History: BPFK Section: Grammatical Pro-sumti

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Proposed Definitions

Proposed Definition of ce'u

ce'u (KOhA8)
Lambda. Pseudo-quantifier binding a variable within an abstraction that represents an open place.

Examples of ce'u Usage

Proposed Definition of ke'a

ke'a (KOhA7)
Relativized it. Pro-sumti: relativized sumti (object of relative clause).

Examples of ke'a Usage

Proposed Definition of ma

ma (KOhA7)
Sumti question. ma is a pro-sumti (meaning it takes the place of a fully-specified sumti). ma is the sumti question marker, and represents, in many cases, any of the English words what, who, where, why, when, and how. Specifically, it turns the entire bridi into a question, and requests that the listener provide a sumti as an answer. The sumti

response should fill the place where ma was in the original bridi in such a way as to have a true bridi result from the combination. To reject the basis of a question (i.e., to indicate that there is no value that could make that bridi true), use na'i or no da. A bridi with more than one ma should be responded to with an unconnected string of sumti.

Examples of ma Usage


le verba vi ma pu cadzu le bisli
The child near what walked on the ice?
Where on the ice did the child walk?

facki fi ba'e ma
Discovered about WHAT?

mi ma ba lifri
What will I experience?

ta'i ma do cilre la lojban
How are you learning Lojban?

mu'i ma do tavla le si'o minji prenu
Why are you talking about machine-persons?

ma fo ma mrilu
''Who sent mail to who?'

do pu salci ca ma
When did you celebrate?

Proposed Definition of zi'o

zi'o (KOhA7)
Nonexistent it. zi'o is gramatically a pro-sumti, meaning it fills a sumti place, but unlike other pro-sumti zi'o actually removes the place it fills from the bridi it is in entirely. A bridi with zi'o in it actually represents a completely different relationship, one with one less element being related.

Examples of zi'o Usage


loi jmive cu se zbasu zi'o loi selci
Living things are made of cells.
The existence of a maker that makes living things from cells is explicitely denied.

lo pinsi be zi'o na se sarcu lo vimcu
Pencils which mark on nothing do not require a remover.
Loosely: Broken pencils don't need erasers.

lo nu morsi cu zi'o zasti
Death is non-existence.
Loosely translated. lo nu morsi goes in the second place of zasti.

Proposed Definition of zo'e

zo'e (KOhA7)
Unspecif it. zo'e is a pro-sumti (meaning it takes the place of a fully-specified sumti). It represents an elliptical or unspecified value. It has some value which is irrelevant or obvious in the current context. All empty places in Lojban are implicitely filled with zo'e, making it (by far) the most-used word in the language, in a sense. zo'e can represent, or be replaced with, just about anything. The important exceptions are no da, which is equivalent to putting na in front of the selbri of the bridi in question and hence alters the meaning completely, zi'o, which utterly changes the nature of the bridi to one which has a different place structure, and ma, which turns a statement into a question. In particular, zo'e can represent sumti of any complexity, including abstractions, relative clauses, relative sumtcita, and combinations thereof.

Examples of zo'e Usage


Note that, technically, every single bridi without every place filled in is a usage of zo'e.

do tavla mi ta zo'e
I talk to you about something unspecified.

.e'o ko mi jungau le du'u .ei mi klama zo'e ti makau
Please, tell me how I should get there from here?
"there" is being used to gloss zo'e in this case.

ko bandu ledo skami zo'e
Defend your computer from threats!

Proposed Definition of zu'i

zu'i (KOhA7)
Typical it. zu'i is a pro-sumti (meaning it takes the place of a fully-specified sumti). zu'i represents some value that is typical for the bridi place it fills. It can represent sumti of any complexity, including abstractions, relative clauses, relative sumtcita, and combinations thereof, but whatever it represents must be typical for the bridi in question. If the bridi relationship does not actually hold for any typical thing in the place filled by zu'i, then the presence of zu'i in that place makes the bridi false. Lojban constructions that zu'i explicitely cannot match include no da, which is equivalent to putting na in front of the selbri of the bridi in question and hence alters the meaning completely, zi'o, which utterly changes the nature of the bridi to one which has a different place structure, and ma, which turns a statement into a question. None of these can be typical place fillers in any case.

Examples of zu'i Usage


mi klama le bartu be le zdani le nenri be le zdani zu'i zu'i
I go to the outside of the house from the inside of the house by the typical route and means.
We can't know what the typical route is without knowing (at least) the layout of the house, but the last zu'i probably can't be anything other than lo nu cadzu, which is "walking".

le du'u da srana de cu roroi mintu le du'u da ckini de zu'i
X pertains to Y is always identical to X is related to Y with a typical type of relationship.
This sentence is actually a meta-linguistic statement about the nature of two Lojban gismu, srana and ckini, and as such loses essentially all meaning in translation.

bliku fi na'ebo zu'i
A block with other than the typical number of sides.
Presumably the typical value is six (a cube).

Notes

Impact

  • None that I am aware of.

History

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Fri 22 of Aug, 2014 11:16 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Minor formatting fix. 22
Fri 22 of Aug, 2014 11:12 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Formatting. 21
Fri 22 of Aug, 2014 11:09 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Formatting. 20
Fri 22 of Aug, 2014 11:05 GMT Ilmen from 95.210.209.219 Adding box formatting + See Also + Keywords. 19
Tue 10 of Jun, 2014 03:29 GMT mukti from 68.173.146.212 18
Sat 25 of Dec, 2010 08:36 GMT lindarthebard from 166.191.123.177 17
Mon 06 of Dec, 2010 06:59 GMT lindarthebard from 32.174.244.207 16
Thu 02 of Dec, 2010 00:37 GMT lindarthebard from 32.172.221.37 15
Fri 27 of Aug, 2004 21:46 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 Moved ce'u to another section. 14
Wed 25 of Aug, 2004 18:45 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 13
Mon 23 of Aug, 2004 19:14 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 12
Thu 19 of Aug, 2004 19:28 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 11
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Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 22:40 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 9
Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 07:37 GMT admin from 64.81.49.171 8
Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 06:52 GMT rlpowell from 64.81.49.171 7
Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 05:53 GMT rlpowell from 64.81.49.171 6
Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 05:39 GMT rlpowell from 64.81.49.171 5
Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 00:59 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 4
Tue 17 of Aug, 2004 00:27 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 3
Mon 16 of Aug, 2004 23:23 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 2
Mon 16 of Aug, 2004 23:14 GMT rlpowell from 198.6.50.155 1