Chapter 4: Brevity Is The Soul Of Language: Pro-sumti And Pro-bridi

第7章：簡潔さは言語の魂：代スムティと 代ブリディ

1. What are pro-sumti and pro-bridi? What are they for?

1. はじめに

Speakers of Lojban, like speakers of other languages, require mechanisms of abbreviation. If every time we referred to something, we had to express a complete description of it, life would be too short to say what we have to say. In English, we have words called “pronouns” which allow us to replace nouns or noun phrases with shorter terms. An English with no pronouns might look something like this

1.1) Speakers of Lojban, like speakers of other languages, require mechanisms of abbreviation. If every time speakers of Lojban referred to a thing to which speakers of Lojban refer, speakers of Lojban had to express a complete description of what speakers of Lojban referred to, life would be too short to say what speakers of Lojban have to say.

Speakers of this kind of English would get mightily sick of talking. Furthermore, there are uses of pronouns in English which are independent of abbreviation. There is all the difference in the world between:

1.2) John picked up a stick and shook it.

1.3) John picked up a stick and shook a stick.

Example 1.3 does not imply that the two sticks are necessarily the same, whereas Example 1.2 requires that they are.

In Lojban, we have sumti rather than nouns, so our equivalent of pronouns are called by the hybrid term “pro-sumti”. A purely Lojban term would be “sumti cmavo”: all of the pro-sumti are cmavo belonging to selma'o KOhA. In exactly the same way, Lojban has a group of cmavo (belonging to selma'o GOhA) which serve as selbri or full bridi. These may be called “pro-bridi” or “bridi cmavo”. This chapter explains the uses of all the members of selma'o KOhA and GOhA. They fall into a number of groups, known as series: thus, in selma'o KOhA, we have among others the mi-series, the ko'a-series, the da-series, and so on. In each section, a series of pro-sumti is explained, and if there is a corresponding series of pro-bridi, it is explained and contrasted. Many pro-sumti series don't have pro-bridi analogues, however.

A few technical terms: The term “referent” means the thing to which a pro-sumti (by extension, a pro-bridi) refers. If the speaker of a sentence is James, then the referent of the word “I” is James. On the other hand, the term “antecedent” refers to a piece of language which a pro-sumti (or pro-bridi) implicitly repeats. In

1.4) John loves himself

the antecedent of “himself” is “John”; not the person, but a piece of text (a name, in this case). John, the person, would be the referent of “himself”. Not all pro-sumti or pro-bridi have antecedents, but all of them have referents.

2. Personal pro-sumti: the mi-series

2. 人称代スムティ：miシリーズ

  mi KOhA miシリーズ 私
  do KOhA miシリーズ あなた
  mi'o KOhA miシリーズ あなたと私
  mi'a KOhA miシリーズ 私たち（私と他人、ただし相手を含まず）
  ma'a KOhA miシリーズ 私たち（私と相手と他人）
  do'o KOhA miシリーズ あなたたち
  ko KOhA miシリーズ あなた（命令形）

The mi-series of pro-sumti refer to the speaker, the listener, and others in various combinations. “mi” refers to the speaker and perhaps others for whom the speaker speaks; it may be a Lojbanic mass. “do” refers to the listener or listeners. Neither “mi” nor “do” is specific about the number of persons referred to; for example, the foreman of a jury may refer to the members of the jury as “mi”, since in speaking officially he represents all of them.

The referents of “mi” and “do” are usually obvious from the context, but may be assigned by the vocative words of selma'o COI, explained in Chapter 13. The vocative “mi'e” assigns “mi”, whereas all of the other vocatives assign “do”.

2.1) mi'e djan. doi frank. mi cusku lu mi bajra li'u do I-am John, O Frank, I express [quote] I run [unquote] to-you I am John, Frank; I tell you “I run”.

2.1) mi'e djan. doi frank.
mi cusku lu mi bajra li'u do
私は ジョン. あなたは フランク
私 表現する [引用] 私 走る [引用終わり] あなたに
私はジョン。フランク、あなたに「私は走る」と言う。

The cmavo “mi'o”, “mi'a”, “ma'a”, and “do'o” express various combinations of the speaker and/or the listener and/or other people: “mi'o” includes only the speaker and the listener but no one else; “mi'a” includes the speaker and others but excludes the listener; “do'o” includes the listener and others but excludes the speaker; “ma'a” includes all three: speaker, listener, others.

All of these pro-sumti represent masses. For example, “mi'o” is the same as “mi joi do”, the mass of me and you considered jointly. In English, “we” can mean “mi” or “mi'o” or “mi'a” or even “ma'a”, and English-speakers often suffer because they mistake “mi'o” for “mi'a”:

2.2) We're going to the store. Does this include the listener or not? There's no way to be sure.

Finally, the cmavo “ko” is logically equivalent to “do”; its referent is the listener. However, its use alters an assertion about the listener into a command to the listener to make the assertion true:

2.3) do klama le zarci You go to-the store.

2.3 do klama le zarci あなたは店に行く

becomes:

2.4) ko klama le zarci You [imperative] go to-the store. Make “you go to the store” true! Go to the store!

2.4) ko klama le zarci
あなた[命令形] 行く 店に
「あなたは店に行く」を真にしなさい
→店に行きなさい

In English, the subject of a command is omitted, but in Lojban, the word “ko” must be used. However, “ko” does not have to appear in the x1 place:

2.5) mi viska ko I see you [imperative] Make “I see you” true! Be seen by me!

2.5) mi viska ko
私 見る あなたを[命令形]
「私はあなたを見る」を真にしなさい
→ 私に見られなさい！

In Example 2.5, it is necessary to make the verb passive in English in order to convey the effect of “ko” in the x2 place. Indeed, “ko” does not even have to be a sumti of the main bridi:

2.6) mi viska le prenu poi prami ko I see the person that loves you [imperative] Make “I see the person that loves you” true! Be such that the person who loves you is seen by me! Show me the person who loves you!

2.6) mi viska le prenu poi prami ko
私 見る [～と記述されたもの] 人 [関係詞] 好き あなた[命令形]
「私はあなたのことを好きな人を見る」を真にしなさい！
→あなたのことを好きな人を見せてください！

As mentioned in Section 1, some pro-sumti series have corresponding pro-bridi series. However, there is no equivalent of the mi-series among pro-bridi, since a person isn't a relationship.

3. Demonstrative pro-sumti: the ti-series

3. 指示的代スムティ: tiシリーズ

ti KOhA ti-series this here, a nearby object ta KOhA ti-series that there, a medium-distant object tu KOhA ti-series that yonder, a far-distant object

ti KOhA tiシリーズ これ（近距離の物体）
ta KOhA tiシリーズ それ（中距離の物体）
tu KOhA tiシリーズ あれ（遠距離の物体）

It is often useful to refer to things by pointing to them or by some related non-linguistic mechanism. In English, the words “this” and “that” serve this function among others: “this” refers to something pointed at that is near the speaker, and “that” refers to something further away. The Lojban pro-sumti of the ti-series serve the same functions, but more narrowly. The cmavo “ti”, “ta”, and “tu” provide only the pointing function of “this” and “that”; they are not used to refer to things that cannot be pointed at.

There are three pro-sumti of the ti-series rather than just two because it is often useful to distinguish between objects that are at more than two different distances. Japanese, among other languages, regularly does this. Until the 16th century, English did too; the pronoun “that” referred to something at a medium distance from the speaker, and the now-archaic pronoun “yon” to something far away.

In conversation, there is a special rule about “ta” and “tu” that is often helpful in interpreting them. When used contrastingly, “ta” refers to something that is near the listener, whereas “tu” refers to something far from both speaker and listener. This makes for a parallelism between “ti” and “mi”, and “ta” and “do”, that is convenient when pointing is not possible; for example, when talking by telephone. In written text, on the other hand, the meaning of the ti-series is inherently vague; is the writer to be taken as pointing to something, and if so, to what? In all cases, what counts as “near” and “far away” is relative to the current situation. It is important to distinguish between the English pronoun “this” and the English adjective “this” as in “this boat”. The latter is not represented in Lojban by “ti”:

3.2) le vi bloti
このボート

using a spatial tense before the selbri “bloti” to express that the boat is near the speaker. (Tenses are explained in full in Chapter 11.) Another correct translation would be:

3.3) ti noi bloti
これ  たまたま～であるもの ボートである

There are no demonstrative pro-bridi to correspond to the ti-series: you can't point to a relationship.

4. Utterance pro-sumti: the di'u-series

4. 発話代スムティ：di'u

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

di'u KOhA di'uシリーズ 直前の発話
de'u KOhA di'uシリーズ 前の発話
da'u KOhA di'uシリーズ さらに前の発話
di'e KOhA di'uシリーズ 次の発話
de'e KOhA di'u-series 後の発話
da'e KOhA di'u-series さらに後の発話
dei KOhA di'u-series この発話
do'i KOhA di'u-series ある発話

The cmavo of the di'u-series enable us to talk about things that have been, are being, or will be said. In English, it is normal to use “this” and “that” for this (indeed, the immediately preceding “this” is an example of such a usage):

4.1) You don't like cats. That is untrue.

Here “that” does not refer to something that can be pointed to, but to the preceding sentence “You don't like cats”. In Lojban, therefore, Example 4.1 is rendered:

4.2) do na nelci loi mlatu
.i di'u jitfa jufra
あなた (否定) 好き ～の群れ 猫
直前の発話 真実でない 文

Using “ta” instead of “di'u” would cause the listener to look around to see what the speaker of the second sentence was physically pointing to.

As with “ti”, “ta”, and “tu”, the cmavo of the di'u-series come in threes: a close utterance, a medium-distance utterance, and a distant utterance, either in the past or in the future. It turned out to be impossible to use the “i”/“a”/“u” vowel convention discussed in Section 3 without causing collisions with other cmavo, and so the di'u-series has a unique “i”/“e”/“a” convention in the first vowel of the cmavo.

Most references in speech are to the past (what has already been said), so “di'e”, “de'e”, and “da'e” are not very useful when speaking. In writing, they are frequently handy:

4.3) la saimn. cusku di'e
サイモン 表現する 次の発話
サイモンは言った：

Example 4.3 would typically be followed by a quotation. Note that although presumably the quotation is of something Simon has said in the past, the quotation utterance itself would appear after Example 4.3, and so “di'e” is appropriate.

The remaining two cmavo, “dei” and “do'i”, refer respectively to the very utterance that the speaker is uttering, and to some vague or unspecified utterance uttered by someone at some time:

4.4) dei jetnu jufra
この発話 真の 文
（今）自分が言っていることは正しい。
4.5) do'i jetnu jufra
ある発話 真の 文
あれは正しい（「あれ」は直前に言われたこととは限らない）

The cmavo of the di'u-series have a meaning that is relative to the context. The referent of “dei” in the current utterance is the same as the referent of “di'u” in the next utterance. The term “utterance” is used rather than “sentence” because the amount of speech or written text referred to by any of these words is vague. Often, a single bridi is intended, but longer utterances may be thus referred to.

Note one very common construction with “di'u” and the cmavo “la'e” (of selma'o LAhE; see Chapter 6) which precedes a sumti and means “the thing referred to by (the sumti)”:

4.6) mi prami la djein.
.i mi nelci la'e di'u
わたし 好き ジェーン
わたし 好き 指し示すもの 直前の発話
私はジェーンが好きで、私はそのことが好きだ

The effect of “la'e di'u” in Example 4.6 is that the speaker likes, not the previous sentence, but rather the state of affairs referred to by the previous sentence, namely his loving Jane. This cmavo compound is often written as a single word: “la'edi'u”. It is important not to mix up “di'u” and “la'edi'u”, or the wrong meaning will generally result:

4.7) mi prami la djein.
.i mi nelci di'u

says that the speaker likes one of his own sentences. There are no pro-bridi corresponding to the di'u-series.

5. Assignable pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the ko'a-series and the broda-series

5. 代入可能な代スムティと代ブリディ： ko'aシリーズと broda シリーズ

The following cmavo and gismu are discussed in this section:

ko'a KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ1
ko'e KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ2
ko'i KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ3
ko'o KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ4
ko'u KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ5
fo'a KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ6
fo'e KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ7
fo'i KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ8
fo'o KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ9
fo'u KOhA ko'aシリーズ それ10
broda BRIVLA brodaシリーズ モノ1である
brode BRIVLA brodaシリーズ モノ2である
brodi BRIVLA brodaシリーズ モノ3である
brodo BRIVLA brodaシリーズ モノ4である
brodu BRIVLA brodaシリーズ モノ5である
goi GOI 代スムティ代入
cei CEI 代ブリディ代入

The discussion of personal pro-sumti in Section 2 may have seemed incomplete. In English, the personal pronouns include not only “I” and “you” but also “he”, “she”, “it”, and “they”. Lojban does have equivalents of this latter group: in fact, it has more of them than English does. However, they are organized and used very differently.

There are ten cmavo in the ko'a-series, and they may be assigned freely to any sumti whatsoever. The English word “he” can refer only to males, “she” only to females (and ships and a few other things), “it” only to inanimate things, and “they” only to plurals; the cmavo of the ko'a-series have no restrictions at all. Therefore, it is almost impossible to guess from the context what ko'a-series cmavo might refer to if they are just used freely:

5.1) la .alis. klama le zarci .i ko'a blanu
アリスはその店にいく。「それ１」は青い

The English gloss “it-1”, plus knowledge about the real world, would tend to make Englishspeakers believe that “ko'a” refers to the store; in other words, that its antecedent is “le zarci”. To a Lojbanist, however, “la .alis.” is just as likely an antecedent, in which case Example 5.1 means that Alice, not the store, is blue.

To avoid this pitfall, Lojban employs special syntax, using the cmavo “goi”:

5.2) la .alis. klama le zarci
.i ko'a goi la .alis. cu blanu
アリス 行く その店へ
それ１, ～とも知られている アリス は青い

Syntactically, “goi la .alis.” is a relative phrase (relative phrases are explained in Chapter 8). Semantically, it says that “ko'a” and “la .alis.” refer to the same thing, and furthermore that this is true because “ko'a” is being defined as meaning “la .alis.”. It is equally correct to say:

5.3) la .alis. klama le zarci
.i la .alis. goi ko'a cu blanu
アリスは店に行く。
アリス（それ1としても知られている）は青い

in other words, “goi” is symmetrical. There is a terminator, “ge'u” (of selma'o GEhU), which is almost always elidable. The details are in Chapter 8.

The afterthought form of “goi” shown in Example 5.2 and Example 5.3 is probably most common in speech, where we do not know until part way through our utterance that we will want to refer to Alice again. In writing, though, “ko'a” may be assigned at the point where Alice is first mentioned. An example of this forethought form of “goi” is:

5.4) la .alis. goi ko'a klama le zarci
.i ko'a cu blanu
アリス（それ1としても知られている）は店に行く
それ1は青い

Again, “ko'a goi la .alis.” would have been entirely acceptable in Example 5.4. This last form is reminiscent of legal jargon: “The party of the first part, hereafter known as Buyer, ... ”.

Just as the ko'a-series of pro-sumti allows a substitute for a sumti which is long or complex, or which for some other reason we do not want to repeat, so the broda-series of pro-bridi allows a substitute for a selbri or even a whole bridi:

5.5) ti slasi je mlatu bo cidja lante gacri cei broda
.i le crino broda cu barda
.i le xunre broda cu cmalu
これらはプラスティックのキャットフード缶の蓋で、これを「アレ」と呼ぶ。
緑のアレは大きい。
赤いアレは小さい。

The pro-bridi “broda” has as its antecedent the selbri “slasi je mlatu bo cidja lante gacri”. The cmavo “cei” performs the role of “goi” in assigning “broda” to this long phrase, and “broda” can then be used just like any other brivla. (In fact, “broda” and its relatives actually are brivla: they are gismu in morphology, although they behave exactly like the members of selma'o GOhA. The reasons for using gismu rather than cmavo are buried in the Loglan Project's history.)

Note that pro-bridi are so called because, even though they have the grammar of selbri, their antecedents are whole bridi. In the following rather contrived example, the antecedent of “brode” is the whole bridi “mi klama le zarci”:

5.6) mi klama cei brode le zarci .i do brode
私 行く (これを表明1とする) 店へ. あなたも、表明1。
私は店へ行く。あなたも(行く)。

In the second bridi, “do brode” means “do klama le zarci”, because “brode” carries the x2 sumti of “mi klama le zarci” along with it. It also potentially carries the x1 sumti as well, but the explicit x1 sumti “do” overrides the “mi” of the antecedent bridi. (Similarly, any tense or negation that is present in the antecedent is also carried, and can be overridden by explicit tense or negation cmavo on the pro-bridi.) These rules hold for all pro-bridi that have antecedents.

Another use of “broda” and its relatives, without assignment, is as “sample gismu”:

5.7) broda ke brode brodi ( モノ2 の性質を持った モノ3 ) の性質を持った モノ1

というように抽象的なパターンのタヌルを表現するのにも使う。

As is explained in Chapter 17, the words for Lojban letters, belonging to selma'o BY and certain related selma'o, are also usable as assignable pro-sumti. The main difference between letter pro-sumti and ko'a-series pro-sumti is that, in the absence of an explicit assignment, letters are taken to refer to the most recent name or description sumti beginning with the same letter:

5.8) mi viska le gerku .i gy. cusku zo arf.
私はイヌを見る。 「イ」は "Arf!" という単語を表現する。

The Lojban word “gerku” begins with “g”, so the antecedent of “gy.”, the cmavo for the letter “g”, must be “le gerku”. In the English translation, we use the same principle to refer to the dog as “D”. Of course, in case of ambiguity, “goi” can be used to make an explicit assignment. Furthermore, “goi” can even be used to assign a name:

5.9) le ninmu goi la sam. cu klama le zarci
The woman also-known-as Sam goes to-the store.
その女性（サムとしても知られる）は 行く 店に
そのサムという女性は店に行く。

This usage does not imply that the woman's name is Sam, or even that the speaker usually calls the woman “Sam”. “Sam” is simply a name chosen, as if at random, for use in the current context only.

6. Anaphoric pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the ri-series and the go'i-series

6. 照応代スムティと代ブリディ：riシリーズとgo'iシリーズ

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

ri KOhA riシリーズ (最後のスムティを繰り返す)
ra KOhA riシリーズ (前のスムティを繰り返す)
ru KOhA riシリーズ (もっと前のスムティを繰り返す)
go'i GOhA go'iシリーズ (最後のブリディを繰り返す)
go'a GOhA go'iシリーズ (前のブリディを繰り返す)
go'u GOhA go'iシリーズ (もっと前のブリディを繰り返す)
go'e GOhA go'iシリーズ (２つ前のブリディを繰り返す)
go'o GOhA go'iシリーズ (未来のブリディを繰り返す)
nei GOhA go'iシリーズ (現在のブリディを繰り返す)
no'a GOhA go'iシリーズ (外側のブリディを繰り返す)
ra'o RAhO 代シマヴォ更新

The term “anaphora” literally means “repetition”, but is used in linguistics to refer to pronouns whose significance is the repetition of earlier words, namely their antecedents. Lojban provides three pro-sumti anaphora, “ri”, “ra”, and “ru”; and three corresponding pro-bridi anaphora, “go'i”, “go'a”, and “go'u”. These cmavo reveal the same vowel pattern as the ti-series, but the “distances” referred to are not physical distances, but distances from the anaphoric cmavo to its antecedent.

The cmavo “ri” is the simplest of these; it has the same referent as the last complete sumti appearing before the “ri”:

6.1) la .alis. sipna le ri kumfa
アリス 寝る その [最後のスムティの繰り返し]の 部屋で
アリスは自分の部屋で寝る

The “ri” in Example 6.1 is equivalent to repeating the last sumti, which is “la .alis.”, so Example 6.1 is equivalent to:

6.2) la .alis. sipna le la .alis. kumfa Alice sleeps-in the of-Alice room. Alice sleeps in Alice's room.

Note that “ri” does not repeat “le ri kumfa”, because that sumti is not yet complete when “ri” appears. This prevents “ri” from getting entangled in paradoxes of self-reference. (There are plenty of other ways to do that!) Note also that sumti within other sumti, as in quotations, abstractions, and the like, are counted in the order of their beginnings; thus a lower level sumti like “la alis.” in Example 6.2 is considered to be more recent than a higher level sumti that contains it.

Certain sumti are ignored by “ri”; specifically, most of the other cmavo of KOhA, and the almost-grammatically-equivalent lerfu words of selma'o BY. It is simpler just to repeat these directly:

6.3) mi prami mi I love me. I love myself.

However, the cmavo of the ti-series can be picked up by “ri”, because you might have changed what you are pointing at, so repeating “ti” may not be effective. Likewise, “ri” itself (or rather its antecedent) can be repeated by a later “ri”; in fact, a string of “ri” cmavo with no other intervening sumti always all repeat the same sumti:

6.4) la djan. viska le tricu
.i ri se jadni
le ri jimca
John sees the tree.
[repeat last] is-adorned-by
the of-[repeat last] branch
John sees the tree. It is adorned by its branches.

Here the second “ri” has as antecedent the first “ri”, which has as antecedent “le tricu”. All three refer to the same thing: a tree.

To refer to the next-to-last sumti, the third-from-last sumti, and so on, “ri” may be subscripted (subscripts are explained in Chapter 19):

6.5) lo smuci .i lo forca .i la rik. pilno rixire
.i la .alis. pilno riximu
スプーン。 フォーク。 リックは 使う [最後から2番目= lo smuci を繰り返す]
アリスは 使う [最後から5番目= lo smuciを繰り返す].

Here “rixire”, or “ri-sub-2”, skips “la rik.” to reach “lo forca”. In the same way, “riximu”, or “ri-sub-5”, skips “la .alis.”, “rixire”, “la rik.”, and “lo forca” to reach “lo smuci”. As can clearly be seen, this procedure is barely practicable in writing, and would break down totally in speech.

Therefore, the vaguer “ra” and “ru” are also provided. The cmavo “ra” repeats a recently used sumti, and “ru” one that was further back in the speech or text. The use of “ra” and “ru” forces the listener to guess at the referent, but makes life easier for the speaker. Can “ra” refer to the last sumti, like “ri”? The answer is no if “ri” has also been used. If “ri” has not been used, then “ra” might be the last sumti. Likewise, if “ra” has been used, then any use of “ru” would repeat a sumti earlier than the one “ra” is repeating. A more reasonable version of Example 6.5, but one that depends more on context, is:

6.6) lo smuci .i lo forca .i la rik. pilno ra
.i la .alis. pilno ru
A spoon. A fork. Rick uses [some previous thing].
Alice uses [some more remote thing].

In Example 6.6, the use of “ra” tells us that something other than “la rik.” is the antecedent; “lo forca” is the nearest sumti, so it is probably the antecedent. Similarly, the antecedent of “ru” must be something even further back in the utterance than “lo forca”, and “lo smuci” is the obvious candidate.

The meaning of “ri” must be determined every time it is used. Since “ra” and “ru” are more vaguely defined, they may well retain the same meaning for a while, but the listener cannot count on this behavior. To make a permanent reference to something repeated by “ri”, “ra”, or “ru”, use “goi” and a ko'a-series cmavo:

6.7) la .alis. klama le zarci
.i ri goi ko'a blanu
アリスは 行く その 店へ。
直前のそれ ～としても知られる それ1 は 青い。

allows the store to be referred to henceforth as “ko'a” without ambiguity. Example 6.7 is equivalent to Example 5.1 and eliminates any possibility of “ko'a” being interpreted by the listener as referring to Alice.

The cmavo “go'i”, “go'a”, and “go'u” follow exactly the same rules as “ri”, “ra”, and “ru”, except that they are pro-bridi, and therefore repeat bridi, not sumti --- specifically, main sentence bridi. Any bridi that are embedded within other bridi, such as relative clauses or abstractions, are not counted. Like the cmavo of the broda-series, the cmavo of the go'i-series copy all sumti with them. This makes “go'i” by itself convenient for answering a question affirmatively, or for repeating the last bridi, possibly with new sumti:

6.8) xu zo djan. cmene do
.i go'i
[疑問] 単語引用 ジョン 名前である あなたの?
[最後のブリディを繰り返す]
あなたの名前は John ですか？ はい。

6.9) mi klama le zarci .i do go'i
私は 行く その 店に。 あなたは [最後のブリディを繰り返す]。
私はその店に行く。あなたも。

Note that Example 6.9 means the same as Example 5.6, but without the bother of assigning an actual broda-series word to the first bridi. For long-term reference, use “go'i cei broda” or the like, analogously to “ri goi ko'a” in Example 6.7.

The remaining four cmavo of the go'i-series are provided for convenience or for achieving special effects. The cmavo “go'e” means the same as “go'ixire”: it repeats the last bridi but one. This is useful in conversation:

6.10) A: mi ba klama le zarci
B: mi nelci le si'o mi go'i

A: do go'e
A: 私は 未来 ～に行く その 店。
B: 私は 好き その ～という概念 私が [最後のブリディを繰り返す]。
A: あなたは [最後から２番目のブリディを繰り返す]。

A: 私は店に行くつもりです。
B: 私も行きたいです。
A: あなたも行くのよ。

Here B's sentence repeats A's within an abstraction (explained in Chapter 11): “le si'o mi go'i” means “le si'o mi klama le zarci”. Why must B use the word “mi” explicitly to replace the x1 of “mi klama le zarci”, even though it looks like “mi” is replacing “mi”? Because B's “mi” refers to B, whereas A's “mi” refers to A. If B said: 6.11) mi nelci le si'o go'i that would mean: I like the idea of your going to the store. The repetition implied by “go'i” is not literally by words, but by concepts. Finally, A repeats her own sentence, but with the x1 changed to “do”, meaning B. Note that in Example 6.10, the tense “ba” (future time) is carried along by both “go'i” and “go'e”.

6.11) mi nelci le si'o go'i

Descriptions based on go'i-series cmavo can be very useful for repeating specific sumti of previous bridi:

6.12) le xekri mlatu cu klama le zarci
.i le go'i cu cadzu le bisli
その 黒い ネコ ～にいく その 店。
～のx1の場所として記述されているもの [最後のブリディを繰り返す] は氷の上を歩く。
その黒いネコは店に行く。それは氷の上を歩く。

Here the “go'i” repeats “le xekri mlatu cu klama le zarci”, and since “le” makes the x1 place into a description, and the x1 place of this bridi is “le xekri mlatu”, “le go'i” means “le xekri mlatu”.

The cmavo “go'o”, “nei”, and “no'a” have been little used so far. They repeat respectively some future bridi, the current bridi, and the bridi that encloses the current bridi (“no'a”, unlike the other members of the go'i- series, can repeat non-sentence bridi). Here are a few examples:

6.13) mi nupre le nu mi go'o
.i ba dunda le djini le bersa
.i ba dunda le zdani le tixnu
私は 約束する ～の事象を 私は [未来のブリディを繰り返す]
[未来] 与える その お金を その 息子に
[未来] 与える その 家を その 娘に
私は以下の事を約束する。
お金を息子に与える。
家は娘に与える。

(Note: The Lojban does not contain an equivalent of the “my” in the colloquial English; it leaves the fact that it is the speaker's son and daughter that are referred to implicit. To make the fact explicit, use “le bersa/tixnu be mi”.)

For good examples of “nei” and “no'a”, we need nested bridi contexts:

6.14) mi se pluka le nu do pensi le nu nei kei pu le nu do zukte
私 ～によって喜ばせられる その ～の事象 (あなたが ～について考える
   (その ～の事象 [主ブリディ]) ～の前に ～の事象 (あなたが 行動する).
あなたが行動する前に、私が喜ぶかどうかを考えてくれて嬉しい。

6.15) mi ba klama ca le nu do no'a
私 [未来] 行く [現在] その ～の事象 あなた [外側のブリディを繰り返す]
あなたが行く時に私は行く。

Finally, “ra'o” is a cmavo that can be appended to any go'i-series cmavo, or indeed any cmavo of selma'o GOhA, to signal that pro-sumti or pro-bridi cmavo in the antecedent are to be repeated literally and reinterpreted in their new context. Normally, any pro-sumti used within the antecedent of the pro-bridi keep their meanings intact. In the presence of “ra'o”, however, their meanings must be reinterpreted with reference to the new environment. If someone says to you:

6.16) mi ba lumci lemi karca I will wash my car. you might reply either: 6.17) mi go'i I will wash your car. or: 6.18) mi go'i ra'o I will wash my car.

6.16) mi ba lumci lemi karca
私 [未来] 洗う 私の 車。
6.17) mi go'i
私もあなたの車を洗う。
6.18) mi go'i ra'o
私も私の車を洗う。

The “ra'o” forces the second “mi” from the original bridi to mean the new speaker rather than the former speaker. This means that “go'e ra'o” would be an acceptable alternative to “do go'e” in B's statement in Example 6.10. The anaphoric pro-sumti of this section can be used in quotations, but never refer to any of the supporting text outside the quotation, since speakers presumably do not know that they may be quoted by someone else. However, a “ri”-series or “go'a”-series reference within a quotation can refer to something mentioned in an earlier quotation if the two quotations are closely related in time and context. This allows a quotation to be broken up by narrative material without interfering with the pro-sumti within it. Here's an example:

6.19) la djan. cusku lu mi klama le zarci li'u
.i la .alis. cusku lu mi go'i li'u
ジョンは 言う [引用] 私 ～に行く その 店 [引用終わり].
アリスは 言う [引用] 私 [繰り返す] [引用終わり].
ジョンは言う「私は店に行きます」
アリスは言う「私も」

Of course, there is no problem with narrative material referring to something within a quotation: people who quote, unlike people who are quoted, are aware of what they are doing.

7. Indefinite pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the zo'e-series and the co'e-series

7. 不定代スムティと代ブリディ： zo'eシリーズとco'eシリーズ

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

zo'e KOhA zo'eシリーズ 明らかな値
zu'i KOhA zo'eシリーズ 典型的な値
zi'o KOhA zo'eシリーズ 存在しない値
co'e GOhA co'eシリーズ 明らかな関係を持つ

The cmavo of the zo'e-series represent indefinite, unspecified sumti. The cmavo “zo'e” represents an elliptical value for this sumti place; it is the optional spoken place holder when a sumti is skipped without being specified. Note that the elliptical value is not always the typical value. The properties of ellipsis lead to an elliptical sumti being defined as “whatever I want it to mean but haven't bothered to figure out, or figure out how to express”.

The cmavo “zu'i”, on the other hand, represents the typical value for this place of this bridi:

7.1) mi klama le bartu be le zdani
le nenri be le zdani zu'i zu'i
私は 行く その～へ 外側 ～の その 家
その～から 内側 ～の その 家 [典型的な経路で] [典型的な手段で]

In Example 7.1, the first “zu'i” probably means something like “by the door”, and the second “zu'i” probably means something like “on foot”, those being the typical route and means for leaving a house. On the other hand, if you are at the top of a high rise during a fire, neither “zu'i” is appropriate. It's also common to use “zu'i” in “by standard” places.

Finally, the cmavo “zi'o” represents a value which does not even exist. When a bridi fills one of its places with “zi'o”, what is really meant is that the selbri has a place which is irrelevant to the true relationship the speaker wishes to express. For example, the place structure of “zbasu” is

actor x1 makes x2 from materials x3 Consider the sentence Living things are made from cells. This cannot be correctly expressed as:

7.2) loi jmive cu se zbasu [zo'e] fi loi selci
～の群れ 生物 作られる [何かによって] ～から ～の群れ 細胞
生物は細胞から作られる。

because the “zo'e”, expressed or understood, in Example 7.2 indicates that there is still a “maker” in this relationship. We do not generally suppose, however, that someone “makes” living things from cells. The best answer is probably to find a different selbri, one which does not imply a “maker”: however, an alternative strategy is to use “zi'o” to eliminate the maker place:

7.3) loi jmive cu se zbasu zi'o loi selci
～の群れ 生物 作られる [制作主無しに] ～の群れから 細胞

Note: The use of “zi'o” to block up, as it were, one place of a selbri actually creates a new selbri with a different place structure. Consider the following examples:

7.4) mi zbasu le dinju loi mudri
I make the building from-some-of-the-mass-of wood.
I make the building out of wood.

7.5) zi'o zbasu le dinju loi mudri
[without-maker] makes the building
from-some-of-the-mass-of wood.
The building is made out of wood.

7.6) mi zbasu zi'o loi mudri
I make [without-thing-made]
from-some-of-the-mass-of wood.
I build using wood.

7.7) mi zbasu loi mudri zi'o
I make the building [without-material].
I make the building.

If Example 7.4 is true, then Examples 7.5 through 7.7 must be true also. However, Example 7.3 does not correspond to any sentence with three regular (non-“zi'o”) sumti.

The pro-bridi “co'e” (which by itself constitutes the co'e-series of selma'o GOhA) represents the elliptical selbri. Lojban grammar does not allow the speaker to merely omit a selbri from a bridi, although any or all sumti may be freely omitted. Being vague about a relationship requires the use of “co'e” as a selbri place-holder:

7.8) mi troci le nu mi co'e le vorme
私は 試す その ～の事象 私の [あきらかな動作をする] ～に ドア。
私はドアを試した。

The English version means, and the Lojban version probably means, that I try to open the door, but the relationship of opening is not actually specified; the Lojbanic listener must guess it from context. Lojban, unlike English, makes it clear that there is an implicit action that is not being expressed.

The form of “co'e” was chosen to resemble “zo'e”; the cmavo “do'e” of selma'o BAI (see Chapter 9) also belongs to the same group of cmavo. Note that “do'i”, of the di'u-series, is also a kind of indefinite pro-sumti: it is indefinite in referent, but is restricted to referring only to an utterance.

8. Reflexive and reciprocal pro-sumti: the vo'a-series

8. 再帰・相互代スムティ: vo'aシリーズ

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

vo'a KOhA vo'aシリーズ このブリディのx1
vo'e KOhA vo'aシリーズ このブリディのx2
vo'i KOhA vo'aシリーズ このブリディのx3
vo'o KOhA vo'aシリーズ このブリディのx4
vo'u KOhA vo'aシリーズ このブリディのx5
soi SOI 相互に
se'u SEhU soi終端子

The cmavo of the vo'a-series are pro-sumti anaphora, like those of the ri-series, but have a specific function. These cmavo refer to the other places of the same bridi; the five of them represent up to five places. The same vo'a-series cmavo mean different things in different bridi. Some examples:

8.1) mi lumci vo'a
私は自分を洗う。

8.2) mi klama le zarci vo'e
私は店にそれ自身から行く [明示されていない何らかの経路で]

To refer to places of neighboring bridi, constructions like “le se go'i ku” do the job: this refers to the 2nd place of the previous main bridi, as explained in Section 6.

The cmavo of the vo'a-series are also used with “soi” (of selma'o SOI) to precisely express reciprocity, which in English is imprecisely expressed with a discursive phrase like “vice versa”:

8.3) mi prami do
soi vo'a vo'e
私は 愛している あなたを。
[相互に] [このブリディのx1] [このブリディのx2].
私はあなたを愛している、そして逆も真である (私とあなた、を入れ替えて)

The significance of “soi vo'a vo'e” is that the bridi is still true even if the x1 (specified by “vo'a”) and the x2 (specified by “vo'e”) places are interchanged. If only a single sumti follows “soi”, then the sumti immediately preceding “soi” is understood to be one of those involved:

8.4) mi prami do soi vo'a
私 愛する あなたを [相互に] [このブリディのx2].

again involves the x1 and x2 places. Of course, other places can be involved, and other sumti may be used in place of vo'a-series cmavo, provided those other sumti can be reasonably understood as referring to the same things mentioned in the bridi proper. Here are several examples that mean the same thing:

8.5) mi bajra ti ta soi vo'e
mi bajra ti ta soi vo'e vo'i
soi vo'e vo'i mi bajra ti ta
私は、ここへあそこから走る。そして逆も真である（あそこへここから）

The elidable terminator for “soi” is “se'u” (selma'o SEhU), which is normally needed only if there is just one sumti after the “soi”, and the “soi” construction is not at the end of the bridi. Constructions using “soi” are free modifiers, and as such can go almost anywhere. Here is an example where “se'u” is required:

8.6) mi bajykla ti soi vo'i se'u ta
私は 走って行く ここへ [相互に] [このブリディのx3] あそこから
私はここへあそこから走る。そして逆も真である。

9. sumti and bridi questions: “ma” and “mo”

9. スムティとブリディ質問: “ma” と “mo”

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

ma KOhA スムティ質問
mo GOhA ブリディ質問

Lojban questions are more fully explained in Chapter 19, but “ma” and “mo” are listed in this chapter for completeness. The cmavo “ma” asks for a sumti to make the bridi true:

9.1) do klama ma
あなた 行く どの目的地へ？
どこに行くのですか。

The cmavo “mo”, on the other hand, asks for a selbri which makes the question bridi true. If the answer is a full bridi, then the arguments of the answer override the arguments in the question, in the same manner as the go'i-series cmavo. A simple example is:

9.2) do mo
あなた に当てはまる述語は何ですか？
どうですか？
何をしていますか？
あなたは何／誰ですか？

Example 9.3 is a truly pregnant question that will have several meanings depending on context. (One thing it probably does not mean is “Who are you?” in the sense “What is your name/identity?”, which is better expressed by:

9.3) ma cmene do
どのスムティが ～の名前である あなたの？
あなたの名前は何ですか？

or even

9.4) doi ma
呼び掛け [どのスムティ？]

which uses the vocative “doi” to address someone, and simultaneously asks who the someone is.) A further example of “mo”:

9.5) lo mo prenu cu darxi do
.i barda
どんなセルブリの タイプの 人が ぶつかる あなたに?
(観察文:) 大きい物.
どの人があなたにぶつかったの？ 大きい人。

When “ma” or “mo” is repeated, multiple questions are being asked simultaneously:

9.6) ma djuno ma 何のスムティが 知っている 何のスムティ？ 誰が何を知っているのですか？

10. Relativized pro-sumti: “ke'a”

10. 関係化した代スムティ: “ke'a”

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

ke'a KOhA 関係化スムティ

This pro-sumti is used in relative clauses (explained in Chapter 8) to indicate how the sumti being relativized fits within the clause. For example:

10.1) mi catlu lo mlatu
  poi [zo'e] zbasu
  ke'a lei slasi
私 見る lo 猫
  ～であるような [未指定の何か] 作る
  関係化されたもの (=猫) ～の群れから プラスティック
私はプラスティックでできた猫を見る。

If “ke'a” were omitted from Example 10.1, it might be confused with:

10.2) mi catlu lo mlatu poi [ke'a] zbasu lei slasi I see a cat such-that the-thing-being-relativized [the cat] makes a-mass-of plastic I see a cat that makes plastic.

The anaphora cmavo “ri” cannot be used in place of “ke'a” in Example 10.1 and Example 10.2, because the relativized sumti is not yet complete when the “ke'a” appears. Note that “ke'a” is used only with relative clauses, and not with other embedded bridi such as abstract descriptions. In the case of relative clauses within relative clauses, “ke'a” may be subscripted to make the difference clear (see Chapter 8).

11. Abstraction focus pro-sumti: “ce'u”

11. 抽象化対象代スムティ “ce'u”

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

ce'u KOhA 抽象化対象

The cmavo “ce'u” is used within abstraction bridi, particularly property abstractions introduced by the cmavo “ka”. Abstractions, including the uses of “ce'u”, are discussed in full in Chapter 11. In brief: Every property abstraction specifies a property of one of the sumti in it; that sumti place is filled by using “ce'u”. This convention enables us to distinguish clearly between:

11.1) le ka ce'u gleki
その ～の性質 (Xが 幸せである)
幸せであることの性質
幸福

11.2) le ka gleki ce'u
その ～の性質 (幸せである Xについて)
誰かが幸せであると感じること

12. Bound variable pro-sumti and pro-bridi: the da-series and the bu'a-series

12. 束縛変数代スムティと代ブリディ: da シリーズと bu'a シリーズ

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

da KOhA daシリーズ あるもの1
de KOhA daシリーズ あるもの2
di KOhA daシリーズ あるもの3
bu'a GOhA bu'aシリーズ ある述語1
bu'e GOhA bu'aシリーズ ある述語2
bu'i GOhA bu'aシリーズ ある述語3

Bound variables belong to the predicate-logic part of Lojban, and are listed here for completeness only. Their semantics is explained in Chapter 16. It is worth mentioning that the Lojban translation of Example 1.2 is:

12.1) la djan. cu lafti
da poi grana ku'o
gi'e desygau da
ジョン 拾う
あるもの1 ～であるような 棒である
そして 振る（過去） あるもの1
ジョンは棒を拾って、それを振った

13. Pro-sumti and pro-bridi cancelling

13. 代スムティ・代ブリディの取り消し

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

da'o DAhO 全ての代スムティ・代ブリディを取り消す

How long does a pro-sumti or pro-bridi remain stable? In other words, once we know the referent of a pro-sumti or pro-bridi, how long can we be sure that future uses of the same cmavo have the same referent? The answer to this question depends on which series the cmavo belongs to. Personal pro-sumti are stable until there is a change of speaker or listener, possibly signaled by a vocative. Assignable pro-sumti and pro-bridi last indefinitely or until rebound with “goi” or “cei”. Bound variable pro-sumti and pro-bridi also generally last until re-bound; details are available in Chapter 16.

Utterance pro-sumti are stable only within the utterance in which they appear; similarly, reflexive pro-sumti are stable only within the bridi in which they appear; and “ke'a” is stable only within its relative clause. Anaphoric pro-sumti and pro-bridi are stable only within narrow limits depending on the rules for the particular cmavo.

Demonstrative pro-sumti, indefinite pro-sumti and pro-bridi, and sumti and bridi questions potentially change referents every time they are used.

However, there are ways to cancel all pro-sumti and pro-bridi, so that none of them have known referents. (Some, such as “mi”, will acquire the same referent as soon as they are used again after the cancellation.) The simplest way to cancel everything is with the cmavo “da'o” of selma'o DAhO, which is used solely for this purpose; it may appear anywhere, and has no effect on the grammar of texts containing it. One use of “da'o” is when entering a conversation, to indicate that one's pro-sumti assignments have nothing to do with any assignments already made by other participants in the conversation.

In addition, the cmavo “ni'o” and “no'i” of selma'o NIhO, which are used primarily to indicate shifts in topic, may also have the effect of canceling pro-sumti and pro-bridi assignments, or of reinstating ones formerly in effect. More explanations of NIhO can be found in Chapter 19.

14. The identity predicate: du

14. 同一述語： du

The following cmavo is discussed in this section:

du GOhA 同一性

The cmavo “du” has the place structure: x1 is identical with x2, x3, ... and appears in selma'o GOhA for reasons of convenience: it is not a pro-bridi. “du” serves as mathematical “=”, and outside mathematical contexts is used for defining or identifying. Mathematical examples may be found in Chapter 18.

The main difference between

14.1) ko'a du le nanmu
it-1 is-identical-to the man

and

14.2) ko'a mintu le nanmu
it-1 is-the-same-as the man

is this defining nature. Example 14.1 presumes that the speaker is responding to a request for information about what “ko'a” refers to, or that the speaker in some way feels the need to define “ko'a” for later reference. A bridi with “du” is an identity sentence, somewhat metalinguistically saying that all attached sumti are representations for the same referent. There may be any number of sumti associated with “du”, and all are said to be identical. Example 14.2, however, predicates; it is used to make a claim about the identity of “ko'a”, which presumably has been defined previously. Note: “du” historically is derived from “dunli”, but “dunli” has a third place which “du” lacks: the standard of equality.

15. lujvo based on pro-sumti

15. 代スムティに基づくルジヴォ

There exist rafsi allocated to a few cmavo of selma'o KOhA, but they are rarely used. (See Section 16 for a complete list.) The obvious way to use them is as internal sumti, filling in an appropriate place of the gismu or lujvo to which they are attached; as such, they usually stand as the first rafsi in their lujvo.

Thus “donta'a”, meaning “you-talk”, would be interpreted as “tavla be do”, and would have the place structure

15.1) t1は あなたに、t3について、言語t4で話す

since t2 (the addressee) is already known to be “do”.

On the other hand, the lujvo “donma'o”, literally “you-cmavo”, which means “a second person personal pronoun”, would be interpreted as “cmavo be zo do”, and have the place structure: 15.2) c1 is a second person pronoun in language c4 since both the c2 place (the grammatical class) and the c3 place (the meaning) are obvious from the context “do”.

An anticipated use of rafsi for cmavo in the “fo'a” series is to express terjvo which can't be expressed in a convenient rafsi form, because they are too long to express, or are formally inconvenient (fu'ivla, cmene, and so forth.) An example would be:

15.3) fo'a goi le kulnrsu,omi .i lo fo'arselsanga
x6 は フィンランドの文化を表す。x6（フィンランド）の歌。

Finally, lujvo involving “zi'o” are also possible, and are fully discussed in Chapter 12. In brief, the convention is to use the rafsi for “zi'o” as a prefix immediately followed by the rafsi for the number of the place to be deleted. Thus, if we consider a beverage (something drunk without considering who, if anyone, drinks it) as a “se pinxe be zi'o”, the lujvo corresponding to this is “zilrelselpinxe” (deleting the second place of “se pinxe”). Deleting the x1 place in this fashion would move all remaining places up by one. This would mean that “zilpavypinxe” has the same place structure as “zilrelselpinxe”, and “lo zilpavypinxe”, like “lo zilrelselpinxe”, refers to a beverage, and not to a non-existent drinker.

The pro-bridi “co'e”, “du”, and “bu'a” also have rafsi, which can be used just as if they were gismu. The resulting lujvo have (except for “du”-based lujvo) highly context-dependent meanings.

16. KOhA cmavo by series mi-series: mi I (rafsi: “mib”) do you (rafsi: “don” and “doi”) mi'o you and I mi'a I and others, we but not you ma'a you and I and others do'o you and others ko you-imperative ti-series: ti this here; something nearby (rafsi: “tif”) ta that there; something distant (rafsi: “taz”) tu that yonder; something far distant (rafsi: “tuf”) di'u-series: di'u the previous utterance de'u an earlier utterance da'u a much earlier utterance di'e the next utterance de'e a later utterance da'e a much later utterance dei this very utterance do'i some utterance ko'a-series: ko'a it-1; 1st assignable pro-sumti ko'e it-2; 2nd assignable pro-sumti ko'i it-3; 3rd assignable pro-sumti ko'o it-4; 4th assignable pro-sumti ko'u it-5; 5th assignable pro-sumti fo'a it-6; 6th assignable pro-sumti (rafsi: “fo'a”) fo'e it-7; 7th assignable pro-sumti (rafsi: “fo'e”) fo'i it-8; 8th assignable pro-sumti (rafsi: “fo'i”) fo'o it-9; 9th assignable pro-sumti fo'u it-10; 10th assignable pro-sumti ri-series: ri (repeats the last sumti) ra (repeats a previous sumti) ru (repeats a long-ago sumti) zo'e-series: zo'e the obvious value zu'i the typical value zi'o the nonexistent value (rafsi: “zil”) vo'a-series: vo'a x1 of this bridi vo'e x2 of this bridi vo'i x3 of this bridi vo'o x4 of this bridi vo'u x5 of this bridi da-series: da something-1 (rafsi: “dav”/“dza”) de something-2 di something-3 others: ke'a relativized sumti ma sumti question ce'u abstraction focus 17. GOhA and other pro-bridi by series broda-series (not GOhA): broda is-1; 1st assignable pro-bridi brode is-2; 2nd assignable pro-bridi brodi is-3; 3rd assignable pro-bridi brodo is-4; 4th assignable pro-bridi brodu is-5; 5th assignable pro-bridi go'i-series: go'i (repeats the last bridi) go'a (repeats a previous bridi) go'u (repeats a long-ago bridi) go'e (repeats the last-but-one bridi) go'o (repeats a future bridi) nei (repeats the current bridi) no'a (repeats the next outer bridi) bu'a-series: bu'a some-predicate-1 (rafsi: “bul”) bu'e some-predicate-2 bu'i some-predicate-3 others: co'e has the obvious relationship (rafsi: “com”/“co'e”) mo bridi question du identity: x1 is identical to x2, x3 ... (rafsi: “dub”/“du'o”) 17. Other cmavo discussed in this chapter goi GOI pro-sumti assignment (ko'a-series) cei CEI pro-bridi assignment (broda-series) ra'o RAhO pro-sumti/pro-bridi update soi SOI reciprocity se'u SEhU soi terminator da'o DAhO cancel all pro-sumti/pro-bridi