Magic words are all cmavo that have some interaction with words as words irrespective of their function. These are SI SA SU ZO ZOI LOhU LEhU ZEI BU and FAhO. (BAhE, even though it can modify any word, is not a magic word, because it doesn't affect the function of the word it modifies.)
- Magic words are processed left-to-right.
- Y is not a word (i.e. it is considered whitespace) for the purposes of these definitions.
Proposed definitions
- ZO turns the following word into a quoted word, which behaves as a member of KOhA.
- LOhU turns all following Lojban words up to a LEhU into a LOhU-quote, which behaves as a member of KOhA.
- LEhU terminates a LOhU-quote. It is never elidable.
- ZEI combines the preceding word, quoted word, LOhU-quote, ZEI-lujvo, lerfu word, or ZOI-phrase together with the following word into a ZEI-lujvo, which behaves as a member of BRIVLA.
- BU turns the preceding word, quoted word, LOhU-quote, ZEI-lujvo, lerfu word, or ZOI-phrase into a lerfu word, which behaves as a member of BY.
- ZOI uses the following word as a delimiting word, and turns anything that follows until the delimiting word is found again into a ZOI-phrase, which behaves as a member of KOhA.
- SI erases the preceding word, quoted word, LOhU-quote, ZEI-lujvo, lerfu word, or ZOI-phrase. The construct becomes invisible to the rest of the text.
- SA erases the preceding text back until it sees a word of the same selma'o as the word that follows SA, which replaces it. (Words that have been turned into a quoted word, a LOhU-quote, a zei-lujvo, a lerfu word, or a delimiter in a ZOI-phrase are invisible to SA, but the magic word in those constructs is visible.) The construct becomes invisible to the rest of the text.
- SU erases all words back to the beginning of text. The construct becomes invisible to the rest of the text.
- FAhO terminates the text, absorbing preceding words until the remaining text is grammatical.
Marking Words
- BAhE marks the following word but does not change its nature. The construct behaves just as that word by itself.
- Attitudinals (UI and CAI cmavo) mark the previous word, quoted word, LOhU-quote, ZEI-lujvo, lerfu word, or ZOI-phrase, but do not change its nature. Attitudinals do not blend into a single word with the word they modify, but remain as separate words for the purposes of magic words that come after them.
- DAhO, FUhE, and FUhO are the same as UI, but do not absorb a following NAI.
Comparison
A comparison between this method and Robin's method. Bear in mind that all of these differences could theoretically be rectified by exceptions to one or the other method.
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| Subject Phrase | LTR | Precedence
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| broda .y. bu | The letter broda | broda + The letter y
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| zoi si stuff si | "stuff" | Error (first si erases the zoi)
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| da zoi sa da joi de | Unclosed zoi | da joi de
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| da zei fa'o | Lujvo of da and fa'o | Error (unclosed zei)
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| lo'u co co zo le'u co le'u | Error ("co le'u" outside of quotes) | "co co le'u co"
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| zoi si doi do | Uclosed zoi | doi do
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| zo da si | Nothing | Open zo
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| zo da si si | Error (too many si) | Nothing
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| da zei de bu | Letter da type of de | Error
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| bu zei de | Error (nothing for bu to use) | bu type-of de
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| zo bu zei de | "bu" type-of de | Error
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| broda zei brode si brodi | brodi | broda zei brodi
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| zei zei zei | Error | Error
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| da zei zei | da type-of zei | Error
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| lo'u co co co le'u bu | The letter "co co co" | Error
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| lo'u co co co le'u si bo le'u | Error (bare bo) | lo'u co co co bo le'u
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| broda ba'e si | nothing (but emphatically!) | broda
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| broda ba'e da si da | broda da | broda da
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| zo da bu | The letter "da" | Error
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| zoi zoi That letter that you use between a user id and a host name in an e-mail address zoi bu | @ | Error
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| broda brode si bu | The letter broda | Same
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| zoi zoi stuff zoi si | Nothing | An open zoi quote
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| zoi zoi lots of stuff zoi si si si si | Error (too many si) | Nothing
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| zoi zoi lots of stuff zoi sa zoi si | Open zoi | Nothing
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Proposed alternative rules
- ZO turns the following word into a word of selma'o any-word.
- LOhU turns all following Lojban words up to but not including a LEhU into a single word of selma'o any-string.
- LEhU terminates a LOhU-quote. It is never elidable.
- ZEI turns the preceding word and the following word into a member of BRIVLA.
- BU turns the preceding word into a word of selma'o any-word; such a word followed by a BU has the same grammatical function as a member of BY.
- ZOI uses the following word as a delimiting word and turns it into a word of selma'o any-word. All words that follow until the delimiting word is found again are turned into a word of selm'ao any-string; the second delimiting word is turned into a word of selma'o any-word.
- SI erases the preceding word. The construct becomes invisible to the rest of the text.
- SA erases the preceding text back until it sees a word of the same selma'o as the word that follows SA, which replaces it. Words whose selma'o has been changed to any-word or any-string are invisible to SA.
- SU erases all words back to the beginning of text. The construct becomes invisible to the rest of the text.
- FAhO terminates the text, absorbing preceding words until the remaining text is grammatical.