cai (CAI)

Proposed Definition

cai (CAI)

Intensity Indicator. Used to express an extremely intense attitude. When following an indicator or vocative, it expresses that this attitude is extremely intense. Highest part of a seven point scale. See also: sai, ru'e, cu'i, nai, pei, the preface.

Keywords

• intense emotion

Examples

.oi cai le mi puzu se prami cu jai tcica fi le nu jbera le jdini .i je na xruti

(Extreme complaint), my long-ago beloved is involved with deceiving someone into lending money, and didn't return it. — Holy Fucking Shit! My old ex is a thief!

.uu cai do bilma fi ma

That's so awful! You poor thing! What are you ill with?

cu'i (CAI)

Proposed Definition

cu'i (CAI)

Intensity Indicator.

Used to express a neutral attitude. When following an indicator or vocative, it expresses that neither this attitude nor its opposite applies. Middle point of a seven point scale. See also: cai, sai, ru'e, nai, pei, the preface.

Keywords

• neutral emotion

Examples

.i mi na sipna .ui cu'i

I'm not asleep, meh.

ju'o cu'i la lojban cu racli bangu i ku'i ju'o sai lo jbopre ta'e na racli prenu

I'm not certain if Lojban is a rational language, but I am very sure that Lojbanists are habitually not rational people.

pei (CAI)

Proposed Definition

pei (CAI)

Indicator Question. Attached to an indicator or vocative, asks the listener for an intensity for which that word applies to the listener's attitude. Otherwise it asks for the attitude (UI and intensity) of the listener. See also: cai, sai, ru'e, cu'i, nai, the preface.

Keywords

• emotion ?
• emotional question

Examples

ii ro'a fi'i pei

(Social fear) Am I welcome?

Ehhh, I hope I'm not interrupting anything ...

je'e pei doi la xalbo

Did you get it, Frivolous?

.i .au pei mi'o klama

Do you want us to go?

mu'a pei

Such as?

.ie pei li re ce li re cu se pamei

Do you agree that 2 in a set with 2 is a set with one member?

ru'e (CAI)

Proposed Definition

ru'e (CAI)

Intensity Indicator. Used to express a weak attitude. When following an indicator or vocative, it expresses that this attitude is particularly weak. Just above the middle position of a seven-point scale. See also: cai, sai, cu'i, nai, pei, the preface.

Keywords

• weak emotion

Examples

i la camgusmis cusku zo lobjan u'i ru'e

Heh, Camgusmis said "Lobjan".

.oi ru'e mi pu zi ze'a jitro le skami pe le mi mamta sepi'o la'o gy VNC gy ce'o la'o gy ssh gy

I am mildly annoyed about just spending a while controlling my mother's computer with VNC, then with ssh.

sai (CAI)

Proposed Definition

sai (CAI)

Attitudinal Intensity Indicator. Used to express a strong attitude. When following an indicator or vocative, it expresses that this attitude is strong. Just below the top position of a seven-point scale. See also: cai, ru'e, cu'i, nai, pei, the preface.

Keywords

• strong emotion

Examples

.oi sai mi pu ze'u denpa le nu mi te benji le se dunda le mi mamta .i ku'i mutce nabmi

Agh. I waited for a long time for the receipt of a present from my mother. However, it's very problematic.

.u'i sai xu do djica lo nu catra ba'e ro sfani

Hahaha! Do you want to kill all flies?

Notes

On occasion, members of selma'o COI has been combined with pei with the intended meaning of a "vocative question". For instance, "je'e pei" is used to mean "Did you understand that?" The CLL does not explicitly address such constructs. The present proposal expressly permits this usage, and is based on an interpretation of disparate parts of the CLL in context, as well as established usage patterns.

Impact

Clarified the meaning of COI + pei.

Issues

Summary from the mailing list:

• 2. How does "pei" work?
  • 2a. Does ".uipei" express any degree of happiness on the part of the speaker? Does it imply ".ui", as ".uidai" might?
  • 2b. Does ".uipei" ask about the listener's happiness, or the speaker's? Is it "how happy are you?" or "tell me how happy I am?"
  • 2c. Is ".uipei" in any way an expression of anything, or merely a request that the interlocutor express themself (using ".uiCAI")? If it's not an expression of anything it differs notably from every other ".uiCAI" construction in its semantics, but, well, see the two questions above for why the alternative gets weird.
    • Mostly, everybody but PC agrees on how "pei" works for the most part, but can't phrase it in a precise enough way to satisfy him that we have our act together. (I for one am OK with this, since we all agree unambiguously about syntax, even PC, and very slight variations from speaker to speaker in matters of semantics are part of any spoken language.)