Copyright, 1988, 1991, by the Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA Phone (703) 385-0273 lojbab@lojban.org All rights reserved. Permission to copy granted subject to your verification that this is the latest version of this document, that your distribution be for the promotion of Lojban, that there is no charge for the product, and that this copyright notice is included intact in the copy. How to Use Your Old L1 and L4/5 Books [excerpt from JL5] [Note that this has not been updated to reflect the 1989 republication of Loglan 1, but is believed to be predominantly accurate for matching sections. Many of you who bought L1 (the 1975 description of the language by Dr. James Cooke Brown which is now obsolete) or L4/5 (the 1975 dictionary, compiled by Dr. Brown from his and others' work, mostly under an NIH grant in the early 1960's), have asked whether these are still of any value in learning Lojban. They can be, especially L1, at least until we publish the new textbook and dictionary. L4/5 is obsolete in that nearly every word is no longer the correct word. However, there is a lot of hard work put into the tanru and place structures of the ridvla that are given. If you are working on a translation and cannot think of a good tanru to use, look the English word up and use the discussion given in both halves of the dictionary for Dr. Brown's old word to help you choose your tanru. Nora wrote the following for the MHSLC, who borrowed one of our copies of L1 in order to be more prepared for LogFest: This is a general guide to using L1 to help learn Lojban. Much of the grammar is the same; changes will be listed here. Comments are given on what you can or should skip, assuming that at this point you want a reasonable overview of the grammar, but not an absolutely thorough coverage. The book is out-of-print, although you might find copies in a library; there was a microfilmed 1969 edition of this book printed and published by Xerox University Microfilms (Ann Arbor, Michigan, catalogue number S-398) which may be found in some libraries. It is possible that they will still print copies from the microfilm, but they are expensive. The microfilm copy is not identical to the version Nora discusses, but should track fairly closely. The chapter numbers are off by one so Section 4.5 in the discussion below is 5.5 in the microfilm version. Notation: Old language version words - in italics: gudbi. Lojban words - in bold: xamgu. Chapter 1 is one of the best descriptions of why the language was originally developed, and why it might be interesting. It also describes how the language is considered a 'logical' language, as well as ways in which no language can truly be considered logical. You might as well skip chapter 2; it covers pronunciation and word forms, which are explained in the new Synopsis of Lojban Phonology and Morphology. Section 3.1 OK in general, but the place structure of blanu has changed. It now just means "is blue"; there is a separate word (blanymau, which is a lujvo 'compound') having the meaning "is bluer than". The examples given here will apply for that word. Section 3.4 OK in general, but the specific number of places for some examples have changed. Section 3.6 The "timeless" tense has been dropped. If you don't put in a tense it either continues a tense that was previously set up with a special indicator (you don't have to worry about this now), or it just means you haven't specified which one you have in mind (which is perfectly OK in Lojban). So, skip all but the first paragraph or two in this section. Well - the last paragraph is okay, too. Section 3.8 On page 49, the next-to-last paragraph ("Notice..."): There is now a way to apply nu (Lojban se) to more than the "naked pred", (nuke - see the discussion below when you get to Section 4.11), but I suggest you don't worry about it for now. Also, again, the "time-free" translations are not necessarily correct (page 51, items 17-20). Section 3.12 OK. cmalo nirli ge ckela may be grammatical now, but still redundant, as he says. Section 3.13 Item 7: The word go (Lojban ko) now creates an automatic break in the modification order, so: da nirli ckela go cmalo = da cmalo ge nirli ckela (It is a girls' school which is small = It is a small type of girls'- school) Because of the above, skip items 8-10. They are no longer correct. Section 3.14 Item 9: The translation is incorrect (at least, now it is). da no fa nu crina a fa metlo means "It will neither be rained on nor be wet". Or, as a more literal translation (and showing better that no has a scope covering the whole rest of the sentence), "It will not be the case that it will either be rained on or be wet". Section 3.16 Items 11-12: gi is gone, and gu (Lojban ku) has been changed around a lot. #11 da gi vedji gudbi ce sadji farfu is no longer correct; it should be da cui vedji gudbi ce sadji farfu. #12: da gudbi ce vedji sadji gu farfu should be da gudbi ce vedji ci sadji farfu (or, da gudbi ge vedji sadji gue farfu). The ci (Lojban bo) closely links the vedji and the sadji; (the ge-gue (Lojban ke and kei) combination acts somewhat like parentheses, saying that vedji sadji should be taken as a unit. Section 3.17 Skip this section. zea has been removed. ze and its several new relatives can be used to mix both sumti (arguments) and bridi (predicates). Section 3.18 Note again that the "timeless tense" no longer exists; so, you can skip items 8-9. Sections 4.3 & 4.4 OK in general, but current words for pronouns may differ as to what's really covered and exactly how they are used. For example, there are several equivalents for the da series, some of which do not work as defined in the text. (Even Dr. Brown seldom followed the rules given here for counting.) Section 4.5 Item 2: In Lojban, the imperative must be marked. Djan gotso would be Djan ko culgo. Instead, the "observative" is unmarked. This is what you use when, for example, you call someone's attention to the book on the table by pointing and saying "Book!". Section 4.6 Item 4: Again, as in section 3.13, the ge is implied when go is used, so it is not needed. The sentence should be: le nirli ckela go bilti ce cmalo. Section 4.11 Minor variation here. po (Lojban nu) originally had a long scope, taking in everything to the end of the sentence unless specifically ended by a gu. This is no longer the case. Instead, po only applies to the single word following it if that word is a single ridvla; if po is followed by a sumti (the equivalent of a noun phrase), it is taken to be long scope - after all, it has to cover at least up to the next ridvla in any case since it is not defined as applying to sumti. To make a long scope when po is followed by a ridvla, you need a grammar word to make it so; in Lojban, you would use nu ke (also often written as one word, nuke). Of course, if there is only one word following the po, the two forms are equivalent. Section 4.14 Item 5: This is not correct. It should be lemi me da gudbi letu me da. me turns the pronoun da into something which the le can take (that is, it becomes the equivalent of a ridvla, which is the normal object for a le to take). le (still le in Lojban) cannot precede a sumti form without converting it with me. (There are minor exceptions for possessives; don't worry about them yet.) Section 4.15 Item 3: As in section 4.14, me is needed: le me leva mrenu gu botcu. Section 4.19 Number words are now penultimately stressed (next-to-last syllable) like ridvla. To separate one number word from the next, you'd have to pause, as you do in English. Section 4.19 Jim gets obscure at about item 9. I suggest you skip it. You can read it, but don't worry if you don't understand; I didn't on first reading. Section 4.23 Complex topic, and he doesn't seem to give any simple examples. I suggest you read the explanation before item 1, maybe glance at #1, and skip the rest. Well, if you do read it anyway, keep in mind that the ki...ke... phrasing has been changed to ke...ki... so that you know up front what kind of link you're being expected to do. Similarly, ki...kanoi... becomes ka...kinoi (the noi piece does not move if it refers to the second piece), and ki...noka... becomes kanoi...ki... (it does move if it refers to the first piece). (Convert the words to Lojban by replacing 'k' by 'g' in the cmavo, and by replacing no, noi, and nu by na, nai, and se, respectively. Section 4.24 The negator for a sumti ("argument") is ni (no in Lojban), which is the same thing as "zero" ("He goes to zero Romes.", in effect). The negator for a bridi ("predicate") is no (na in Lojban). Items 5 to end: Skip! These are really confusing, and some are probably wrong. Jim seems to have trouble being consistent in this area. Section 5.4 Items 6-7: As mentioned in section 4.5 comments, the imperative needs a ko marker. Section 5.6 Items 1-3: Lojban uses ki'a after the item being asked "which" about, so: da ki'a pa donsu de (or, completely in Lojban: ko'a ki'a pu dunda ko'e). da pa donsu de ki'a (or, Lojban: ko'a pu dunda ko'e ki'a). In general, Lojban uses ki'a after a word to ask for clarification, no matter what type of word it is. If you are specifically asking for the identity of the person/thing, you can use the construction ko'a goi ma ("[the variable label] ko'a is assigned to what thing/person?"); see the general explanation of ma, below. Other questions (as in item 3 in this section) are done differently; they are based on what type of word you want the answerer to fill in. If the answerer is to fill in a ridvla or possibly a bridi, you use mo: ko'a mo stuci = "He is what-kind-of teacher?", or mi mo = "I am doing/being what?". If the answerer is expected to fill in a sumti, you use ma: ma stuci = "who/what is a teacher?", or (as in subject (v)), ca ma = "At what [time]?". Sections 5.9-5.12 As in section 5.7, when asking time/place questions you use vi ma ("At what [place]") and ca ma ("At what [time]?"). The rules for attachment of the time/location phrase to a portion of a sentence has changed. mi pa durzo de na la Ven now has the na la Ven applying to the whole sentence. If you want the phrase to be specifically attached to a sumti ("argument"), you must show this with ji (in Lojban, ne or pe, with some differences between these that parallel jia and jio in Section 5.8, respectively): mi pa durzo de ji na la Ven (Lojban: mi pu pilno ko'a pe ca la Son). Section 5.15 As mentioned for section 5.6, ma is used to ask questions when what is wanted is a sumti, so ie da gotso is ma culgo in Lojban. Section 5.16 As mentioned for section 4.23, the ki...ka... type of construction has been turned around to be ka...ki...; similarly, the ki...Ica...noka... would be kanoi...Ica...ki..., etc. Section 5.17 Skip item 13 to the end of the section; this is far too complex. Section 5.18 As mentioned for section 4.24, negation of sumti is done with ni (Lojban no), while negation of bridi is done with no (Lojban na). Skip items 7 to the end of the section; very complex. Section 5.19 If you don't want to see the topic beaten to death, you can give up at about page 215. Section 5.22 As mentioned for section 5.6, most of these questions would be asked with ma rather that ie or ie da. Of course, skip #14. I don't intend even to look at it for validity. Skip Chapter 6 & on, which are only interesting from a historical perspective. You are now done. The following is Nora's list of cmavo which she made to accompany the above text. These are the latest proposals, and are the most commonly used cmavo. They are among the most stable on the list, and certainly should by usable with the old L1 until we come out with a more complete list (which will have some additional explanation for each word). The English translations given are those that Nora used in her old translation program. L1 Lojban coarse English L1 Lojban coarse English word cmavo translation word cmavo translation I i . TU do YOU, YOUR BA da SOMETHING UA uo THERE! BE de SOMETHING UE ue WELL! BO di SOMETHING UI ui GOOD! BU [removed] SOMETHING UO o'o WHAT! DA ri/ko'a IT, ITS UU uu WHAT A SHAME! DE ra/ko'e IT, ITS VA va NEAR, THERE DI ru/ko'i IT, ITS VE so 9, NINE DO ru/ko'o IT, ITS VI vi AT, HERE DU ru/ko'u IT, ITS VO bi 8, EIGHT EI pei ? VU vu AT A DISTANCE, YONDER FA ba AFTER, FUTURE FE mu 5, FIVE FO to 4, FOUR FU te BEA mu'u gai FOR EXAMPLE GA cu BEU cu'i POSSIBLY GU ku , CIA si'a SIMILARLY IA ie cai CERTAINLY CIU du'i AS MUCH AS IE mo/ki'a WHAT/WHICH COA to'u IN SHORT IE DA ma WHAT/WHICH DAU la'e PROBABLY II ie ru'e POSSIBLY DIA ra'i ON BEHALF OF IO ie sai PROBABLY DIU ti'a IN DETAIL IU ie cu'e WHO KNOWS? DOU ru'a BY HYPOTHESIS JE be DUO ru'e BY THE METHOD OF JU ve FOI su'u AND VICE VERSA LA la GEA te'i IN PARTICULAR LE le THE JOE [removed] LI li ' JUE bei LO lei/loi SOME KAE ra'a CONCERNING LU li'u ' KAU kau IN GENERAL MI mi ME, MY KIA li'i CLEARLY, OBVIOUSLY NA ca DURING, PRESENT KUO [removed] USUALLY NE pa 1, ONE LAU ra'e ANYWAY NI no 0, ZERO LIA ta'i LIKE NO na NO, NOT LUI pu'a FOR NU se MOU mau/rai SO MUCH MORE THAN PA pu BEFORE, PAST NAU ni'o NOW PE po OF NEA ra'u PRIMARILY, CHIEFLY PO nu/nuke THE STATE/EVENT OF NEU sau/va'uWHEN, UNDER CONDITIONS PU ka THE PROPERTY/QUALITY OF NIE lu'aLOOSELY SPEAKING RA ro ALL PAE ri'i ETC RE ro'e MOST PIE pa'a AS WELL AS RI ro'o SEVERAL POU ku'i HOWEVER RO ro'i MANY RAE fa'o IN CONCLUSION RU rau ENOUGH RUI cei ACCORDING TO SE ze 7, SEVEN SAU pa'o FROM SO xa 6, SIX SEA si'u WITH THE HELP OF TA ta THAT SIE ba'i INSTEAD OF TE ci 3, THREE SUI ji'a ALSO TI ti THIS TIE pi'o WITH, USING TO re 2, TWO VOI ba'u SKIPPING DETAILS