the sister of P through (parent) R and through (parent) C. (This last jue is
redundant.)
U21 Eo vedma mi le ketpi je la Paris, jue la Romas, jue le kukra trena jue lio fenidai eo
(vedma [mi (le <ketpi ([je (la paris)] [(jue <la romas>) (<jue (le [kukra trena]) > <jue (lio
fenidai)>)])>)]) Please sell me the ticket to Paris from Rome by the fast train for (the price of)
fifty dollars.
U22 da ([nigro ze redro] bakso) It's a black-and-red box.
U23 Da nigro ze no nigro da (nigro ze [no nigro])
It's black-and-non-black.
U24 Da po nigro ze no nigro
da (po [nigro ze (no nigro)]) It's a condition of being a
mixture of black and non-black.
V. Identifying vs. Claiming Subordinate Clauses (7) (jio jia)
V01 Le mrenu jio pa merji na la Somen, haimro de jio pa merji na la Nenimen ([le mrenu]
[jio (pa <merji (na [la somen])>)]) (haimro [de (jio <pa (merji [na (la nenimen)])>)]) The
man
who was married in June is happier than the one who was married in November.
V02 Mi ji la Djan, merji la Meris, ji le detra je la Solomon (mi [ji (la djan)]) (merji [(la meris)
(ji <le (detra [je (la solomon)])> I, who am John, am married to (the) Mary who is the daughter
of Solomon.
V03 Mi jia ditca ga merji la Meris, jia detra je la Solomon (mi [jia ditca]) (ga [merji (<la
meris > <jia (detra [je (la solomon)])>)]
I, who am a teacher, am married to Mary, who
(incidentally) is a daughter of Solomon.
V04 La Meris, jia ditca la Franses, di (la meris) (jia [ditca (<la franses> di)]) Mary, who
teaches French to her.
V05 La Meris, jia La Pit, ditca la Franses, di (la meris) (jia [(la pit) (ditca <(la franses) di>)])
Mary, such that Pete teaches French to her.
V06 Raba jio katma ga titci be jio ratcu (ra [ba (jio katma)]) (ga [titci (be <jio ratcu>)])
Everything which is a cat eats something else which is a rat.
V07 Raba jio redro nu herfa, e pa brana na la Nenemen Nevovoton, pa cenja be jio
narmykoi
(ra [ba (jio <(redro [nu herfa]) e (pa [brana (na <la (nenemen nevovoton)
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>)])>)]) (pa [cenja (be <jio narmykoi>)])
Everyone who is red-haired and was born in
November 1882 became a general.
W. Sentence, Predicate & Argument Negation (18) (ni)
W01 La Djan, pa no gudbi prano (la djan) (pa [(no gudbi) prano]) John was a non-good
runner (i.e., a runner but not a good one).
W02 La Djan, no pa gudbi prano (la djan) (no [pa (gudbi prano)]) John was not a good
runner.
W03 La Djan, no pa godzi la Paris (la djan) (no [pa (godzi <la paris >)])
John did not
go to Paris.
W04 La Djan, no pa titci le pligo (la djan) (no [pa (titci <le pligo>)])
John did not eat
the apple.
W05 La Djan, pa titci ni le pligo (la djan) (pa [titci (ni <le pligo>)]) John ate none of the
apple(s).
(I.e., zero (of the) apples.)
W06 La Djan, pa godzi ni la Paris (la djan) (pa [godzi (ni <la paris >)]) John went to no
Paris. (I.e., to zero of Paris.)
W07 Ni la Djan, pa godzi la Paris (ni [la djan]) (pa [godzi (la paris)])
No (zero) John
went to Paris.
W08 No la Djan, pa godzi la Paris no ([la djan] [pa (godzi <la paris>)]) It is not the case
that John went to Paris.
W09 La Djan, no pa kukra godzi la Paris (la djan) (no [pa «kukra godzi > <la paris>)]) John
didn't go quickly to Paris.
W10 La Djan, pa no kukra godzi la Paris (la djan) (pa [(<no kukra > godzi) (la paris)]) John
went non-quickly to Paris. (I.e., he went, but slowly.)
W11 La Djan, pa kukra no godzi la Paris (la djan) (pa [(kukra <no godzi>) (la paris)]) John
quickly didn't go to Paris. (But he did something else quickly!)
W12 La Djan, pa kukra godzi la Paris, ni la Romas (la djan) (pa [(kukra godzi) «la paris>
<ni (la romas)>)])
John went quickly to Paris from no Rome. (But from somewhere else?)
W13 Ni la Djan, pa kukra godzi la Paris, la Romas (ni [la djan]) (pa [(kukra godzi) (<la
paris> <la romas>)]) No John went quickly to Paris from Rome. (But did someone else?)
W14 No la Djan, pa kukra godzi la Paris, la Romas no ([la djan] [pa (<kukra godzi> <(la
paris) (la romas)>)]) It is not the case that John went quickly to Paris from Rome.
W15 La Djan, no pa kukra godzi la Paris, la Romas (la djan) (no [pa (<kukra godzi> <(la
paris) (la romas)>)]) John didn't go quickly to Paris from Rome.
W16 La Djan, no ga kukra godzi la Paris, la Romas (la djan) (no [ga «kukra godzi > <(la
paris) (la romas)>)]) John doesn't go quickly to Paris from Rome.
W17 La Djan, no ga kukra godzi la Paris, la Romas (la djan) (no [ga «kukra godzi > <(la
paris) (la romas)>)]) John doesn't go quickly to Paris from Rome.
W18 La Djan, no kukra godzi la Paris, la Romas (la djan) ([(no kukra) godzi] [(la paris) (la
romas)])
John non-quickly goes to Paris from Rome.
X. Quotation of Loglan; Fronted Arguments (9) (li lu liu gi)
X01 La Djan, pa cutse li, Ai, lu la Tam (la djan) (pa [cutse (<li ai lu> <la tam>)])
John
said 'Yes I will!' to Tom.
X02 La Tam, gi la Djan, pa cutse liu Ai ([la tarn] gi) ([la djan] [pa (cutse <liu ai >) ])
To
Tom, John said 'Yes I will!'
X03 Liu Ai, la Tam, gi la Djan, pa cutse ([(Uu ai) (la tarn)] gi) ([la djan] [pa cutse])
'Yes
I will!' to Tom, John said.
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X04 ([la tarn] gi) ([la djan] [pa cutse]) To Tom, John said (something).
X05 La Frans, gi la Djan, pa takna ([la frans] gi) ([la djan] [pa takna]) About
France,
John talked (to someone).
X06 La Frans, gi la Djan, pa takna da ([la frans] gi) ([la djan] [pa (takna da)]) About
France, John talked to himself.
X07 La Tam, la Frans, gi la Djan, pa takna
([(la tarn) (la frans)] gi) ([la djan] [pa
takna]) To Tom about France, John talked.
X08 Ti gi lo redro Utla ga sanpa lo denro raba (ti gi) ([lo (redro Utla)] [ga (sanpa <(1Q
denro) (ra ba)>)])
Under these circumstances, red Ughts are a sign of danger to
everyone (Here the 4th argument of a 5-place structure has been dropped, namely the
behavior disposed by the sign.)
X09 Lopo stise gu, ti gi lo redro Utla ga sanpa ([(lopo <stise gu>) ti] gi) ([lo (redro Utla)]
[ga sanpa])
Stopping under these circumstances, red lights mean.
Y. Predicates from Arguments and Frenex Quantifiers (11) (me me- goi)
Y01 Liu tcemu mela Djenis, rutma purda, e sackaa Uu mutce (Uu tcemu) ([(<me (la
djenis) > rutma) purda] e [sackaa (Uu mutce)])
'Tcemu' is a "Jenny-route" word and
derived from 'mutce'.
Y02 Liu tcemu jia sackaa liu mutce mela Djenis, rutma purda ([liu tcemu] [jia (sackaa <liu
mutce >)]) ([(me <la djenis>) rutma] purda) The word 'tcemu' which derives from 'mutce' is a
"Jenny-route" word.
Y03 Ba pa meliu me forma holdu le lengu
ba (pa [«(me [liu me]) forma> holdu) (le
lengu)])
There was a 'me'-form hole in the language.
Y04 Raba ra bua goi, ko ba melo bua, ki ba bua ([(ra ba) (ra bua)] goi) (ko [ba (me <lo
bua>)] ki [ba bua])
For every something x and every predicate P, if and only if x is a
manifestation of P-hood, then x is P.
Y05 Raba ra bua goi, ko ba melea bua, ki ba bua ([(ra ba) (ra bua)] goi) (ko [ba (me <lea
bua>)] ki [ba bua])
For every something x and every predicate P, if and only if x is a
manifestation of the class of all that are P, then x is P.
Y06 Raba ra bua goi, ko ba bie lea bua, ki ba bua ([(ra ba) (ra bua)] goi) (ko [ba (bie <lea
bua>)] ki [ba bua])
For every something x and every predicate P, if and only if x is a
member of the class of all that are P, then x is P.
Y07 Li, Da melo preda, lu durduo snola li, Da preda, lu (li da me lo preda lu) ([durduo
snola] [li da preda luj) 'Da melo preda' reciprocally entails 'Da preda'.
Y08 Ta meda po muvdo ta ([me da] [po muvdo])
That's an X-type move. (Said of a
chess-player, dancer, etc.)
Y09 Ta memi tcaro
ta ([me mi] tcaro)
That's a "me"-car. (Expresses me,
belongs to me, etc.)
Y10 Le kangu pa meli, Mi danza lepo hasfa godzi, lu bleka mi (le kangu) (pa [«me (li mi
danza lepo hasfa godzi lu)> bleka) mi]). The dog "I want to go home"- looked at me. (I.e.,
gave me that "I want to go home" look.)
Y11 Le kangu pa bleka je mi go meli, mi danza lepo hasfa godzi, lu (le kangu) (pa [(bleka
<je mi>) go (me <li mi danza lepo hasfa godzi lu>)]) The dog looked at me in an "I want to go
home" sort of way.
Z. Prenex Quantifiers (7) (goi)
Z01 Raba be goi, be matmaa ba ([(ra ba) be] goi) (be [matmaa ba]) For
every
something x there is a y such that y is the maternal grandmother of x.
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Z02 Be raba goi, be matmaa ba ([be (ra ba)] goi) (be [matmaa ba]) There is something
y such that for every x, y is x's grandmother.
Z03 Ba lea humni goi, ba paslinkui da ([ba (lea humni)] goi) (ba [paslinkui da])There
is
something x such that for every human, x is his or her ancestor.
Z04 Raba goi, cluva ba ([ra ba] goi) (cluva ba) For every something x, love x!
Z05 ([lea humni] goi) (cluva da) For every human, love him or her!
Z06 Lea humni go clivi goi, cluva da ([lea (humni go clivi)] goi) (cluva da)
For
every
human who is alive, love him or her!
Z07 Lea clivi humni goi, da gi cluva ([(lea <clivi humni>) goi] da gi) cluva
For
every
living human, him or her love.
AA. Connected Arguments & Predicates; Joint Argument Sets (32) (a anoi onoi
noa efa epa gugu do)
AA01 La Djan, e la Meris, fundi la Bab ([la djan] e [la meris]) (fundi [la bab]) John
and
Mary like Bob.
AA02 La Djan, efa la Meris, fundi la Bab ([la djan] efa [la meris]) (fundi [la bab])
John, and later Mary, liked Bob.
AA03 Ke la Djan, ki la Meris, fundi la Bab
(ke [la djan] ki [la meris]) (fundi [la bab])
Both John and Mary like Bob.
AA04 Di, e de ke fundi da ki tsodi la pit (di e de) (ke [fundi da] ki [tsodi (la pit)])
He
and she both like him and hate Pete.
AA05 Di, e de fundi da, epa tsodi la Pit (di e de) ([fundi da] epa [tsodi (la pit)]) He and she
like him, and before that, hated Pete.
AA06 Di, e de fundi da, e tsodi gu, la Pit (di e de) ([(fundi da) e (tsodi gu)] [la pit])
He
and she like him better than, and hate, Pete.
AA07 Di, e de fundi, e tsodi gu, la Pit (di e de) ([fundi e (tsodi gu)] [la pit])
He and she
(both) like and hate Pete.
AA08 Di, e de ke fundi ki tsodi gu, la Pit (di e de) ([ke fundi ki (tsodi gu)] [la pit])
He
and she both like and hate Pete.
AA09 La Pol, farfu la Bab, efa la Pit (la pol) (farfu [(la bab) efa (la pit)]) Paul is the father of
Bob and later Pete.
AA10 La Pol, farfu la Bab, la Selis, onoi la Bet (la pol) (farfu [(la bab) «la selis> onoi <la
bet>)]) Paul is the father of Bob by Sally or by Beth. (But not by both.)
AA11 La Pol, farfu la Bab, la Selis, gu, onoi la Bet (la pol) (farfu [(<(la bab) (la selis)> gu)
onoi (la bet)]) Paul is the father of Bob by Sally, or of Beth (but not of both).
AA12 La Pol, jia farfu la Bab, e la Pit (la pol) (jia [farfu (<la bab> e <la pit>)]) Paul, who is
the father of Bob and Pete.
AA13 La Pol, jia farfu la Bab, gu, e la Pit (la pol) (jia [farfu «(la bab) gu> e <la pit >) ])
Paul, who is the father of Bob and Pete. (This gu is redundant and insufficient to alter
the meaning of All.)
AA14 La Pol, jia farfu la Bab, gugu, e la Pit
([la pol] [jia (farfu <(la bab) gu>) gu]) e (la
pit)
Paul, who is the father of Bob; and Pete. (It takes a double gu to say this. Perhaps we
should introduce a guu for this? One that would dissolve into two gu's before the parse?
AA15 La Pol, farfu, e perdia la Bab, e la Pit
(la pol) (farfu e [perdia (<la bab> e <la pit
>) ]) Paul is a father, and (he) tutors Bob and Pete.
AA16 La Pol, farfu, e perdia gu, la Bab, e la Pit (la pol) ([farfu e (perdia gu)] [(la bab) e (la
pit)]) Paul is the father of, and the tutor of, Bob and Pete.
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AA17 Da farfu ke la Bab, ki la Pit, la Meris
da (farfu [(ke <la bab> ki <la pit>) (la
meris)])
He is the father of both Bob and Pete by Mary.
AA18 Da farfu kanoi la Bab gu, ki la Pit, la Meris da (farfu [kanoi «la bab> gu) ki (<la pit>
<la meris>)]) He is the father if of Bob (by someone) then of Pete by Mary.
AA19 Da farfu kanoi la Bab, ki la Pit, la Meris da (farfu [(kanoi <la bab> ki <la pit>) (la
meris)])
He is the father of if Bob then Pete by Mary.
AA20 Da farfu la Bab gu, e la Pit, la Meris, a la Betis da (farfu [(<la bab> gu) e (<la pit>
<(la meris) a (la betis)>)]) He is the father of Bob (by someone), and of Pete by Mary or Betty.
AA21 Da farfu la Bab, anoi la Pit, la Meris, a la Betis da (farfu [(<la bab> anoi <la pit>) «la
meris> a <la betis>)]) He is the father of Bob if of Pete, by Mary or Betty.
AA22 Da farfu la Bab, e la Pit, la Meris, gu, a la Betis da (farfu [«([la bab] e [la pit]) (la
meris)> gu) a (la betis)])
He is the father of (both) Bob and Pete by Mary, or of Betty.
AA23 Da farfu la Bab, e la Pit, ka la Meris, ki la Betis da (farfu [«la bab> e <la pit>) (ka
<la meris> ki <la betis>)])
He is the father of (both) Bob and Pete by either Mary or Betty.
AA24 Da farfu ke la Bab, ki la Pit, ka la Meris, ki la Betis da (farfu [(ke <la bab> ki <la pit>)
(ka <la meris > ki <la betis >)])
He is the father of both Bob and Pete by either Mary or
Betty.
AA25 Da farfu la Bab, gu, e la Pit, la Meris, e lendia da ([farfu «(la bab) gu> e <(la pit) (la
meris)>)] e lendia)
He is the father of Bob, and of Pete by Mary, and teaches languages.
AA26 Da farfu la Bab, e la Bet, e ditca la Franses, di, e do da ([farfu (<la bab> e <la bet>)]
e [ditca (<la franses> <di e do>)]) He is the father of Bob and Beth and teaches French to her
and him.
AA27 Da farfu, e ditca la Franses, gu, di, e do da ([farfu e (ditca <(la franses) gu>)] [di e
do])
He is the father of, and teaches French to, her and him.
AA28 Da farfu, e ditca la Franses, di, e do
da (farfu e [ditca (<la franses> <di e
do>)]) He is a father, and teaches French to her and him.
AA29 Da farfu, e ditca la Franses, di gu, e do da (farfu e [ditca «([la franses] di) gu> e
do)]) He is a father, and teaches French to her, and (teaches) him (as a language).
AA30 Da farfu ba be, noa ditca la Franses, ba, e be da (farfu (ba be) noa [ditca «la
franses> <ba e be >) ])
He is the father of someone by somebody only if (he) teaches
French to that someone and that somebody.
AA31 Da kanoi farfu ba be, ki ditca la Franses, ba, e be da (kanoi [farfu (ba be)] ki [ditca
(<la franses > <ba e be >) ]) He, if the father of someone by somebody, then teaches French
to that someone and that somebody.
AA32 Liu tcemu kanoi sackaa liu mutce ki mela Djenis, rutma purda (liu tcemu) (kanoi
[sackaa (liu mutce)] ki [(<me (la djenis)> rutma) purda])
'Tcemu1, if derived from 'mutce',
is a "Jenny"-route word.
BB. Causal Inflectors, Modifiers & Phrases (31) (moi soa kou moipa numoi kouhu
moihu nukouhu)
BB01 Mi pa godzi moi
mi (pa [godzi moi])
I went with a purpose, i.e., because of
some motive.
BB02 Mi moipa godzi mi (moipa godzi) I purposefully went.
BB03 Mi ji moi, pa godzi (mi [ji moi]) (pa godzi) I, as someone with a purpose, went.
BB04 Mi ji moipa, godzi (mi [ji moipa]) godzi I, as someone with a purpose then, go.
BB05 Moi mi, godzi (moi mi) godzi
To get me, go. (I.e., using me as a goal or
purpose.)
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BB06 Moi gi mi godzi
(moi gi) (mi godzi)
Purposefully, I go.
BB07 Soa ta gi da bi de ([soa ta] gi) (da [bi de])
It follows from that that X - Y.
BB08 Soa lepo da bi de gi, da tsidru
([soa (lepo <da (bi de)>)] gi) (da tsidru)
Since X is the same as Y, X is guilty.
BB09 Da tsidru soa lepo da bi de da (tsidru [soa (lepo <da (bi de)>)]) X is guilty because
X is Y.
BB10 Mi pa tokna ti moi ta
mi (pa [tokna (ti <moi ta >) ]) I took this so that that
(goal would be reached).
BB11 Moi ta gi mi pa tokna ti
([moi ta] gi) (mi [pa (tokna ti)])
So that that (goal
would be reached) I took this.
BB12 Mi pa danza ta numoi ti
mi (pa [danza (ta <numoi ti >) ])
I wanted that (goal)
therefore this (act).
BB13 Ti pa rodja kou lepo tu cuidru da ti (pa [rodja (kou <lepo (tu [cuidru da])»])
This
grew because of the fact that you watered it.
BB14 Da pa rodja kou lepo cuidru
da (pa [rodja (kou <lepo cuidru>)]) It grew
because of the watering.
BB15 Da pa rodja kou lo cutri
da (pa [rodja (kou <lo cutri>)])
It grew because of
water.
BB16 Ti pa rodja kouhu ti (pa [rodja kouhu]) This grew because of what? (This grew
why?)
BB17 Tu pa cuidru da moihu
tu (pa [cuidru (da moihu)])
You watered it why? (For
what purpose?)
BB18 Ti pa rodja nukouhu
ti (pa [rodja nukouhu]) This
grew
with
what
consequences? (A converse 'why'.)
BB19 Kouhu da pa rodja kouhu (da [pa rodja]) Because of what did it grow?
BB20 Nukouhu da pa rodja
nukouhu (da [pa rodja])
With what consequences
did it grow?
BB21 Moihu tu pa cuidru da
moihu (tu [pa (cuidru da)])
Why did you water it? (For
what purpose?)
BB22 Moihu tu pa danza lepo da rodja moihu (tu [pa (danza <lepo (da rodja) >)])
Why
did you want it to grow?
BB23 Kou ta gi ti pa rodja ([kou ta] gi) (ti [pa rodja])
Because of that, this grew.
BB24 mi (moi ditca)
I purposefully teach.
BB25 Moi gi mi ditca
(moi gi) (mi ditca)
Purposefully I teach.
BB26 Moi mi, ditca (moi mi) ditca With me as a goal or prize, teach!
BB27 Moi ba gi mi ditca ([moi ba] gi) (mi ditca) With something as a goal, I teach.
BB28 Mi ditca moi ba
mi (ditca [moi ba])
I teach in order to have, be or do
something.
BB29 Mi ditca moi lepo mi snire lo junti mi (ditca [moi (lepo <mi (snire [lo junti])>)]) I
teach in order to be near the young, i.e., with that motive.
BB30 Mi ditca kou lepo mi cluva lo junti mi (ditca [kou (lepo <mi (cluva [lo junti]) >)]) I
teach because I love the young,
i.e., from that cause.
BB31 Mi ditca rau lepo mi bremao lo junti lopo clivi mi (ditca [rau (lepo <mi (bremao [(lo
junti) (lopo clivi)])>)]) I teach in order to prepare the young for life, i.e., for that reason.
CC. Compound Term Connectives (8) (enumoi enukou efa eva epa)
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CC01 Mi, enumoi la Djan, pa godzi mi enumoi [la djan]) (pa godzi)
I and therefore
John went.
CC02 Mi, efa la Djan, pa godzi (mi efa [la djan]) (pa godzi) I and then John went.
CC03 Mi pa vizka la Meris, enukou la Pit mi (pa [vizka «la meris > enukou <la pit >) ])
I saw Mary and, as a consequence, Pete.
CC04 Da farfu la Djek la Meris, enukou ni la Selis da (farfu [(la djek) «la meris> enukou
<ni (la selis)>)])
He is the father of Jack through Mary and, as a consequence, not
through Sally.
CC05 Mi pa godzi, enukou, pa vizka la Djan
mi ([pa godzi] enukou [pa (vizka <la
djan>)])
I went and, as a consequence, saw John.
CC06 Mi pa godzi, eva, pa vizka la Djan mi ([pa godzi] eva [pa (vizka <la djan>)])
I
went and there saw John.
CC07 Mi pa godzi, epa, vizka la Djan mi ([pa godzi] epa [vizka (la djan)])
I went, and,
beforehand (i.e., before going), saw John.
CC08 Mi pa godzi, enumoi, vizka la Djan mi ([pa godzi] enumoi [vizka (la djan)])
I
went and, as intended, saw John.
DD. Connective Questions (8) (ha enoi noenoi)
DD01 Tu danza lo skafi ha lo tcati
tu (danza [(lo skafi) ha (lo tcati)]) You want coffee
how-connected to tea? (Do you want coffee, tea, both or neither?)
DD02 Enoi eo enoi eo
And-not, please. (Coffee but not tea, please.)
DD03 Tu farfu la Djein, ha la Alis tu (farfu [(la djein) ha (la alis)]) You are the father of
Jane how- connected to Alice? (Are you the father of Alice or Jane?)
DD04 E e And. (Both. I.e., of both Jane and Alice.)
DD05 Tu farfu la Djein, e la Alis, la Meris, ha la Betis tu (farfu [«la djein > e <la alis>) «la
meris> ha <la betis>)])
You are the father of Jane and Alice, through Mary howconnected to Betty?
DD06 Noenoi. I mi farfu la Djein, la Meris, gu, e la Alis, la Betis noenoi . i (mi [farfu (<([la
djein] [la meris]) gu> e <(la alis) (la betis) >)])
Neither. I am the father of Jane through
Mary, and of Alice through Betty.
DD07 Inusoa tu farfu la Djein, a la Alis, la Meris, e la Betis inusoa (tu [farfu «(la djein) a (la
alis)> <(la meris) e (la betis)>)]) Therefore you are the father of Jane or Alice, by Mary and
Betty.
DD08 Ipou no tu farfu la Djein e la Alis la Meris a la Betis ipou (no [tu (farfu <([la djein] e
[la alis]) ([la meris] a [la betis]) >)]) However, it is not the case that you are the father of
Jane and Alice through Mary or Betty.
EE. Internal Arguments (12) (No new LWs.)
EE01 Da grobou go kukra lo litla da ([grobou go kukra] [lo litla]) It's a ship that is faster
than light.
EE02 Da kukra je lo litla gu, grobou da ([kukra (je <(lo litla) gu>)] grobou)
It's a faster
than light, ship.
EE03 Da penso go kukra mi
da ([penso go kukra] mi)
He thinks faster than I do.
EE04 Da kukra je mi penso
da ([kukra (je mi)] penso)
He's
a
faster-than-I
thinker.
EE05 Ta rutma je la Mineapolis, go kukra ti
ta ([(rutma <je (la mineapolis)>) go kukra]
ti)
That's a route to Minneapolis that is faster than this.
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EE06 Ta rutma je la Mineapolis, jue la Cikagos, go kukra ti ta ([(rutma <(je [la mineapolis])
(jue [la cikagos])>) go kukra] ti) That's a route to Minneapolis from Chicago that is
faster than this.
EE07 Ta kukra je ti rutma la Mineapolis, la Cikagos ta ([(kukra <je ti>) rutma] [(la
mineapolis) (la cikagos)])
That's a faster-than-this route to Minneapolis from Chicago.
EE08 Ta no nu kukra rutma la Mineapolis, la Cikagos ta ([(no <nu kukra>) rutma] [(la
mineapolis) (la cikagos)])
That's an "unfasterable" route to Minneapolis from Chicago.
(I.e., unbetterable in speed.)
EE09 Da farbru je la Djan, go plumro la Pit, la Djan da ([(farbru <je (la djan)>) go plumro]
[(la pit) (la djan)])
He's a paternal uncle of John's who is more pleasing (as an uncle) than
Pete to John.
EE10 Da plumro je la Pit, jue la Djan, farbru la Djan
da ([(plumro <(je [la pit]) (jue [la
djan])>) farbru] [la djan])
He's a more pleasing-than-Pete-to- John type of paternal uncle
to John.
EE11 Ba pa korfro je liu me holdu le lengu
ba (pa [«korfro (je [liu me])> holdu) (le
lengu)])
There was shape-of-'me' hole in the language. (There was a 'me'- shaped hole
in the language.)
EE12 Ba pa holdu je le lengu gu, go korfro liu me ba (pa [«holdu (je [(le lengu) gu])> go
korfro) (liu me)])
There was a hole in the language which had the shape of 'me'.
FF. Argument Ordinals (HB-tags) (25) (pua pue pui puo puu)
FF01 Da sanpa de di do du
da (sanpa [«de di> do) du]) X is a sign of Y to W
disposing behavior/action H under circumstances Q.
FF02 Pua da sanpa (pua da) sanpa X is a sign.
FF03 Pue de sanpa (pue de) sanpa Y is a (referential) meaning.
FF04 Pui di sanpa (pui di) sanpa W is a sign-interpreter, something that finds meaning in
a sign.
FF05 Puo do sanpa (puo do) sanpa
H is a (behavioral) meaning, i.e., whatever a sign
disposes some interpreter to do.
FF06 Puu du sanpa (puu du) sanpa
Q is a situation or set of circumstances which
releases a disposition created by some sign.
FF07 Puu lopo tcaro bapra ga sanpa pua lo redro litla pue lo humni (puu [lopo (tcaro
bapra)]) (ga [sanpa (<pua (lo [redro litla] )> <pue (lo humni)>)])
Operating a car is a
circumstance making signs out of red lights to humans.
FF08 Lopo tcaro bapra ga nufe sanpa pua lo redro litla pue lo humni (lopo [tcaro bapra])
(ga [(nufe sanpa) (<pua (lo [redro litla])> <pue (lo humni)>)])
Operating a car is a
circumstance making signs out of red lights to humans.
FF09 Pue lo denro ga danri sanpa pui lo nimla (pue [lo denro]) (ga [(danri sanpa) (pui <lo
nimla>)])
Danger is a common sign-referent among animals.
FF10 Lo denro ga danri nu sanpa pui lo nimla (lo denro) (ga [(danri <nu sanpa>) (pui
<lo nimla>)]) Danger is a common sign-referent among animals.
FF11 Puo lopo prano ga danri sanpa pue lo denro (puo [lopo prano]) (ga [(danri sanpa)
(pue <lo denro>)])
Running is a response commonly disposed by danger.
FF12 Lopo prano ga danri ju sanpa pue lo denro
(lopo prano) (ga [(danri <ju
sanpa>) (pue <lo denro>)]) Running is a response commonly disposed by danger.
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FF13 Lo nimla ga fu sanpa puu lopo do clivi
(lo nimla) (ga [(fu sanpa) (puu <lopo (do
clivi)>)])
Animals exhibit behaviors that have been disposed by signs under
circumstances of their being alive.
FF14 La Miniapolis, danri nu godzi pui la Seint Pol (la miniapolis) ([danri (nu godzi)] [pui
(la <seint pol>)])
Minneapolis is a common destination in going from Saint Paul.
FF15 Ba godzi la Miniapolis, la Seint Pol ba (godzi [(la miniapolis) (la <seint pol>)])
Someone goes to Minneapolis from Saint Paul.
FF16 Puo ta vedma (puo ta) vedma That is a price.
FF17 Ta ju vedma ta (ju vedma) That is a price.
FF18 Ba vedma be bo ta ba (vedma [(be bo) ta])
Someone sells something to
someone else for that.
FF19 Le farfu je pui la Meris
le (farfu [je (pui <la meris>)]) The father through (of
offspring out of mother) Mary.
FF20 Le farfu je ba jue la Meris le (farfu [(je ba) (jue <la meris>)] The father of someone
through Mary (of at least 1 of Mary's children).
FF21 Le farfu je raba jio nu matma la Meris
le (farfU [je (ra <ba (jio [(nu matma) (la
meris)])>)])
The father of all who are mothered by Mary (all of Mary's children).
FF22 Da kukra je pui lio nenimeikuasei tcaro
da ([kukra (je <pui (lio nenimeikuasei)>)]
tcaro) It's a faster - (than -something) -by - 10-meters-per-second type of car,
FF23 Pui lio nenimeikuasei kukra
(pui [lio nenimeikuasei]) kukra Ten meters-persecond is a speed differential.
FF24 Lio nenimeikuasei fu kukra (lio nenimeikuasei) (fu kukra) Ten meters-per-second is
a speed differential.
FF25 Ba kukra be lio nenimeikuasei
ba (kukra [be (lio nenimeikuasei)]) Something is
faster than something else by ten meters-per-second.
GG. Compound & Connected Tenses (11) (-fa-pa-na-ra- ne- ni-noi-)
GG01 Mi fapa sucmi mi (fapa sucmi)
I will have swum.
GG02 Mi nepa sucmi mi (nepa sucmi) I swam once (i.e., one time).
GG03 Mi nipa sucmi mi (nipa sucmi)
I never swam (i.e., zero times in the past).
GG04 Mi nina sucmi mi (nina sucmi)
I never swim (i.e., zero times in any present
time).
GG05 Mi rana sucmi mi (rana sucmi)
I always swim (i.e., at all present times).
GG06 Mi noina sucmi mi (noina sucmi) I don't now swim.
GG07 Mi (pacenoina sucmi)
I used to swim but don't any longer.
GG08 Mi noipacenoina sucmi mi (noipacenoina sucmi) I never have, and do not now,
swim.
GG09 Mi pacefa bragai mi (pacefa bragai)
I was once, and will again be, a king.
GG10 Mi noipacenoinacenoifa bragai mi (noipacenoinacenoifa bragai) I never have been,
am not now, and never will be a king.
GG11 Facenoina mi, garni levi landi
(facenoina mi) (garni [levi landi]) After but not
during me (i.e., my lifetime), rule this land.
HH. Logically Connected Clauses (13) (inoca icanoi ica Ice)
HH01 Kanoi no tu fa kamla, ki no mi hijra va
kanoi (no [tu (fa kamla)]) ki (no [mi (hijra
va)]) if you do not come, then I will not be there (i.e., be present there).
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HH02 No tu fa kamla, inoca no mi hijra va
(no [tu (fa kamla)]) inoca (no [mi (hijra
va)]) You will not come only if I'm not there.
HH03 No mi fa hijra va, icanoi no tu kamla
(no [mi (fa <hijra va>)]) icanoi (no [tu
kamla])
I won't be there if you don't come.
HH04 Kanoi no tu fa kamla ki ke no mi hijra va ki tu fa kecdri kanoi (no [tu (fa kamla)]) ki
(ke [no (mi <hijra va>)] ki [tu (fa kecdri)])
If you don't come, then I'll not be there and you'll
be sorry.
HH05 No mi fa hijra va, icanoi no tu fapa kamla (no [mi (fa <hijra va>)]) icanoi (no [tu
(fapa kamla)]) I won't be there if you have not come.
HH06 Tu fapa kamla, icanoi mi hijra va (tu [fapa kamla]) icanoi (mi [hijra va]) You
will
have come if I am there.
HH07 Mi fa hijra va, inoca tu fapa kamla (mi [fa (hijra va)]) inoca (tu [fapa kamla])
I will
be there only if you will have come.
HH08 Kanoi mi fa hijra va ki tu pa kamla kanoi (mi [fa (hijra va)]) ki (tu [pa kamla])
If I
am there, then you came.
HH09 Ka no mi fa hijra va ki tu pa kamla ka (no [mi (fa <hijra va>)]) ki (tu [pa kamla])
Either I will not be there or you came (and possibly both).
HH10 No mi fa hijra va, ica tu pa kamla (no [mi (fa <hijra va>)]) ica (tu [pa kamla])
I will
not be there, and/or you came.
HH11 Tu fapa kamla, ica no mi hijra va (tu [fapa kamla]) ica (no [mi (hijra va)])
You
will have come, and/or I won't be there.
HH12 Tu fapa kamla, ica ke no mi hijra va ki tu kecdri (tu [fapa kamla]) ica (ke [no (mi
<hijra va>)] ki [tu kecdri])
You will have come, and/or both I'm not there and you are
sorry.
HH13 Ice mi sui fa hijra va
ice ([mi sui] [fa (hijra va)]) And I, too, will be there.
II. Causally-Connected Clauses (7) (i- ki-)
II01 Ti pa rodja, ikou tu cuidru da (ti [pa rodja]) ikou (tu [cuidru da]) This grew because
you watered it.
II02 Nukouki ti pa rodja, ki tu cuidru da nukouki (ti [pa rodja]) ki (tu [cuidru da])
Therefore this grew, you watered it.
II03 Tu pa cuidru ti, inukou da rodja
(tu [pa (cuidru ti)]) inukou (da rodja) You
watered this; therefore it grew.
II04 Mi pa cuidru da, imoi da pafa rodja (mi [pa (cuidru da)]) imoi (da [pafa rodja]) I
watered it so that it would grow.
II05 Kouki tu pa cuidru ti, ki da rodja
kouki (tu [pa (cuidru ti)]) ki (da rodja) Because
you watered this, it grew.
II06 Mi pa danza ti, imoi mi pafa ponsu ta
(mi [pa (danza ti)]) imoi (mi [pafa (ponsu
ta)]) I wanted this so that I could have that.
II07 Mi ditca, imoi mi bremao lo junti (mi ditca) imoi (mi [bremao (lo junti)])
I teach so
that I may prepare the young.
JJ. Indirect Designation; Foreign Quotation (14) (lae sac lie)
JJ01 Eo (kambei [mi (lae <li loglan nen lu»])
Please bring me "Loglan 1". (Please
bring me the thing of which 'Loglan Nen' is a sign.)
JJ02 Eo kambei mi laelie gai, War and Peace, gai eo (kambei [mi (lae <lie (gai , war and
peace , gai)>)])
Please bring me "War and Peace". (Please bring me the thing of which
'War and Peace' is a sign.)
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JJ03 La Djan, melaelie gai, stingy, gai (la djan) (me [lae (lie <gai , stingy , gai>)]) John
is whatever the word 'stingy' means in English.
JJ04 Ei tu pa ridle laeli, Loglan Nen, lu ei (tu [pa (ridle <lae (li loglan nen lu)>)])
Have you read "Loglan 1"?
JJ05 Ei tu fundi lae laeli, Loglan Nen, lu ei (tu [fundi (lae <lae (li loglan nen lu)>)])
Do
you like the referent of the referent of 'Loglan Nen' (i.e., Loglan)?
JJ06 Da pa cutse sae lepo la Djan, pa prano
da (pa [cutse (sae <lepo ([la djan] [pa
prano])»])
He said some signs meaning that John ran.
JJ07 Ei tu vizka sae la Djan
ei (tu [vizka (sae <la djan>)]) Do you see signs of John?
JJ08 Ei tu vizka laeli. La Djan, lu ei (tu [vizka (lae <li la djan lu>)]) Do you see (any)
referents of 'La Djan' (i.e., John)?
JJ09 Ei tu vizka lae la Djan
ei (tu [vizka (lae <la djan>)]) Do you see meanings of
John?
JJ10 Ei tu vizka lo sanpa je la Djan ei (tu [vizka (lo <sanpa (je [la djan])>)])
Do you see
signs of John?
JJ11 Ei tu vizka lo nu sanpa je la Djan ei (tu [vizka (lo <(nu sanpa) (je [la djan])>)]) Do
you see referents of John?
JJ12 Ei tu vizka sae sae sae la Djan
ei (tu [vizka (sae <sae (sae [la djan])>)])
Do
you see signs of signs of signs of John?
JJ13 Ei tu vizka lo sanpa je lo sanpa je lo sanpa je la Djan ei (tu [vizka (lo <sanpa (je [lo
(sanpa <je (lo [sanpa (je <la djan>)])>)])>)]) Do you see signs of signs of signs of John?
JJ14 Ei tu vizka lae sae lae la Djan ei (tu [vizka (lae <sae (lae [la djan])>)])
Do you see
referents of signs of referents of John?
KK. Metaphor-Marking or "Figurative Quotation" (9) (ja)
KK01 Mi farfu jo la Loglanmi ([farfu jo] [la loglan])
I am the "father" of Loglan.
KK02 Ia no. I tu matma jo la Loglan ia no . i (tu [(matma jo) (la loglan)])
Certainly
not; you are the "mother" of Loglan.
KK03 I la Uorf, pa farfu jo de
i ([la uorf] [pa «farfu jo> de)]) And Whorf was its "father",
(...the "father" of it.) He's a "mental giant".
KK05 De smina huicma jo de (smina [huicma jo])
He's a mental "dwarf".
KK06 La Djan, pa brahea rajo na lepo la Loglan, brana (la djan) (pa [(brahea rajo) (na
<lepo ([la loglan] brana)>)]) John midwifed, in a manner of speaking, at the birth of Loglan.
KK07 Ia no. I la Djan, pa bremao ckela ditca tejo la Loglan ia no . i ([la djan] [pa «(bremao
ckela) (ditca tejo)> <la loglan>)])
Certainly not; John was a "prep- school teacher" of
Loglan.
KK08 La Djan, pa bremao ckela ditca la Loglan, rajo (la djan) (pa [«bremao ckela > ditca)
(la <loglan rajo>)])
John was a prep-school teacher of Loglan, in a manner of speaking.
KK09 La Djan, pa rajo bremao ckela ditca la Loglan (la djan) ([pa rajo] [«bremao ckela>
ditca) (la loglan)])
John was, speaking figuratively, a prep-school teacher of Loglan.
LL. Letter-Variables and Acronyms (17) (-z-)
LL01 Le mrenu pa vedma le kangu le cmalo nirli (le mrenu) (pa [vedma (<le kangu> <le
(cmalo nirli) >)])
The man sold the dog to the little girl.
LL02 Nei fa cluva kei
nei (fa [cluva kei]) n (the girl) will love k (the dog).
LL03 La Ned, farfu nei (la ned) (farfu nei)
Ned is the father of n.
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LL04 Nai cluva nei, e fundi lo kangu, enumoi fa cluva kei nai ([(cluva nei) e (fundi <lo
kangu>)] enumoi [fa (cluva kei)]) N (Ned) loves n, likes dogs, and therefore will love k.
LL05 Nai merji la Meris, ice Mai no fundi lo kangu (nai [merji (la meris)]) ice (mai [(no
fundi) (lo kangu)])
N is married to Mary; and M doesn't like dogs.
LL06 Bai merji la Alis, ice Ama fundi lo kangu (bai [merji (la alis)]) ice (ama [fundi (lo
kangu)])
B is married to Alice; and A likes dogs.
LL07 Inusoa ba nu dakli lepo Mai no fa cluva kei inusoa (ba [(nu dakli) (lepo <mai (no [fa
(cluva kei)])>)])
Therefore it is likely that M will not love k.
LL08 Nai nu perpli laelie gai, Central Intelligence Committee, gai nai ([nu perpli] [lae (lie
<gai , central intelligence committee , gai>)])N is employed by (works for) the "Central
Intelligence Committee".
LL09 Nai nu perpli la CailzA
nai ([nu perpli] [la caiiza])
N works for the CIA.
LL10 Mai nu perpli, la UNai
mai ([nu perpli] [la unai])
M works for the UN.
LL11 Nei danza lepo fa nu perpli, la UNaiESaiCaiO nei (danza [lepo (fa <(nu perpli) (la
unaiesaicaio)>)]) n (the little girl) wants eventually to work for (the) UNESCO.
LL12 Ipou nei danza lepo na nu perpli la SaiPaiCaiA ipou (nei [danza (lepo <na ([nu
perpli] [la saipaicaia])>)]) However, n wants to work now for the SPCA.
LL13 Mao ponsu ba jio kasni
mao (ponsu [ba (jio kasni)]) M1 (Marvin) owns a cow.
(M1 stands for Greek Mu.)
LL14 Lo HaitoO bi lo cutri (lo haitoo) (bi [lo cutri])
(The) H20 is water.
LL15 Lo HaitoSaiOfo bi lo melaelie gai, sulphuric acid, gai (/haito- saiOFo/) (lo
haitosaiofo) (bi [lo (me <lae (lie [gai , sulphuric acid , gai ])>)]) (The) H2S04 is whatever
'sulphuric acid' means in English.
LL16 Ta HaitoSaiOfo ta haitosaiofo That's sulphuric acid.
LL17 asi groda bei cei
asi (groda [bei cei]) a is bigger than b by c.
MM. Predicates as Names & Vocatives (7) (No new LWs.)
MM01 Hoi Mrenu hoi mrenu Hi, Man!
MM02 Hoi Ganfua go Redro nu Herfa hoi ganfua go redro nu herfa Hail, Lady with the
Red Hair!
MM03 Ei tu vizka Hoi Ganbra, lepo mi pana nu ganble turka letu fothaa ei (tu [(vizka <hoi
ganbra>) (lepo <mi (pana [(<nu ganble > turka) (letu fothaa)])>)]) Do you see, O Noble One,
that I have worked admirably on your castle?
MM04 Ei tu pa vizka la Mrenu
ei (tu [pa (vizka <la mrenu>)]) Did you see (the) Man?
MM05 La Garfua go Redro nu Herfa ga matma mi (la [garfua go (redro <nu herfa>)]) (ga
[matma mi]) (The) Lady with Red Hair is my mother.
MM06 La Blabi Garfua pa korji la Redro Garfua lepo godzi la Hatro Sitfa (la [blabi garfua])
(pa [korji «la (redro garfua) > <lepo (godzi [la (hatro sitfa)])>)])
(The) White Queen told
(ordered the) Red Queen to go to (the) Hot Place.
MMQ7 La Musmu pa djadou la Ratcu lepo de fa damgoo la Vrici (la musmu) (pa [djadou
(<la ratcu > <lepo (de [fa (damgoo <la vrici>)])>)]) Mouse told (informed) Rat that he
(Mouse) was going to go down River.
NN. Grouped & Ungrouped Afterthought Connections (12) (i- -ge -ci)
NN01 Mi pa prano. Ifa mi sucmi. Ifa mi fleti. Ifa mi dzoru mi (pa prano) . ifa (mi sucmi) . ifa
(mi fleti) . ifa (mi dzoru)
I ran. Then I swam. Then I flew. Then I walked.
NN02 Mi pa prano, e sucmi, e fleti, e dzoru
mi ([«pa prano> e sucmi) e fleti] e dzoru)
I ran and swam, and flew, and walked.
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NN03 Mi pa takna da, e de, e di, efa do mi (pa [takna (<(da e de) e di> efa do)])
I
talked to X and Y, and to W, and then to Q.
NN04 Muvdo, icanoi da redro, icaci de nigro
muvdo icanoi ([da redro] icaci [de nigro])
Move if (either) X is red or Y is black.
NN05 Muvdo, icanoi da redro, ica de nigro
(muvdo icanoi [da redro]) ica (de nigro)
(Either) Move if X is red, or Y is black.
NN06 Muvdo, icanoige da redro, ica de nigro, ica di vegri muvdo icanoige ([(da redro) ica
(de nigro)] ica [di vegri])
Move if (either either) X is red or Y is black, or W is green.
NN07 Da muvdo, anoi redro, aci nigro da (muvdo anoi [redro aci nigro])
X moves if
(either) red or black.
NN08 Da muvdo, anoi redro, a nigro da ([muvdo anoi redro] a nigro) X (either) moves if
(it is) red, or (it is) black.
NN09 Da muvdo, anoige redro, a nigro, epa vegri da (muvdo anoige [(redro a nigro) epa
vegri]) X moves if (it is both, either) red or black, and before that, green.
NN10 Mi godzi da, anoi de, e di . mi (godzi [(da anoi de) e di]) I go to X if Y, and (to) W.
NN11 Mi godzi da, anoi de, eci di mi (godzi [da anoi (de eci di)])
I go to X if to (both)
Y and W.
NN12 Mi godzi da, anoifage de, a di, a do
mi (godzi [da anoifage «de a di> a do)])
I go to X if earlier to (either, either) Y or W, or Q.
OO. Spelling (8) (No new LWs)
OO1 Liu artomi purkaa liu atom, e nu leasri li, a. rei. tei. o. mei. i, lu
(liu artomi) ([purkaa
(liu atom)] e [(nu leasri) (li a . rei . tei . o . mei . i lu)])The word 'artomi1 is derived from the
word 'atom', and is spelled 'eigh. are. tee. oh. em. eye'.
OO2 Liu atmo sui purkaa liu atom, e nu leasri li, a. tei. mei. o, lu ([liu atmo] sui) ([purkaa
(liu atom)] e [(nu leasri) (li a . tei . mei . o lu)])
The word 'atmo' also is derived from the
word 'atom', and is spelled 'eigh. tee. em. oh'.
OO3 Ie le to po purkaa ga nu fundi tu (ie [le to (po purkaa)]) (ga [(nu fundi) tu])
Which of the two derivations do you like better?
OO4 Liu protoni purkaa liu proton, e nu leasri li, pei. rei. o. tei. o. nei. i, lu
(liu protoni)
([purkaa (liu proton)] e [(nu leasri) (li pei . rei . o . tei . o . nei . i lu)]) The word 'protoni' is
derived from the word 'proton', and is spelled 'pea. are. oh. tee. oh. en. eye'.
OO5 Liu purkaa purkaa li purda kamla lu, e nu leasri li, pei. u. rei. kei. a. a, lu (liu purkaa)
([purkaa (li purda kamla lu)] e [(nu leasri) (li pei . u . rei . kei . a . a lu)])
The word 'purkaa'
is derived from 'purda kamla', and is spelled 'pea. you. are. keigh. eigh. eigh'.
OO6 Artomi. a. rei. tei. o. mei. i artomi . a . rei . tei . o . mei . I Artomi. eigh. are. tee. oh.
em. ee.
OO7 Atmo. a. tei. mei. o atmo . a . tei . mei . o Atmo. eigh. tee. em. oh.
OO8 Protoni. Pei. Rei. O. Tei. O. Nei. I protoni . pei . rei . o . tei . o .nei . I Protoni. pea.
are. oh. tee. oh. en. eye.
PP. Sentences in VOS Order (4) (goa)
PP01 Goa seidjo lue no nu trecymro bekti ji vi lo rardza goa lea surpernova goa (seidjo
[(lue <(no [nu trecymro]) bekti>) (ji <vi (lo rardza)>)]) goa (lea surpernova) Among the most
interesting objects in the universe (all-existence) are the supernovae.
PP02 Goa gudbi lo cutci lopo pueblo lo naldi goa lo mroza goa (gudbi [(lo cutci) (lopo
<pucblo (lo naldi)>)]) goa (lo mroza) Better than shoes for driving (push- hitting) nails are
hammers.
Goa gudbi lo cutci lopo pueblo lo naldi goa lo mroza goa (gudbi [(lo cutci) (lopo
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<pucblo (lo naldi)>)]) goa (lo mroza) Better than shoes for driving (push- hitting) nails are
hammers.
PP03 Na levi delnai goa bilti lo blabi flora goa rui re lea floryclu lo redro
(na
[levi
delnai]) (goa [bilti (lo <blabi flora>)] goa [(rui <re (lea floryclu)>) (lo redro)]) These days, more
beautiful than white flowers, are, according to most flower-lovers, red ones.
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