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The Complete Lojban Language

Each selbri (relation) has a specific rule that defines the role of each sumti in the bridi, based on its position. In the table above, that order was expressed by labeling the sumti positions as x1, x2, x3, x4, and x5.

Like the table in Section 2.3 (p. 17), this table is far from complete: in fact, no complete table can exist, because Lojban allows new words to be created (in specified ways) whenever a speaker or writer finds the existing supply of words inadequate. This notion is a basic difference between Lojban (and some other languages such as German and Chinese) and English; in English, most people are very leery of using words that “aren't in the dictionary”. Lojbanists are encouraged to invent new words; doing so is a major way of participating in the development of the language. Chapter 4 (p. 49) explains how to make new words, and Chapter 12 (p. 263) explains how to give them appropriate meanings.

2.5 Some simple Lojban bridi
Let's look at a simple Lojban bridi. The place structure of the gismu tavla is


 * Example 2.7


 * x1 talks to x2 about x3 in language x4

where the “x”es with following numbers represent the various arguments that could be inserted at the given positions in the English sentence. For example:


 * Example 2.8


 * John talks to Sam about engineering in Lojban.

has “John” in the x1 place, “Sam” in the x2 place, “engineering” in the x3 place, and “Lojban” in the x4 place, and could be paraphrased:


 * Example 2.9


 * Talking is going on, with speaker John and listener Sam and subject matter engineering and language Lojban.

The Lojban bridi corresponding to Example 2.7 (p. 18) will have the form


 * Example 2.10

The word cu serves as a separator between any preceding sumti and the selbri. It can often be omitted, as in the following examples.


 * Example 2.11


 * I talk to you about something in some language.


 * Example 2.12


 * You talk to me about that thing in a language.


 * Example 2.13


 * I talk to someone about that thing yonder in this language.

(Example 2.13 (p. 18) is a bit unusual, as there is no easy way to point to a language; one might point to a copy of this book, and hope the meaning gets across!)