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13. Pro-sumti summary

The Lojban pro-sumti are the cmavo of selma'o KOhA. They fall into several classes: personal, definable, quantificational, reflexive, back-counting, indefinite, demonstrative, metalinguistic, relative, question. More details are given in Chapter 7; this section mostly duplicates information found there, but adds material on the implicit quantifier of each pro-sumti.

The following examples illustrate each of the classes. Unless otherwise noted below, the implicit quantification for pro-sumti is ``ro'' (all). In the case of pro-sumti which refer to other sumti, the ``ro'' signifies ``all of those referred to by the other sumti'': thus it is possible to restrict, but not to extend, the quantification of the other sumti.

Personal pro-sumti (``mi'', ``do'', ``mi'o'', ``mi'a'', ``ma'a'', ``do'o'', ``ko'') refer to the speaker or the listener or both, with or without third parties:

13.1)    mi prami do
    I love you.
The personal pro-sumti may be interpreted in context as either representing individuals or masses, so the implicit quantifier may be ``pisu'o'' rather than ``ro'': in particular, ``mi'o'', ``mi'a'', ``ma'a'', and ``do'o'' specifically represent mass combinations of the individuals (you and I, I and others, you and I and others, you and others) that make them up.

Definable pro-sumti (``ko'a'', ``ko'e'', ``ko'i'', ``ko'o'', ``ko'u'', ``fo'a'', ``fo'e'', ``fo'i'', ``fo'o'', ``fo'u'') refer to whatever the speaker has explicitly made them refer to. This reference is accomplished with ``goi'' (of selma'o GOI), which means ``defined-as''.

13.2)    le cribe goi ko'a cu xekri
        .i ko'a citka le smacu
    The bear defined-as it-1 is-black.
        It-1 eats the mouse.
Quantificational pro-sumti (``da'', ``de'', ``di'') are used as variables in bridi involving predicate logic: 
13.3)    ro da poi prenu
        cu prami pa de poi finpe
    All somethings-1 which-are persons
        love one something-2 which-is a-fish.
    All persons love a fish (each his/her own).
(This is not the same as ``All persons love a certain fish''; the difference between the two is one of quantifier order.) The implicit quantification rules for quantificational pro-sumti are particular to them, and are discussed in detail in Chapter 16. Roughly speaking, the quantifier is ``su'o'' (at least one) when the pro-sumti is first used, and ``ro'' (all) thereafter.

Reflexive pro-sumti (``vo'a'', ``vo'e'', ``vo'i'', ``vo'o'', ``vo'u'') refer to the same referents as sumti filling other places in the same bridi, with the effect that the same thing is referred to twice:

13.4)    le cribe cu batci vo'a
    The bear bites what-is-in-the-x1-place.
    The bear bites itself.
Back-counting pro-sumti (``ri'', ``ra'', ``ru'') refer to the referents of previous sumti counted backwards from the pro-sumti: 
13.5)    mi klama la frankfurt. ri
    I go to-Frankfurt from-the-referent-of-the-last-sumti
    I go from Frankfurt to Frankfurt (by some unstated route).
Indefinite pro-sumti (``zo'e'', ``zu'i'', ``zi'o'') refer to something which is unspecified: 
13.6)    mi klama la frankfurt. zo'e zo'e zo'e
    I go to-Frankfurt from-unspecified via-unspecified
        by-means-unspecified.
The implicit quantifier for indefinite pro-sumti is, well, indefinite. It might be ``ro'' (all) or ``su'o'' (at least one) or conceivably even ``no'' (none), though ``no'' would require a very odd context indeed.

Demonstrative pro-sumti (``ti'', ``ta'', ``tu'') refer to things pointed at by the speaker, or when pointing is not possible, to things near or far from the speaker:

13.7)    ko muvgau ti ta tu
    you [imperative] move this-thing from-that-nearby-place
        to-that-further-away-place
    Move this from there to over there!
Metalinguistic pro-sumti (``di'u'', ``de'u'', ``da'u'', ``di'e'', ``de'e'', ``da'e'', ``dei'', ``do'i'') refer to spoken or written utterances, either preceding, following, or the same as the current utterance. 
13.8)    li re su'i re du li vo
        .i la'e di'u jetnu
    The-number two plus two equals the-number four.
        The-referent-of the-previous-utterance is-true.
The implicit quantifier for metalinguistic pro-sumti is ``su'o'' (at least one), because they are considered analogous to ``lo'' descriptions: they refer to things which really are previous, current, or following utterances.

The relative pro-sumti (``ke'a'') is used within relative clauses (see Chapter 8 for a discussion of relative clauses) to refer to whatever sumti the relative clause is attached to.

13.9)    mi viska le mlatu ku
        poi zo'e zbasu ke'a
        loi slasi
    I see the cat(s)
        such-that something-unspecified makes it/them (the cats)
        from-a-mass-of plastic.
    I see the cat(s) made of plastic.
The question pro-sumti (``ma'') is used to ask questions which request the listener to supply a sumti which will make the question into a truth: 
13.10)  do klama ma
    You go to-what-sumti?
    Where are you going?
The implicit quantifier for the question pro-sumti is ``su'o'' (at least one), because the listener is only being asked to supply a single answer, not all correct answers.

In addition, sequences of lerfu words (of selma'o BY and related selma'o) can also be used as definable pro-sumti.

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