Page:CLL v1.1.pdf/79





5.1 Lojban content words: brivla
At the center, logically and often physically, of every Lojban bridi is one or more words which constitute the selbri. A bridi expresses a relationship between things: the selbri specifies which relationship is referred to. The difference between:


 * Example 5.1
 * {| class="wikitable"

|- style="font-style: italic;" | do || mamta || mi |- style="font-weight: bold;" | You || are-a-mother-of || me |}
 * You are my mother

and


 * Example 5.2
 * {| class="wikitable"

|- style="font-style: italic;" | do || patfu || mi |- style="font-weight: bold;" | You || are-a-father-of || me. |}
 * You are my father.

lies in the different selbri.

The simplest kind of selbri is a single Lojban content word: a brivla. There are three different varieties of brivla: those which are built into the language (the gismu), those which are derived from combinations of the gismu (the lujvo), and those which are taken (usually in a modified form) from