14.11. Termset logical connection

So far we have seen sentences that differ in all components, and require bridi connection; sentences that differ in one sumti only, and permit sumti connection; and sentences that differ in the selbri and possibly one or more sumti, and permit bridi-tail connection. Termset logical connectives are employed for sentences that differ in more than one sumti but not in the selbri, such as:

Example 14.71. 

I go to the market from the office and to the house from the school.


The Lojban version of Example 14.71 requires two termsets joined by a logical connective. A term is either a sumti or a sumti preceded by a tense or modal tag such as pu or bai. Afterthought termsets are formed by linking terms together by inserting the cmavo ce'e (of selma'o CEhE) between each of them. Furthermore, the logical connective (which is a jek) must be prefixed by the cmavo pe'e (of selma'o PEhE). (We could refer to the combination of pe'e and a jek as a pehejek, I suppose.)

Example 14.72. 

mi klama le zarci ce'e le briju
I go to-the market [plus] from-the office
pe'e je le zdani ce'e le ckule
[joint] and to-the house [plus] from-the school.

The literal translation uses [plus] to indicate the termset connective, and [joint] to indicate the position of the logical connective joint. As usual, there is an equivalent bridi-connection form:

Example 14.73. 

mi klama le zarci le briju
I go to-the market from-the office,
.ije mi klama le zdani le ckule
and I go to-the house from-the school.

which illustrates that the two bridi differ in the x2 and x3 places only.

What happens if the two joined sets of terms are of unequal length? Expanding to bridi connection will always make clear which term goes in which place of which bridi. It can happen that a sumti may fall in the x2 place of one bridi and the x3 place of another:

Example 14.74. 

mi pe'e ja do ce'e le zarci cu klama le briju
I [joint] or you [plus] to-the market go to/from-the office.

can be clearly understood by expansion to:

Example 14.75. 

mi klama le briju .ija do le zarci cu klama
I go to-the office, or you to-the market go
le briju
from-the office.

So le briju is your origin but my destination, and thus falls in the x2 and x3 places of klama simultaneously! This is legal because even though there is only one selbri, klama, there are two distinct bridi expressed here. In addition, mi in Example 14.74 is serving as a termset containing only one term. An analogous paradox applies to compound bridi with tail-terms and unequal numbers of sumti within the connected bridi-tails:

Example 14.76. 

mi   klama le zarci gi'e dzukla vau le briju
I ( go to-the market and walk ) to/from-the office.

means that I go to the market from the office, and I walk to the office; le briju is the x3 place of klama and the x2 place of dzukla.

Forethought termsets also exist, and use nu'i of selma'o NUhI to signal the beginning and nu'u of selma'o NUhU (an elidable terminator) to signal the end. Nothing is inserted between the individual terms: they simply sit side-by-side. To make a logical connection in a forethought termset, use a gek, with the gek just after the nu'i, and an extra nu'u just before the gik:

Example 14.77. 

mi klama nu'i ge le zarci le briju
I go [start-termset] both to-the market from-the office
nu'u gi le zdani le ckule [nu'u]
[joint] and to-the house from-the school [end-termset].

Note that even though two termsets are being connected, only one nu'i is used.

The grammatical uses of termsets that do not contain logical connectives are explained in Section 9.8, Section 10.25, and Section 16.7.