The "slinku'i test" refers to the test for words that can become ambiguous if certain syllables come before them. This rule applies mostly to type 4 fu'ivla, which have to be very careful not to cause any morphological conflicts. For example, if you say pa slinku'i, it becomes the lujvo paslinku'i ("robe-chain-caretaker").
The reason this lujvo looks so stoopid is that it was borrowed as-is from
Loglan, where it has the somewhat more reasonable meaning "past-line-related"
and is glossed "ancestor" (typical Loglan lujvo!).
- Wow! I picked "pa" totally at random for this example. What a coincidence.
"slinku'i", by the way, was intended to refer to Slinky, a special kind of toy. See http://www.slinkytoys.com/.
What is the easiest way to determine slinku'i failure?
Put a random CV on the front and see if the result looks like a lujvo.
I'd say the easiest way is, in fact, to ask vlatai.
slinku'i : [EV=00000500] Bad fu'ivla (fails slinku'i test) slinku'i
Is it certain that CV cmavo are the only prefixes which can cause slinku'i failure?
Nothing of this kind is certain until a full morphology algorithm is implemented and exhaustively debugged. Any takers? --John Cowan
It just occurred to me. Wouldn't paslinku'i be invalid on the grounds of failing the tosmabru test? In which case, wouldn't slinku'i thus be okay? --mi'e mark
That would be taking the Loglan approach (if the first consonant cluster of the lujvo is a permissible initial consonant cluster, they stick in a y). However, extending tosmabru to include fu'ivla makes a very large number of lujvo fail the tosmabru test, and this adds an arbitrary rule you need to memorize in order to make lujvo, especially since exactly which word forms can be fu'ivla is not entirely certain. In Lojban, if there's a conflict between a fu'ivla form and anything else, the fu'ivla loses. --rab.spir
How do you refer to the slinku'i test in lojban?
le valsrslinku'i cipra What is the slinku'i there being borrowed from? (a) what difference does it make? Fu'ivla don't have to have a source language, though it helps. (b) I think the original example slinku'i was proposed as an example fu'ivla for "Slinky," the springy toy.