BPFK Section: Subordinators

Proposed Definitions And Examples

cmavo: noi (NOI)

Proposed Definition

Incidental (non-restrictive) relative clause marker.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a clause to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide additional information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "clause" part means that it is followed by a full bridi (which means it sometimes must be terminated with ku'o, the NOI selma'o terminator, or vau, the general bridi terminator, particularily if one wishes to add another sumti to the outer bridi).

  • The "non-restrictive" part means that the information in the noi clause is not used to restrict the set of things that the sumti noi is attached to refers to. The noi bridi gives additional information about the referents of the sumti noi is attached to.

  • Inside a noi clause, ke'a indicates the precise place of the bridi that the sumti is intended to fill.

  • For logical scoping purposes, the scope of a noi clause is entirely outside the scope of the statement in which it is contained; its scope occurs at the point immediately after the scope in which it was contained ends. The noi clause should be considered, for scoping purposes, as occuring in its own virtual sentence (technically, its own "statement" production in the formal grammar) after both the one in which it is contained and all further statements that are logically connected to the one in which it was contained.

  • noi immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative clause can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a clause attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku) the clause applies to all the referents of the sumti, whether there is an outer quantifier or not.

  • For la description sumti, any noi clause that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a noi clause is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

le gerku noi blanu cu barda
The dog, which incidentally is white, is big.

la alis noi ru'i senci cu sezysku
Alice, who was continuously sneezing, said to herself.

ro bifce noi pendo mi cu ji'a xebni lo sigja
All bees, which are friends of mine, also hate cigars.

This sentence was taken from the #lojban IRC channel, and asserts that every bee (or wasp or hornet) that exists (ignoring metaphysical issues) is both a friend of the speaker and hates cigars. This is probably not what the author intended.

la fengu lo smacu noi fy ke'a cpacu cu penmi le zdani
Fury met a mouse, F (Fury) got it (the mouse), in the house.

Had to re-order the translation a bit to make the English work; in the Lojban the "met" part comes after the comma-delimited clause.

cmavo: poi (NOI)

Proposed Definition

Restrictive relative clause marker.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a clause to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide specifying information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "clause" part means that it is followed by a full bridi (which means it sometimes must be terminated with ku'o, the NOI elma'o terminator, or vau, the general bridi terminator, particularily if one wishes to add another sumti to the outer bridi).

  • The "restrictive" part means that the information in the poi clause is used to restrict the set of things that the sumti poi is attached to refers to. In other words, out of the referents of the sumti that poi is attached to (which, for example, in the case of lo dacti can be a great many things indeed) the sumti is actually intended by the speaker to refer only to those things for which the bridi in the poi clause is also true.


  • Inside a poi clause, ke'a indicates the precise place of the bridi that the sumti is intended to fill.

  • For unquantified sumti, the clause selects from all the referents of the sumti just those that satisfy it; when an inner quantifier is present it indicates how many those referents are. For quantified sumti, the quantification is over just those referents of the sumti that satisfy the clause.

  • poi immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative clause can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a clause attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku), the inner quantifier indicates the number of referents that satisfy the clause even if there is an outer quantifier.

  • For la description sumti, any poi clause that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a poi clause is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

mi djica lo skami tanxe poi cmalu
I want a computer box which is small.

pau re'i pat ta poi zvati le canko cu mo
Question to Pat: that which at the window is what? Pat: What is that at the window?

abu tavla le mensi ro le cizra se lifri poi do ke'a puzi ca'o tcidu
A (for Alice) talked to the (her) sister about all the strange experiences which you about them have just been reading.

da poi gerku zo'u da vasxu
There exists at least one thing which is a dog; this thing breathes.

cmavo: voi (NOI)

Proposed Definition

Descriptive (non-veridical) restrictive relative clause marker.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a clause to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide specifying information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "clause" part means that it is followed by a full bridi (which means it sometimes must be terminated with ku'o, the NOI

selma'o terminator, or vau, the general bridi terminator, particularily if one wishes to add another sumti to the outer bridi).

  • The "restrictive" part means that the information in the voi clause is used to restrict the set of things that the sumti voi is attached to refers to. In other words, out of all the possible things the sumti that voi is attached to could refer to (which, for example, in the case of lo dacti is a great many things indeed) the sumti is actually intended by the speaker to refer only to those things that the sumti could refer to for which the bridi in the voi clause is also true.

  • The non-veridical part means that the speaker is making no claime that the bridi in the voi clause actually matches objective reality.

  • Inside a voi clause, ke'a indicates the precise place of the bridi that the sumti is intended to fill.

  • For unquantified sumti, the clause selects from all the referents of the sumti just those that satisfy it; when an inner quantifier is present it indicates how many those referents are. For quantified sumti, the quantification is over just those referents of the sumti that satisfy the clause.

  • voi immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative clause can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a clause attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku), the inner quantifier indicates the number of referents that satisfy the clause even if there is an outer quantifier.

  • For la description sumti, any voi clause that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a voi clause is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

ti voi nanmu cu ninmu
This which is (non-veridically) a man is a woman.

The classic example of voi usage, presumably referring to a case of mistaken identity or a transvestite or transgendered individual.

mi xagji .iku'i .oisai ponse no da voi cidja
I am hungry. However, horrors!, posses no thing which is food.

This is presumably intended to handle under-exaggeration; the speaker probably has something that could be eaten. This is a quote from the #lojban IRC channel.

mrilu su'o ciki'o da voi festi mi
Mail, three thousand of them which are waste products of me.

This case, also from the #lojban IRC channel, is probably intended to deal with very loose usage of festi, and is probably intended to mean "Three thousand pieces of spam e-mail".

ganse vasxu le nicte vacri voi ranti
Breathing the night air, which is soft.

Presumably, voi is being used to deal with the fact that ranti probably does not literally apply to air.

ku'i ro da voi vi selsnu zo'u .ai skicu da fo ledu'u xukau catni
However, all things which are here-at subjects of conversation: it is intended that they will be described as to whether they are official.

This is from the Lojban translation of the lojban.org web site, and the voi is being used to deal with the usage of vi to translate the English "here on this site", when a web site has no physical location. The original had zu'o instead of zo'u, which I have corrected.

cmavo: ne (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Incidental (non-restrictive) relative phrase marker.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a phrase to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide additional information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "phrase" part means that it is followed by another sumti.

  • The meaning of ne is that the attached sumti is relevant to or associated with the first sumti in some way.

  • The "non-restrictive" part means that the information in the ne phrase is not used to restrict the set of things that the sumti ne is attached to refers to. The attached phrase gives additional information about the sumti no'u is attached to.

  • ne is often used for the loosest form of possession, such as that between a person and the chair they happen to be sitting in at the moment, but can be used for any form of association at all. It is essentially equivalent to noi srana.

  • Instead of attaching a sumti, ne can be used to attach a sumtcita clause, in which case the sumtcita clause is said to apply only to the sumti it is attached to.

  • ne immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative phrase can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a phrase attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (beforep the terminator ku) the claupse applies to all the referents of the sumti, whether there is an outer quantifier or not.

  • For la description sumti, any ne phrase that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a ne phrase is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

le blabi gerku ne mi cu batci do
The white dog, which incidentally is associated with me, bit you.

This need not be "my" dog in the English sense, but could be the dog I'm walking for a friend, or the dog closest to me, or whatever.

le nuntra be la uiliam ca le nu cfari cu fadni i ku'i le nuntolclite be lai norman ne ubu
The behaviour of William during the beginning is ordinary. However the rudeness of Norman, which incidentally is associated with him (William).

ti'e ko'a ne li 2.6 cu mutce sutra
I hear that it, which has something to do with the number 2.6, is very fast.

xu naku me le cnano pe le tai tcima ne vi do
Is it not the case that those among the norm which is associated with the form of the weather, which is near you? Don't you normally have such weather?

cmavo: pe (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Restrictive phrase. pe is one of Lojban's restrictive relative phrase markers.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a phrase to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide specifying information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "phrase" part means that it is followed by another sumti.

  • The meaning of pe is that the attached sumti is relevant to or associated with the first sumti in some way.

  • The "restrictive" part means that the information in the pe phrase is used to restrict the set of things that the sumti pe is attached to refers to. In other words, out of all the possible things the sumti that pe is attached to could refer to (which, for example, in the case of lo dacti is a great many things indeed) the sumti is actually intended by the speaker to refer only to those things that the sumti could refer to which are associated with the sumti marked by pe.

  • pe is often used for the loosest form of possession, such as that between a person and the chair they happen to be sitting in at the moment, but can be used for any form of association at all. It is essentially equivalent to poi srana.

  • Instead of attaching a sumti, pe can be used to attach a sumtcita clause, in which case the sumtcita clause is said to apply only to the sumti it is attached to.

  • pe immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative phrase can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a phrase attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku), the inner quantifier indicates the number of referents that satisfy the phrase even if there is an outer quantifier.

  • For la description sumti, any pe phrase that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a pe phrase is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

le kabri pe le mi pendo cu cmalu
My friend's cup is small.

Presumably the friend does not own the cup, but is merely holding it, or something similar.

le mi pendo pe le kabri cu cmalu
The cup's my friend is small. My friend which is associated with the cup is small.

This illustrates one of the non-English-like ways pe can operate.

le lisri pe mi cu clani je se badri
The story associated with me is long and sad.

le gerku pe le mi pendo cu prami lo cakla
The dog of my fiend loves chocolate.

It is likely that po, which indicates stronger possession, was wanted here.

mi viska le cripu pe vi le rirxe
I see the bridge which is near the river.

cmavo: no'u (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Incidental identity. no'u is Lojban's non-restrictive appositive phrase marker.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a phrase to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide additional information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "phrase" part means that it is followed by another sumti.

  • The meaning of no'u is that the attached sumti has exactly the same refferents as the first sumti, which is what the "appositive" part means.

  • The "non-restrictive" part means that the information in the no'u clause is not used to restrict the set of things that the sumti no'u is attached to refers to. The attached phrase gives additional information about the sumti no'u is attached to.

  • It exactly equates two sumti referents, and is often used to mention names of things in passing. It is essentially equivalent to ''noi du".

  • no'u immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative phrase can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a phrase attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (beforep the terminator ku) the claupse applies to all the referents of the sumti, whether there is an outer quantifier or not.

  • For la description sumti, any no'u phrase that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a no'u phrase is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

le nanmu no'u la djim. cu terpemci
The man, who incidentially is Jim, is a poet.

.au mi ka'e jarco le mi'a mlatu no'u la dinas do
[Desire.] I could show you our cat, Dina.

mi ba stidi so'u cnino gismu no'u zo nagra e zo narga e zo ranga e zo ragna
I will suggest a few new gismu: nagra, narga, ranga, and ragna.

cmavo: po'u (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Restrictive identity. po'u is Lojban's restrictive appositive phrase marker.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a phrase to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide specifying information about the referents of that sumti. po'u immediately follows a simple sumti; for descriptions sumti it can appear in a variety of places, the semantics of which are beyond the scope of this definition.

  • The "phrase" part means that it is followed by another sumti.

  • The meaning of po'u is that the referents of the sumti that the po'u clause is attached to are limited to those that are identical to the referents of the po'u phrase, which is what the "appositive" part means.

  • The "restrictive" part means that the information in the po'u phrase not used to restrict the set of things that the sumti po'u is attached to refers to.

  • It exactly equates two sumti referents, and is often used to mention names of things in passing. It is essentially equivalent to ''poi du".

  • po'u immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative phrase can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a phrase attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku), the inner quantifier indicates the number of referents that satisfy the phrase even if there is an outer quantifier.

  • For la description sumti, any po'u phrase that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a po'u phrase is considered to be inside the terminator ku.


Usage Examples

le gerku po'u le mi pendo cu cinba mi
The dog which is my friend kisses me.

This is actually a somewhat strange use of po'u; poi se pendo mi is much more common for this sort of thing.

la blabi ractu sepi'o le kinli je cmalu voksa cu bacru tcidu le cmene po'u zo alis
The white rabbit in a sharp, small voice loudly read the name, "Alice".

mi cusku za'u pa le jufra .i do tugni ma po'u le mi jufra
I said more than one sentence. You agree with what which is a sentence of mine?

Note that the first le should really be lo. za'u jufra would be even better.

cmavo: po (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Is specific to. po is one of Lojban's restrictive relative phrase markers.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a phrase to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide specifying information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "phrase" part means that it is followed by another sumti.

  • The meaning of po is that the attached sumti is specifically relevant to or associated with the first sumti in some way.

  • The "restrictive" part means that the information in the po phrase is used to restrict the set of things that the sumti po is attached to refers to. In other words, out of all the possible things the sumti that po is attached to could refer to (which, for example, in the case of lo dacti is a great many things indeed) the sumti is actually intended by the speaker to refer only to those things that the sumti could refer to which are associated with the sumti marked by po.

  • po is often used for the standard sense of possession, i.e. physical or legal ownership. It is essentially equivalent to poi traji lo ka ce'u ckini ke'a vau fa.

  • po immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative phrase can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a phrase attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku), the inner quantifier indicates the number of referents that satisfy the phrase even if there is an outer quantifier.

  • For la description sumti, any po phrase that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a po phrase is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

le botpi po mi cu spofu
My bottle is broken.

mi troci le nu jimpe le krinu po le do cortu
I try to understand the reason / justification associated with your pain.

Probably rinka be was meant, rather than krinu po.

xu do tcidu le samselmri po la noras
Have you read Nora's e-mail?

cmavo: po'e (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Which belongs to. po'e is one of Lojban's restrictive relative phrase markers.

  • The "relative" part means that it relates a phrase to a sumti. It attaches to a sumti to provide specifying information about the referents of that sumti.

  • The "phrase" part means that it is followed by another sumti.

  • The meaning of po'e is that the attached sumti is inalienably associated with the first sumti in some way. An inalienable association is one that cannot be taken away, such as the association between you and your arm.

  • The "restrictive" part means that the information in the po'e phrase is used to restrict the set of things that the sumti po'e is attached to refers to. In other words, out of all the possible things the sumti that po'e is attached to could refer to (which, for example, in the case of lo dacti is a great many things indeed) the sumti is actually intended by the speaker to refer only to those things that the sumti could refer to which are associated with the sumti marked by po'e.

  • po'e is used for things like people's limbs or parental relationships or other inalienable things. It is essentially equivalent to poi jinzi ke se steci srana.

  • po'e immediately follows a simple sumti. With description sumti, the relative phrase can also be attached inside the sumti, before or after the selbri; when attached before the selbri (right after the gadri) it is equivalent to a phrase attached after the terminated sumti (after the terminator ku); when attached after the selbri (before the terminator ku), the inner quantifier indicates the number of referents that satisfy the phrase even if there is an outer quantifier.

  • For la description sumti, any po'e phrase that occurs before the terminator ku is considered part of the name.

  • When attached to a description sumti with no explicit terminators, a po'e phrase is considered to be inside the terminator ku.

Usage Examples

le birka po'e mi cu spofu
My arm is broken.

mi kucli le du'u ki'u makau le xriso cu krici le du'u le malcevni cu djica le pruxi po'e mi
I am curious as to why Christians believe that the devil wants my soul.

le galxe po'e mi cu kanro
My throat is healthy.

cmavo: vu'o (VUhO)

Proposed Definition

Long scope relative clause/phrase marker. Normally, a relative clause or phrase sumti binds to the last sumti to its immediate left, regardless of sumti connectors. To have a relative clause or phrase bind to every member of a connected group of sumti, place vu'o after the sumti and before the relative clause or phrase cmavo.

Usage Examples

la frank. .e la djordj. vu'o noi nanmu cu klama le zdani
Frank and George, who are both men, go to the house.

la eduin joi la morkar vu'ono'u lei turni be la mersias fa'u la nortumbrias
Edwin along with Morkar (?), who are the rulers of Mersia (?) and Northumbria, respectively

mi na jimpe le du'u makau nilbra be le plini .e le gerku vu'o noi se tavla do
I don't understand how big the planet and the dog, which you are talking about, are.

cmavo: zi'e (ZIhE)

Proposed Definition

Relative clause/phrase joiner. Normally, a relative clause or phrase sumti binds to the last sumti to its immediate left, which means that it is impossible to apply more than one relative marker to the same simple sumti (description sumti are a bit more complicated, and the ways in which one can attach a relative clause or phrase to one are beyond the scope of this definition). To attach another relative marker to the same sumti, place zi'e after the end of the first relative marker's data (which normally needn't be terminated) and place the next relative marker immediately after the zi'e. Using zi'e to mix poi and noi clauses (or pe and ne, and so on) is, for very subtle reasons, not well defined.

Usage Examples

le botpi po mi zi'e poi blanu cu spofu
My blue bottle is broken.

do ponse ma poi drata zi'epe ne'i le do daski
You have what else that has to do with the inside of your pocket?

je'u ro lo prenu poi mi xamgu djuno zi'e poi ponse le slanu kerfa zi'e poi ponse lo blabi skapi cu pilno ry. vau .u'isai
Truthfully, all the people which I know well and who have dreadlocks and are white use bicycles Amusement.

The author has special insight into this sentence, which was found on the #lojban IRC channel, having wrote it. ry refers to lo relxilma'e.

cmavo: ge'u (GEhU)

Proposed Definition

End relative phrase. ge'u is an elidable terminator that indicates the end of relative or sumtcita phrases. It is usually elidable in simple situations. It (or possibly another teminator, such as ku) is required, however, when one wishes to apply a logical connective to a sumti that has a relative or modal phrase attached (otherwise you are simply added an additional part to the phrase).

Usage Examples

li'o pensi le cmalu no'u la alis ge'u e ro le abu se manci se lifri
... thinking about the small thing which is Alice, and all of her wondrous experiences.

pilno le vlaturge'a pe la guaspis ge'u .e le lojbo gerna .ui
Use the word structure of Gua\spi and the grammar of Lojban. Happiness

Note that the original did not have the ge'u, which made it mean something like "Use the word structure of both ( Gua\spi and Lojban grammar)", which is basically nonsense.

cmavo: ku'o (KUhO)

Proposed Definition

End relative clause. ku'o is an elidable terminator that indicates the end of NOI relative clauses. It can always be replaced by some other combination of terminators (ku, vau, and kei in particular are often relevant), but its use is preferred in complex clauses, where it can often replace several other terminators.

Usage Examples

la djan. cu lafti da poi grana ku'o gi'e desygau da
John lifts at least one thing which is a pole and shakes it.

so'o jinru minji noi nenri le xamsi ku'o e so'o verba noi kakpa lo canre le loldi lo mudri canpa ku'o e li'o
Several wet machines, which are in the sea, and several children, which dig in sand out of the floor with wooden shovels, and ...

pe'i do poi merko ku'o sipna
I opine that those of you who are American are sleeping.

cmavo: goi (GOI)

Proposed Definition

Pro-sumti assign. goi is used to define or assign {ko'a} and {fo'a} series pro-sumti. The two sumti before and after goi are intended to refer to the same thing; in computer science terminology, goi unifies its arguments if either one is undefined. If both arguments are already defined, it is assumed that a re-definition is taking place, and the right-hand argument takes on the value of the left-hand argument (essentially matching the English ", which we'll call "). For explicit re-definition and cancellation of definition, refer to {da'o}. goi is approximately equivalent to the Latin word "sive".

Usage Examples

la .alis. goi ko'a klama le zarci .i ko'a cu blanu
Alice, who we'll call "she", goes to the store. She is blue.

Note that the second sentence refers to the literal color blue.

ma goi ko'a
What is it that ko'a refers to?

xy. goi le xrabo bangu
X, which I am using to indicate the Arabic language

Issues

cmavo: cei (CEI)

Proposed Definition

broda series pro-selbri assign. cei is used to define or assign brodV series variables. The two selbri before and after cei are intended to refer to the same thing; in computer science terminology, cei unifies its arguments if either one is undefined. If both arguments are already defined, it is assumed that a re-definition is taking place, and the right-hand argument takes on the value of the left-hand argument (essentially matching the English ", which we'll call "). For explicit re-definition and cancellation of assignment, refer to {da'o}. cei is approximately equivalent to the Latin word "sive".

See Also

  • {goi}
  • {broda}

Proposed Keywords

  • pro-selbri assign

Usage Examples

broda cei slilu .i brode cei sedu'u lu le'o ro le do zbepi du selponse mi'a
(translate please)

.i donri cei broda .i xu la broda cu du la donri
"It's a daytime, which we'll call 'broda'. Is "Broda" the same body as "Daytime"?

Notes

http://groups.google.com/group/lojban/browse_thread/thread/407835fad414fc6a
Previous issues. cei binds to nearest selbri and needs ke + ke'e for binding tanru.

Formal Definitions


(AKA conversion formulas)

noi sumti noi ke'a broda sumti to ri xi rau broda toi
poi + PA sumti PA sumti poi broda PA da poi ge me sumti gi broda
poi + sumti (no PA) sumti poi broda lo me sumti je broda
poi + ro da ro da poi broda cu brode ro da zo'u ganai da broda gi da brode
poi + su'o da su'o da poi broda cu brode su'o da zo'u ge da broda gi da brode
voi voi ke'a broda poi skicu ke'a fo lo ka ce'u broda
ne ne sumti noi ke'a srana sumti
pe pe sumti poi ke'a srana sumti
no'u no'u sumti noi ke'a du sumti
po'u po'u sumti poi ke'a du sumti
po po sumti poi sumti cu traji lo ka ce'u ckini ke'a
po'e po'e sumti poi ke'a jinzi ke se steci srana sumti
vu'o sumti vu'o relative-clauses lo me sumti me'u ku relative-clauses
goi, ko'a unassigned ko'a goi sumti / sumti goi ko'a sumti noi ca'e ko'a du ke'a
goi, both unassigned ko'a goi ko'e sei ca'e zo ko'a zo ko'e co'a snidu'i se'u
goi, both assigned ko'a goi ko'e sei ca'e zo ko'e co'a sinxa ko'a se'u
zi'e + noi sumti noi subsentence1 zi'e noi subsentence2 sumti noi ge subsentence1 gi subsentence2
zi'e + poi sumti poi subsentence1 zi'e poi subsentence2 sumti poi ge subsentence1 gi subsentence2
zi'e + PA poi + noi [PA] sumti poi ke'a broda zi'e noi ke'a brode, [PA] lo me sumti je broda ku to ri xi rau brode toi
zi'e + noi + poi sumti noi ke'a broda zi'e poi ke'a brode lo me sumti to ri broda toi je brode
zi'e + PA noi + poi PA sumti noi ke'a broda zi'e poi ke'a brode undefined

Notes

  • It is possible to build conversion formulas for "PA da poi", for each PA, but many of those formula will be different from each other. The two given here are representative, and are the two important ones. Others should be handled on a case-by-case basis, or just considered irreducable, as necessary.

  • Making the zi'e work requires doing the other expansions first. The zi'e expansions are not generalized to more than two links, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out.

  • The "ri xi rau" in "zi'e + PA poi + noi" is intended to count back to the outer "lo me".

  • The "ri xi rau" in "noi" is intended to count back to the preceding sumti.

  • The definitions with "me" in them rely on CLL-style "me" being selected by the BPFK (in particular, over ma'oste-style "me"). Any other choice will require revisiting of those definitions.

  • The "both unassigned" and "both assigned" "goi" forms are rather wierd and to be avoided in normal speech (although they may make more sense in programmatic or mathematical contexts).

Notes

  • Many of these definitions are substantially similar. Please bear in mind that they will normally be used in isolation.

  • Example of the difference between noi and poi: "ro prenu noi xamgu cu klama" is a monumentally different claim from "ro prenu poi xamgu cu klama". The former is "All people are good, and they go." The latter is "All the good people go". Formally, the former is "ro prenu ge xamgu gi klama", and the latter is "ro da poi prenu zo'u da ga nai brode gi brodi". With su'o, however, they are equivalent.

  • voi is pretty amazingly useless. This is borne out by the amount of usage it has seen: I have collected above, as far as I can tell, more than 80% of the extant usages of it. ne is, if anything, worse (i.e. less used). po'e is not much used either, but that's hardly a surprise. vu'o seems to be underutilized as well, but I suspect that's more in error than anything else. The winner of the no-usage prize, however, seems to be ge'u. This, however, seems to have been an error in many cases: {mi po do ge'u .e da} means something completely different than {mi po do .e da}.

  • I don't know who cares that goi is Latin 'sive', but I'm sure it's not me.

  • I have no idea why only pe and ne can be used with sumtcita clauses.

  • While the definitions are lovely, please make a plain-English explanation of how NOI's relative position to {ku} affects the quantifier (IE that pa lo ci gerku noi zvati ku is one of three dogs which attend and that pa lo ci gerku ku noi zvati is one dog of three which attends). This is one of those little things that newbies overlook and is rather important. - Lindar

Impact

  • WRT goi, the right-leaning specification in the case of both arguments being defined is wholly new.

  • po in CLL was stated to mean "se steci srana", but no-one really understood what that meant. I believe that the change (to traji lo ka ce'u ckini) covers the CLL meaning better and changes no usage.

  • I am aware of no other substantial impacts of this proposal.

BPFK Poll: Subordinators

BPFK Poll: Subordinators
  • I agree with the current contents of BPFK Section: Subordinators
  • I do not agree with the current contents of BPFK Section: Subordinators
View Results
(Votes: 4)

Created by rlpowell. Last Modification: Thursday 21 of August, 2014 22:18:09 GMT by Ilmen.