The Complete Lojban Language (1997)/Chapter 9

by John Woldemar Cowan

Introductory

The basic type of Lojban sentence is the bridi: a claim by the speaker that certain objects are related in a certain way. The objects are expressed by Lojban grammatical forms called “sumti”; the relationship is expressed by the Lojban grammatical form called a “selbri”.

The sumti are not randomly associated with the selbri, but according to a systematic pattern known as the “place structure” of the selbri. This chapter describes the various ways in which the place structure of Lojban bridi is expressed and by which it can be manipulated. The place structure of a selbri is a sequence of empty slots into which the sumti associated with that selbri are placed. The sumti are said to occupy the places of the selbri.

For our present purposes, every selbri is assumed to have a well-known place structure. If the selbri is a brivla, the place structure can be looked up in a dictionary (or, if the brivla is a lujvo not in any dictionary, inferred from the principles of lujvo construction as explained in Chapter 12); if the selbri is a tanru, the place structure is the same as that of the final component in the tanru.

The stock example of a place structure is that of the gismu “klama”:

       klama: x1 comes/goes to destination x2 from origin x3 via route x4
            employing means of transport x5.

The “x1 ... x5” indicates that “klama” is a five-place predicate, and show the natural order (as assigned by the language engineers) of those places: agent, destination, origin, route, means.

The place structures of brivla are not absolutely stable aspects of the language. The work done so far has attempted to establish a basic place structure on which all users can, at first, agree. In the light of actual experience with the individual selbri of the language, there will inevitably be some degree of change to the brivla place structures.

Standard bridi form: “cu”

The following cmavo is discussed in this section:

     cu      CU                  prefixed selbri separator

The most usual way of constructing a bridi from a selbri such as “klama” and an appropriate number of sumti is to place the sumti intended for the x1 place before the selbri, and all the other sumti in order after the selbri, thus:

2.1)   mi cu klama la bastn. la .atlantas. le dargu le karce
       I go to-Boston from-Atlanta via-the road using-the car.

Here the sumti are assigned to the places as follows:

       x1  agent         mi
       x2  destination   la bastn.
       x3  origin        la .atlantas.
       x4  route         le dargu
       x5  means         le karce

(Note: Many of the examples in the rest of this chapter will turn out to have the same meaning as Example 2.1; this fact will not be reiterated.)

This ordering, with the x1 place before the selbri and all other places in natural order after the selbri, is called “standard bridi form”, and is found in the bulk of Lojban bridi, whether used in main sentences or in subordinate clauses. However, many other forms are possible, such as:

2.2)   mi la bastn. la .atlantas. le dargu le karce cu klama
       I, to-Boston from-Atlanta via-the road using-the car, go.

Here the selbri is at the end; all the sumti are placed before it. However, the same order is maintained.

Similarly, we may split up the sumti, putting some before the selbri and others after it:

2.3)   mi la bastn. cu klama la .atlantas. le dargu le karce
       I to-Boston go from-Atlanta via-the road using-the car.

All of the variant forms in this section and following sections can be used to place emphasis on the part or parts which have been moved out of their standard places. Thus, Example 2.2 places emphasis on the selbri (because it is at the end); Example 2.3 emphasizes “la bastn.”, because it has been moved before the selbri. Moving more than one component may dilute this emphasis. It is permitted, but no stylistic significance has yet been established for drastic reordering.

In all these examples, the cmavo “cu” (belonging to selma'o CU) is used to separate the selbri from any preceding sumti. It is never absolutely necessary to use “cu”. However, providing it helps the reader or listener to locate the selbri quickly, and may make it possible to place a complex sumti just before the selbri, allowing the speaker to omit elidable terminators, possibly a whole stream of them, that would otherwise be necessary.

The general rule, then, is that the selbri may occur anywhere in the bridi as long as the sumti maintain their order. The only exception (and it is an important one) is that if the selbri appears first, the x1 sumti is taken to have been omitted:

2.4)   klama la bastn. la .atlantas. le dargu le karce
       A-goer to-Boston from-Atlanta via-the road using-the car.
       Goes to-Boston from-Atlanta via-the road using-the car.
       Look: a goer to Boston from Atlanta via the road using the car!

Here the x1 place is empty: the listener must guess from context who is going to Boston. In Example 2.4, “klama” is glossed “a goer” rather than “go” because “Go” at the beginning of an English sentence would suggest a command: “Go to Boston!”. Example 2.4 is not a command, simply a normal statement with the x1 place unspecified, causing the emphasis to fall on the selbri “klama”. Such a bridi, with empty x1, is called an “observative”, because it usually calls on the listener to observe something in the environment which would belong in the x1 place. The third translation above shows this observative nature. Sometimes it is the relationship itself which the listener is asked to observe.

(There is a way to both provide a sumti for the x1 place and put the selbri first in the bridi: see Example 3.7.)

Suppose the speaker desires to omit a place other than the x1 place? (Presumably it is obvious or, for one reason or another, not worth saying.) Places at the end may simply be dropped:

2.5)   mi klama la bastn. la .atlantas.
       I go to-Boston from-Atlanta (via an unspecified route, using an unspecified means).

Example 2.5 has empty x4 and x5 places: the speaker does not specify the route or the means of transport. However, simple omission will not work for a place when the places around it are to be specified: in

2.6)   mi klama la bastn. la .atlantas. le karce
       I go to-Boston from-Atlanta via-the car.

“le karce” occupies the x4 place, and therefore Example 2.6 means:

       I go to Boston from Atlanta, using the car as a route.

This is nonsense, since a car cannot be a route. What the speaker presumably meant is expressed by:

2.7)   mi klama la bastn. la .atlantas.  zo'e le karce
       I go to-Boston from-Atlanta via-something-unspecified using-the car.

Here the sumti cmavo “zo'e” is used to explicitly fill the x4 place; “zo'e” means “the unspecified thing” and has the same meaning as leaving the place empty: the listener must infer the correct meaning from context.

Tagging places: FA

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

     fa      FA                  tags x1 place
     fe      FA                  tags x2 place
     fi      FA                  tags x3 place
     fo      FA                  tags x4 place
     fu      FA                  tags x5 place
     fi'a    FA                  place structure question

In sentences like Example 2.1, it is easy to get lost and forget which sumti falls in which place, especially if the sumti are more complicated than simple names or descriptions. The place structure tags of selma'o FA may be used to help clarify place structures. The five cmavo “fa”, “fe”, “fi”, “fo”, and “fu” may be inserted just before the sumti in the x1 to x5 places respectively:

3.1)   fa mi cu klama fe la bastn. fi la .atlantas. fo le dargu fu le karce
       x1= I go x2= Boston x3= Atlanta x4= the road x5= the car.
       I go to Boston from Atlanta via the road using the car.

In Example 3.1, the tag “fu” before “le karce” clarifies that “le karce” occupies the x5 place of “klama”. The use of “fu” tells us nothing about the purpose or meaning of the x5 place; it simply says that “le karce” occupies it.

In Example 3.1, the tags are overkill; they serve only to make Example 2.1 even longer than it is. Here is a better illustration of the use of FA tags for clarification:

3.2)   fa mi klama fe le zdani be mi be'o poi nurma vau fi la nu,IORK.
       x1= I go x2= (the house of me) which is-rural x3= New York.

In Example 3.2, the place structure of “klama” is as follows:

       x1  agent         mi
       x2  destination   le zdani be mi be'o poi nurma vau
       x3  origin        la nu,IORK.
       x4  route         (empty)
       x5  means         (empty)

The “fi” tag serves to remind the hearer that what follows is in the x3 place of “klama”; after listening to the complex sumti occupying the x2 place, it’s easy to get lost.

Of course, once the sumti have been tagged, the order in which they are specified no longer carries the burden of distinguishing the places. Therefore, it is perfectly all right to scramble them into any order desired, and to move the selbri to anywhere in the bridi, even the beginning:

3.3)   klama fa mi fi la .atlantas. fu le karce fe la bastn. fo le dargu
       go x1= I x3= Atlanta x5= the car x2= Boston x4= the road.
       Go I from Atlanta using the car to Boston via the road.

Note that no “cu” is permitted before the selbri in Example 3.3, because “cu” separates the selbri from any preceding sumti, and Example 3.3has no such sumti.

3.4)   fu le karce fo le dargu fi la .atlantas. fe la bastn. cu klama fa mi
       x5= the car x4= the road x3= Atlanta x2= Boston go x1=I
       Using the car, via the road, from Atlanta to Boston go I.

Example 3.4 exhibits the reverse of the standard bridi form seen in Examples 2.1 and 3.1, but still means exactly the same thing. If the FA tags were left out, however, producing:

3.5)   le karce le dargu la .atlantas. la bastn. cu klama mi
       The car to-the road from-Atlanta via-Boston goes using-me.
       The car goes to the road from Atlanta, with Boston as the route, using me as a means of transport.

the meaning would be wholly changed, and in fact nonsensical.

Tagging places with FA cmavo makes it easy not only to reorder the places but also to omit undesirable ones, without any need for “zo'e” or special rules about the x1 place:

3.6)   klama fi la .atlantas. fe la bastn. fu le karce
       A-goer x3= Atlanta x2= Boston x5 = the car.
       A goer from Atlanta to Boston using the car.

Here the x1 and x4 places are empty, and so no sumti are tagged with “fa” or “fo”; in addition, the x2 and x3 places appear in reverse order.

What if some sumti have FA tags and others do not? The rule is that after a FA-tagged sumti, any sumti following it occupy the places numerically succeeding it, subject to the proviso that an already-filled place is skipped:

3.7)   klama fa mi la bastn. la .atlantas. le dargu le karce
       Go x1= I x2= Boston x3= Atlanta x4= the road x5= the car.
       Go I to Boston from Atlanta via the road using the car.

In Example 3.7, the “fa” causes “mi” to occupy the x1 place, and then the following untagged sumti occupy in order the x2 through x5 places. This is the mechanism by which Lojban allows placing the selbri first while specifying a sumti for the x1 place.

Here is a more complex (and more confusing) example:

3.8)   mi klama fi la .atlantas. le dargu fe la bastn. le karce
       I go x3= Atlanta, the road x2= Boston, the car.
       I go from Atlanta via the road to Boston using the car.

In Example 3.8, “mi” occupies the x1 place because it is the first sumti in the sentence (and is before the selbri). The second sumti, “la .atlantas.”, occupies the x3 place by virtue of the tag “fi”, and “le dargu” occupies the x4 place as a result of following “la .atlantas.”. Finally, “la bastn.” occupies the x2 place because of its tag “fe”, and “le karce” skips over the already-occupied x3 and x4 places to land in the x5 place.

Such a convoluted use of tags should probably be avoided except when trying for a literal translation of some English (or other natural-language) sentence; the rules stated here are merely given so that some standard interpretation is possible.

It is grammatically permitted to tag more than one sumti with the same FA cmavo. The effect is that of making more than one claim:

3.9)   [fa] la rik. fa la djein. klama [fe] le skina fe le zdani fe le zarci
       [x1=] Rick x1= Jane goes-to x2= the movie x2= the house x2= the office

may be taken to say that both Rick and Jane go to the movie, the house, and the office, merging six claims into one. More likely, however, it will simply confuse the listener. There are better ways, involving logical connectives (explained in Chapter 14), to say such things in Lojban. In fact, putting more than one sumti into a place is odd enough that it can only be done by explicit FA usage: this is the motivation for the proviso above, that already-occupied places are skipped. In this way, no sumti can be forced into a place already occupied unless it has an explicit FA cmavo tagging it.

The cmavo “fi'a” also belongs to selma'o FA, and allows Lojban users to ask questions about place structures. A bridi containing “fi'a” is a question, asking the listener to supply the appropriate other member of FA which will make the bridi a true statement:

3.10)  fi'a do dunda [fe] le vi rozgu
       [what place]? you give x2= the nearby rose
       In what way are you involved in the giving of this rose?
       Are you the giver or the receiver of this rose?

In Example 3.10, the speaker uses the selbri “dunda”, whose place structure is:

       dunda: x1 gives x2 to x3

The tagged sumti “fi'a do” indicates that the speaker wishes to know whether the sumti “do” falls in the x1 or the x3 place (the x2 place is already occupied by “le rozgu”). The listener can reply with a sentence consisting solely of a FA cmavo: “fa” if the listener is the giver, “fi” if he/she is the receiver.

I have inserted the tag “fe” in brackets into Example 3.10, but it is actually not necessary, because “fi'a” does not count as a numeric tag; therefore, “le vi rozgu” would necessarily be in the x2 place even if no tag were present, because it immediately follows the selbri.

There is also another member of FA, namely “fai”, which is discussed in Section 12.

Conversion: SE

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

     se      SE                  2nd place conversion
     te      SE                  3rd place conversion
     ve      SE                  4th place conversion
     xe      SE                  5th place conversion

So far we have seen ways to move sumti around within a bridi, but the actual place structure of the selbri has always remained untouched. The conversion cmavo of selma'o SE are incorporated within the selbri itself, and produce a new selbri (called a converted selbri) with a different place structure. In particular, after the application of any SE cmavo, the number and purposes of the places remain the same, but two of them have been exchanged, the x1 place and another. Which place has been exchanged with x1 depends on the cmavo chosen. Thus, for example, when “se” is used, the x1 place is swapped with the x2 place.

Note that the cmavo of SE begin with consecutive consonants in alphabetical order. There is no “1st place conversion” cmavo, because exchanging the x1 place with itself is a pointless maneuver.

Here are the place structures of “se klama”:

       x1 is the destination of x2’s going from x3 via x4 using x5

and “te klama”:

       x1 is the origin and x2 the destination of x3 going via x4 using x5

and “ve klama”:

       x1 is the route to x2 from x3 used by x4 going via x5

and “xe klama”:

       x1 is the means in going to x2 from x3 via x4 employed by x5

Note that the place structure numbers in each case continue to be listed in the usual order, x1 to x5.

Consider the following pair of examples:

4.1)   la bastn. cu se klama mi
       Boston is-the-destination of-me.
       Boston is my destination.
       Boston is gone to by me.

4.2)   fe la bastn. cu klama fa mi
       x2 = Boston  go  x1=I.
       To Boston go I.

Example 4.1 and Example 4.2 mean the same thing, in the sense that there is a relationship of going with the speaker as the agent and Boston as the destination (and with unspecified origin, route, and means). Structurally, however, they are quite different. Example 4.1 has “la bastn.” in the x1 place and “mi” in the x2 place of the selbri “se klama”, and uses standard bridi order; Example 4.2 has “mi” in the x1 place and “la bastn.” in the x2 place of the selbri “klama”, and uses a non-standard order.

The most important use of conversion is in the construction of descriptions. A description is a sumti which begins with a cmavo of selma'o LA or LE, called the descriptor, and contains (in the simplest case) a selbri. We have already seen the descriptions “le dargu” and “le karce”. To this we could add:

4.3)   le klama
       the go-er, the one who goes

In every case, the description is about something which fits into the x1 place of the selbri. In order to get a description of a destination (that is, something fitting the x2 place of “klama”), we must convert the selbri to “se klama”, whose x1 place is a destination. The result is

4.4)   le se klama
       the destination gone to by someone

Likewise, we can create three more converted descriptions:

4.5)   le te klama
       the origin of someone’s going

4.6)   le ve klama
       the route of someone’s going

4.7)   le xe klama
       the means by which someone goes

Example 4.6 does not mean “the route” plain and simple: that is “le pluta”, using a different selbri. It means a route that is used by someone for an act of “klama”; that is, a journey with origin and destination. A “road” on Mars, on which no one has traveled or is ever likely to, may be called “le pluta”, but it cannot be “le ve klama”, since there exists no one for whom it is “le ve klama be fo da” (the route taken in an actual journey by someone [da]).

When converting selbri that are more complex than a single brivla, it is important to realize that the scope of a SE cmavo is only the following brivla (or equivalent unit). In order to convert an entire tanru, it is necessary to enclose the tanru in “ke ... ke'e” brackets:

4.8)   mi se ke blanu zdani [ke'e] ti
       I [2nd conversion] blue house this-thing

The place structure of “blanu zdani” (blue house) is the same as that of “zdani”, by the rule given in Section 1. The place structure of “zdani” is:

       zdani: x1 is a house/nest/lair/den for inhabitant x2

The place structure of “se ke blanu zdani [ke'e]” is therefore:

       x1 is the inhabitant of the blue house (etc.) x2

Consequently, Example 4.8 means:

       I am the inhabitant of the blue house which is this thing.

Conversion applied to only part of a tanru has subtler effects which are explained in Chapter 5.

It is grammatical to convert a selbri more than once with SE; later (inner) conversions are applied before earlier (outer) ones. For example, the place structure of “se te klama” is achieved by exchanging the x1 and x2 place of “te klama”, producing:

       x1 is the destination and x2 is the origin of x3 going via x4 using x5

On the other hand, “te se klama” has a place structure derived from swapping the x1 and x3 places of “se klama”:

       x1 is the origin of x2’s going to x3 via x4 using x5

which is quite different. However, multiple conversions like this are never necessary. Arbitrary scrambling of places can be achieved more easily and far more intelligibly with FA tags, and only a single conversion is ever needed in a description.

(Although no one has made any real use of it, it is perhaps worth noting that compound conversions of the form “setese”, where the first and third cmavo are the same, effectively swap the two given places while leaving the others, including x1, alone: “setese” (or equivalently “tesete”) swap the x2 and x3 places, whereas “texete” (or “xetexe”) swap the x3 and x5 places.)

Modal places: FIhO, FEh

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

     fi'o    FIhO                modal place prefix
     fe'u    FEhU                modal terminator

Sometimes the place structures engineered into Lojban are inadequate to meet the needs of actual speech. Consider the gismu “viska”, whose place structure is:

       viska: x1 sees x2 under conditions x3

Seeing is a threefold relationship, involving an agent (le viska), an object of sight (le se viska), and an environment that makes seeing possible (le te viska). Seeing is done with one or more eyes, of course; in general, the eyes belong to the entity in the x1 place.

Suppose, however, that you are blind in one eye and are talking to someone who doesn’t know that. You might want to say, “I see you with the left eye.” There is no place in the place structure of “viska” such as “with eye x4” or the like. Lojban allows you to solve the problem by adding a new place, changing the relationship:

5.1)   mi viska do fi'o kanla [fe'u] le zunle
       I see you [modal] eye: the left-thing
       I see you with the left eye.

The three-place relation “viska” has now acquired a fourth place specifying the eye used for seeing. The combination of the cmavo “fi'o” (of selma'o FIhO) followed by a selbri, in this case the gismu “kanla”, forms a tag which is prefixed to the sumti filling the new place, namely “le zunle”. The semantics of “fi'o kanla le zunle” is that “le zunle” fills the x1 place of “kanla”, whose place structure is

       kanla: x1 is an/the eye of body x2

Thus “le zunle” is an eye. The x2 place of “kanla” is unspecified and must be inferred from the context. It is important to remember that even though “le zunle” is placed following “fi'o kanla”, semantically it belongs in the x1 place of “kanla”. The selbri may be terminated with “fe'u” (of selma'o FEhU), an elidable terminator which is rarely required unless a non-logical connective follows the tag (omitting “fe'u” in that case would make the connective affect the selbri).

The term for such an added place is a “modal place”, as distinguished from the regular numbered places. (This use of the word “modal” is specific to the Loglan Project, and does not agree with the standard uses in either logic or linguistics, but is now too entrenched to change easily.) The “fi'o” construction marking a modal place is called a “modal tag”, and the sumti which follows it a “modal sumti”; the purely Lojban terms “sumti tcita” and “seltcita sumti”, respectively, are also commonly used. Modal sumti may be placed anywhere within the bridi, in any order; they have no effect whatever on the rules for assigning unmarked bridi to numbered places, and they may not be marked with FA cmavo.

Consider Example 5.1 again. Another way to view the situation is to consider the speaker’s left eye as a tool, a tool for seeing. The relevant selbri then becomes “pilno”, whose place structure is

       pilno: x1 uses x2 as a tool for purpose x3

and we can rewrite Example 5.1 as

5.2)   mi viska do fi'o se pilno le zunle kanla
       I see you [modal] [conversion] use: the left eye.
       I see you using my left eye.

Here the selbri belonging to the modal is “se pilno”. The conversion of “pilno” is necessary in order to get the “tool” place into x1, since only x1 can be the modal sumti. The “tool user” place is the x2 of “se pilno” (because it is the x1 of “pilno”) and remains unspecified. The tag “fi'o pilno” would mean “with tool user”, leaving the tool unspecified.

Modal tags: BAI

There are certain selbri which seem particularly useful in constructing modal tags. In particular, “pilno” is one of them. The place structure of “pilno” is:

       pilno: x1 uses x2 as a tool for purpose x3

and almost any selbri which represents an action may need to specify a tool. Having to say “fi'o se pilno” frequently would make many Lojban sentences unnecessarily verbose and clunky, so an abbreviation is provided in the language design: the compound cmavo “sepi'o”.

Here “se” is used before a cmavo, namely “pi'o”, rather than before a brivla. The meaning of this cmavo, which belongs to selma'o BAI, is exactly the same as that of “fi'o pilno fe'u”. Since what we want is a tag based on “se pilno” rather than “pilno” — the tool, not the tool user — the grammar allows a BAI cmavo to be converted using a SE cmavo. Example 5.2 may therefore be rewritten as:

6.1)   mi viska do sepi'o le zunle kanla
       I see you with-tool: the left eye
       I see you using my left eye.

The compound cmavo “sepi'o” is much shorter than “fi'o se pilno [fe'u]” and can be thought of as a single word meaning “with-tool”. The modal tag “pi'o”, with no “se”, similarly means “with-tool-user”, probably a less useful concept. Nevertheless, the parallelism with the place structure of “pilno” makes the additional syllable worthwhile.

Some BAI cmavo make sense with as well as without a SE cmavo; for example, “ka'a”, the BAI corresponding to the gismu “klama”, has five usable forms corresponding to the five places of “klama” respectively:

       ka'a        with-goer
       seka'a      with-destination
       teka'a      with-origin
       veka'a      with-route
       xeka'a      with-means-of-transport

Any of these tags may be used to provide modal places for bridi, as in the following examples:

6.2)   la .eivn. cu vecnu loi flira cinta ka'a mi
       Avon sells a-mass-of face paint with-goer me.
       I am a traveling cosmetics salesperson for Avon.

(Example 6.2 may seem a bit strained, but it illustrates the way in which an existing selbri, “vecnu” in this case, may have a place added to it which might otherwise seem utterly unrelated.)

6.3)   mi cadzu seka'a la bratfyd.
       I walk with-destination Bradford.
       I am walking to Bradford.

6.4)   bloti teka'a la nu,IORK.
       [Observative:] is-a-boat with-origin New York
       A boat from New York!

6.5)   do bajra veka'a lo djine
       You run with-route a circle.
       You are running in circles.

6.6)   mi citka xeka'a le vinji
       I eat with-means-of-transport the airplane.
       I eat in the airplane.

There are sixty-odd cmavo of selma'o BAI, based on selected gismu that seemed useful in a variety of settings. The list is somewhat biased toward English, because many of the cmavo were selected on the basis of corresponding English prepositions and preposition compounds such as “with”, “without”, and “by means of”. The BAI cmavo, however, are far more precise than English prepositions, because their meanings are fixed by the place structures of the corresponding gismu.

All BAI cmavo have the form CV'V or CVV. Most of them are CV'V, where the C is the first consonant of the corresponding gismu and the two Vs are the two vowels of the gismu. The table in Section 16 shows the exceptions.

There is one additional BAI cmavo that is not derived from a gismu: “do'e”. This cmavo is used when an extra place is needed, but it seems useful to be vague about the semantic implications of the extra place:

6.7)   lo nanmu be do'e le berti cu klama le tcadu
       Some man [related to] the north came to-the city.
       A man of the north came to the city.

Here “le berti” is provided as a modal place of the selbri “nanmu”, but its exact significance is vague, and is paralleled in the colloquial translation by the vague English preposition “of”. Example 6.7 also illustrates a modal place bound into a selbri with “be”. This construction is useful when the selbri of a description requires a modal place; this and other uses of “be” are more fully explained in Chapter 5.

Modal sentence connection: the causals

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

     ri'a    BAI                 rinka modal: physical cause
     ki'u    BAI                 krinu modal: justification
     mu'i    BAI                 mukti modal: motivation
     ni'i    BAI                 nibli modal: logical entailment

This section has two purposes. On the one hand, it explains the grammatical construct called “modal sentence connection”. On the other, it exemplifies some of the more useful BAI cmavo: the causals. (There are other BAI cmavo which have causal implications: “ja'e” means “with result”, and so “seja'e” means “with cause of unspecified nature”; likewise, “gau” means “with agent” and “tezu'e” means “with purpose”. These other modal cmavo will not be further discussed here, as my purpose is to explain modal sentence connection rather than Lojbanic views of causation.)

There are four causal gismu in Lojban, distinguishing different versions of the relationships lumped in English as “causal”:

       rinka: event x1 physically causes event x2
       krinu: event x1 is the justification for event x2
       mukti: event x1 is the (human) motive for event x2
       nibli: event x1 logically entails event x2

Each of these gismu has a related modal: “ri'a”, “ki'u”, “mu'i”, and “ni'i” respectively. Using these gismu and these modals, we can create various causal sentences with different implications:

7.1)   le spati cu banro ri'a le nu do djacu dunda fi le spati
       The plant grows with-physical-cause the event-of you water give to the plant.
       The plant grows because you water it.

7.2)   la djan. cpacu le pamoi se jinga ki'u le nu la djan. jinga
       John gets the first prize with-justification the event-of John wins.
       John got the first prize because he won.

7.3)   mi lebna le cukta mu'i le nu mi viska le cukta
       I took the book with-motivation the event-of I saw the book.
       I took the book because I saw it.

7.4)   la sokrates. morsi binxo ni'i le nu la sokrates. remna
       Socrates dead-became with-logical-justification Socrates is-human.
       Socrates died because Socrates is human.

In Examples 7.1 through 7.4, the same English word “because” is used to translate all four modals, but the types of cause being expressed are quite different. Let us now focus on Example 7.1, and explore some variations on it.

As written, Example 7.1 claims that the plant grows, but only refers to the event of watering it in an abstraction bridi (abstractions are explained in Chapter 11) without actually making a claim. If I express Example 7.1, I have said that the plant in fact grows, but I have not said that you actually water it, merely that there is a causal relationship between watering and growing. This is semantically asymmetrical. Suppose I wanted to claim that the plant was being watered, and only mention its growth as ancillary information? Then we could reverse the main bridi and the abstraction bridi, saying:

7.5)   do djacu dunda fi le spati seri'a le nu ri banro
       You water-give to the plant with-physical-effect it grows.
       You water the plant; therefore, it grows.

with the “ri'a” changed to “seri'a”. In addition, there are also symmetrical forms:

7.6)   le nu do djacu dunda fi le spati cu rinka
             le nu le spati cu banro
       The event-of (you water-give to the plant) causes
             the event-of (the plant grows).
       Your watering the plant causes its growth.
       If you water the plant, then it grows.

does not claim either event, but asserts only the causal relationship between them. So in Example 7.6, I am not saying that the plant grows nor that you have in fact watered it. The second colloquial translation shows a form of “if-then” in English quite distinct from the logical connective “if-then” explained in Chapter 14.

Suppose we wish to claim both events as well as their causal relationship? We can use one of two methods:

7.7)   le spati cu banro .iri'abo do djacu dunda fi le spati
       The plant grows. Because you water-give to the plant.
       The plant grows because you water it.

7.8)   do djacu dunda fi le spati .iseri'abo le spati cu banro
       You water-give to the plant. Therefore it grows.
       You water the plant; therefore, it grows.

The compound cmavo “.iri'abo” and “.iseri'abo” serve to connect two bridi, as the initial “.i” indicates. The final “bo” is necessary to prevent the modal from “taking over” the following sumti. If the “bo” were omitted from Example 7.7 we would have:

7.9)   le spati cu banro .i ri'a do djacu dunda fi le spati
       The plant grows.  Because of you, [something] water-gives to the plant.
       The plant grows. Because of you, water is given to the plant.

Because “ri'a do” is a modal sumti in Example 7.9, there is no longer an explicit sumti in the x1 place of “djacu dunda”, and the translation must be changed.

The effect of sentences like Example 7.7 and Example 7.8 is that the modal, “ri'a” in this example, no longer modifies an explicit sumti. Instead, the sumti is implicit, the event given by a full bridi. Furthermore, there is a second implication: that the first bridi fills the x2 place of the gismu “rinka”; it specifies an event which is the effect. I am therefore claiming three things: that the plant grows, that you have watered it, and that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between the two.

In principle, any modal tag can appear in a sentence connective of the type exemplified by Example 7.7 and Example 7.8. However, it makes little sense to use any modals which do not expect events or other abstractions to fill the places of the corresponding gismu. The sentence connective “.ibaubo” is perfectly grammatical, but it is hard to imagine any two sentences which could be connected by an “in-language” modal. This is because a sentence describes an event, and an event can be a cause or an effect, but not a language.

Other modal connections

Like many Lojban grammatical constructions, sentence modal connection has both forethought and afterthought forms. (See Chapter 14 for a more detailed discussion of Lojban connectives.) Section 7 exemplifies only afterthought modal connection, illustrated here by:

8.1)   mi jgari lei djacu .iri'abo mi jgari le kabri
       I grasp the-mass-of water with-physical-cause I grasp the cup.
       Causing the mass of water to be grasped by me, I grasped the cup.
       I grasp the water because I grasp the cup.

An afterthought connection is one that is signaled only by a cmavo (or a compound cmavo, in this case) between the two constructs being connected. Forethought connection uses a signal both before the first construct and between the two: the use of “both” and “and” in the first half of this sentence represents a forethought connection (though not a modal one).

To make forethought modal sentence connections in Lojban, place the modal plus “gi” before the first bridi, and “gi” between the two. No “.i” is used within the construct. The forethought equivalent of Example 8.1 is:

8.2)   ri'agi mi jgari le kabri gi mi jgari lei djacu
       With-physical-cause I grasp the cup, I grasp the-mass-of water.
       Because I grasp the cup, I grasp the water.

Note that the cause, the x1 of “rinka” is now placed first. To keep the two bridi in the original order of Example 8.1, we could say:

8.3)   seri'agi mi jgari lei djacu gi mi jgari le kabri
       With-physical-effect I grasp the-mass-of water, I grasp the cup.

In English, the sentence “*Therefore I grasp the water, I grasp the cup” is ungrammatical, because “therefore” is not grammatically equivalent to “because”. In Lojban, “seri'agi” can be used just like “ri'agi”.

When the two bridi joined by a modal connection have one or more elements (selbri or sumti or both) in common, there are various condensed forms that can be used in place of full modal sentence connection with both bridi completely stated.

When the bridi are the same except for a single sumti, as in Examples 8.1 through 8.3, then a sumti modal connection may be employed:

8.4)   mi jgari ri'agi le kabri gi lei djacu
       I grasp because the cup, the-mass-of water.

Example 8.4 means exactly the same as Examples 8.1 through 8.3, but there is no idiomatic English translation that will distinguish it from them.

If the two connected bridi are different in more than one sumti, then a termset may be employed. Termsets are explained more fully in Chapter 14, but are essentially a mechanism for creating connections between multiple sumti simultaneously.

8.5)   mi dunda le cukta la djan. .imu'ibo la djan. dunda lei jdini mi
       I gave the book to John. Motivated-by John gave the-mass-of money to-me.
       I gave the book to John, because John gave money to me.

means the same as:

8.6)   nu'i mu'igi mi le cukta la djan. gi la djan. lei jdini mi nu'u dunda
       [start] because I, the book, John; John, the-mass-of money, me [end] gives.

Here there are three sumti in each half of the termset, because the two bridi share only their selbri.

There is no modal connection between selbri as such: bridi which differ only in the selbri can be modally connected using bridi-tail modal connection. The bridi-tail construct is more fully explained in Chapter 14, but essentially it consists of a selbri with optional sumti following it. Example 7.3 is suitable for bridi-tail connection, and could be shortened to:

8.7)   mi mu'igi viska le cukta gi lebna le cukta
       I, because saw the book, took the book.

Again, no straightforward English translation exists. It is even possible to shorten Example 8.7 further to:

8.8)   mi mu'igi viska gi lebna vau le cukta
       I because saw, therefore took, the book.

where “le cukta” is set off by the non-elidable “vau” and is made to belong to both bridi-tails — see Chapter 14 for more explanations.

Since this is a chapter on rearranging sumti, it is worth pointing out that Example 8.8 can be further rearranged to:

8.9)   mi le cukta mu'igi viska gi lebna
       I, the book, because saw, therefore took.

which doesn’t require the extra “vau”; all sumti before a conjunction of bridi-tails are shared.

Finally, mathematical operands can be modally connected.

8.10)  li ny. du li vo
             .ini'ibo li ny. du li re su'i re
       the number n = the-number 4.
             Entailed-by the-number n = the-number 2 + 2.
       n = 4 because n = 2 + 2.

can be reduced to:

8.11)  li ny. du li ni'igi vei re su'i re [ve'o] gi vo
       the-number n = the-number because ( 2 + 2 ) therefore 4.
       n is 2 + 2, and is thus 4.

The cmavo “vei” and “ve'o” represent mathematical parentheses, and are required so that “ni'igi” affects more than just the immediately following operand, namely the first “re”. (The right parenthesis, “ve'o”, is an elidable terminator.) As usual, no English translation does Example 8.11 justice.

Note: Due to restrictions on the Lojban parsing algorithm, it is not possible to form modal connectives using the “fi'o”-plus-selbri form of modal. Only the predefined modals of selma'o BAI can be compounded as shown in Sections 7 and 8.

Modal selbri

Consider the example:

9.1)   mi tavla bau la lojban. bai tu'a la frank.
       I speak in-language Lojban with-compeller some-act-by Frank.
       I speak in Lojban, under compulsion by Frank.

Example 9.1 has two modal sumti, using the modals “bau” and “bai”. Suppose we wanted to specify the language explicitly but be vague about who’s doing the compelling. We can simplify Example 9.1 to:

9.2)   mi tavla bau la lojban. bai [ku].
       I speak in-language Lojban under-compulsion.

In Example 9.2, the elidable terminator “ku” has taken the place of the sumti which would normally follow “bai”. Alternatively, we could specify the one who compels but keep the language vague:

9.3)   mi tavla bau [ku] bai tu'a la frank.
       I speak in-some-language under-compulsion-by some-act-by Frank.

We are also free to move the modal-plus-“ku” around the bridi:

9.4)   bau [ku] bai ku mi tavla
       In-some-language under-compulsion I speak.

An alternative to using “ku” is to place the modal cmavo right before the selbri, following the “cu” which often appears there. When a modal is present, the “cu” is almost never necessary.

9.5)   mi bai tavla bau la lojban.
       I compelledly speak in-language Lojban.

In this use, the modal is like a tanru modifier semantically, although grammatically it is quite distinct. Example 9.5 is very similar in meaning to:

9.6)   mi se bapli tavla bau la lojban.
       I compelledly-speak in-language Lojban.

The “se” conversion is needed because “bapli tavla” would be a “compeller type of speaker” rather than a “compelled (by someone) type of speaker”, which is what a “bai tavla” is.

If the modal preceding a selbri is constructed using “fi'o”, then “fe'u” is required to prevent the main selbri and the modal selbri from colliding:

9.7)   mi fi'o kanla fe'u viska do
       I with-eye see you.
       I see you with my eye(s).

There are two other uses of modals. A modal can be attached to a pair of bridi-tails that have already been connected by a logical, non-logical, or modal connection (see Chapter 14 for more on logical and non-logical connections):

9.8)   mi bai ke ge klama le zarci gi cadzu le bisli [ke'e]
       I under-compulsion (both go to-the market and walk on-the ice).
       Under compulsion, I both go to the market and walk on the ice.

Here the “bai” is spread over both “klama le zarci” and “cadzu le bisli”, and the “ge ... gi” represents the logical connection “both-and” between the two.

Similarly, a modal can be attached to multiple sentences that have been combined with “tu'e” and “tu'u”, which are explained in more detail in Chapter 19:

9.9)   bai tu'e mi klama le zarci .i mi cadzu le bisli [tu'u]
       Under-compulsion [start] I go to-the market. I walk on-the ice [end].

means the same thing as Example 9.8.

Note: Either BAI modals or “fi'o”-plus-selbri modals may correctly be used in any of the constructions discussed in this section.

Modal relative phrases; Comparison

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

     pe      GOI                 restrictive relative phrase
     ne      GOI                 incidental relative phrase
     mau     BAI                 zmadu modal
     me'a    BAI                 mleca modal

Relative phrases and clauses are explained in much more detail in Chapter 8. However, there is a construction which combines a modal with a relative phrase which is relevant to this chapter. Consider the following examples of relative clauses:

10.1)  la .apasionatas. poi se cusku la .artr. rubnstain. cu se nelci mi
       The Appassionata which is-expressed-by Arthur Rubinstein is-liked-by me.

10.2)  la .apasionatas. noi se finti la betovn. cu se nelci mi
       The Appassionata, which is-created-by Beethoven, is-liked-by me.

In Example 10.1, “la .apasionatas.” refers to a particular performance of the sonata, namely the one performed by Rubinstein. Therefore, the relative clause “poi se cusku” uses the cmavo “poi” (of selma'o NOI) to restrict the meaning of “la .apasionatas” to the performance in question.

In Example 10.2, however, “la .apasionatas.” refers to the sonata as a whole, and the information that it was composed by Beethoven is merely incidental. The cmavo “noi” (also of selma'o NOI) expresses the incidental nature of this relationship.

The cmavo “pe” and “ne” (of selma'o GOI) are roughly equivalent to “poi” and “noi” respectively, but are followed by sumti rather than full bridi. We can abbreviate Example 10.1 and Example 10.2 to:

10.3)  la .apasionatas pe la .artr. rubnstain. se nelci mi
       The Appassionata of Arthur Rubinstein is-liked-by me.

10.4)  la .apasionatas ne la betovn. se nelci mi
       The Appassionata, which is of Beethoven, is-liked-by me.

Here the precise selbri of the relative clauses is lost: all we can tell is that the Appassionata is connected in some way with Rubinstein (in Example 10.3) and Beethoven (in Example 10.4), and that the relationships are respectively restrictive and incidental.

It happens that both “cusku” and “finti” have BAI cmavo, namely “cu'u” and “fi'e”. We can recast Example 10.3 and Example 10.4 as:

10.5)  la .apasionatas pe cu'u la .artr. rubnstain. cu se nelci mi
       The Appassionata expressed-by Arthur Rubinstein is-liked-by me.

10.6)  la .apasionatas ne fi'e la betovn. cu se nelci mi
       The Appassionata, invented-by Beethoven, is-liked-by me.

Example 10.5 and Example 10.6 have the full semantic content of Example 10.1 and Example 10.2 respectively.

Modal relative phrases are often used with the BAI cmavo “mau” and “me'a”, which are based on the comparative gismu “zmadu” (more than) and “mleca” (less than) respectively. The place structures are:

       zmadu: x1 is more than x2 in property/quantity x3 by amount x4
       mleca: x1 is less than x2 in property/quantity x3 by amount x4

Here are some examples:

10.7)  la frank. nelci la betis. ne semau la meiris.
       Frank likes Betty, which-is more-than Mary.
       Frank likes Betty more than (he likes) Mary.

Example 10.7 requires that Frank likes Betty, but adds the information that his liking for Betty exceeds his liking for Mary. The modal appears in the form “semau” because the x2 place of “zmadu” is the basis for comparison: in this case, Frank’s liking for Mary.

10.8)  la frank. nelci la meiris. ne seme'a la betis.
       Frank likes Mary, which-is less-than Betty.
       Frank likes Mary less than (he likes) Betty.

Here we are told that Frank likes Mary less than he likes Betty; the information about the comparison is the same. It would be possible to rephrase Example 10.7 using “me'a” rather than “semau”, and Example 10.8 using “mau” rather than “seme'a”, but such usage would be unnecessarily confusing. Like many BAI cmavo, “mau” and “me'a” are more useful when converted with “se”.

If the “ne” were omitted in Example 10.7 and Example 10.8, the modal sumti (“la meiris.” and “la betis.” respectively) would become attached to the bridi as a whole, producing a very different translation. Example 10.8 would become:

10.9)  la frank. nelci la meiris. seme'a la betis.
       Frank likes Mary is-less-than Betty.
       Frank’s liking Mary is less than Betty.

which compares a liking with a person, and is therefore nonsense.

Pure comparison, which states only the comparative information but says nothing about whether Frank actually likes either Mary or Betty (he may like neither, but dislike Betty less), would be expressed differently, as:

10.10) le ni la frank. nelci la betis. cu zmadu
            le ni la frank. nelci la meiris.
       The quantity-of Frank’s liking Betty is-more-than
            the quantity-of Frank’s liking Mary.

The mechanisms explained in this section are appropriate to many modals other than “semau” and “seme'a”. Some other modals that are often associated with relative phrases are: “seba'i” (“instead of”), “ci'u” (“on scale”), “de'i” (“dated”), “du'i” (“as much as”). Some BAI tags can be used equally well in relative phrases or attached to bridi; others seem useful only attached to bridi. But it is also possible that the usefulness of particular BAI modals is an English-speaker bias, and that speakers of other languages may find other BAIs useful in divergent ways.

Note: The uses of modals discussed in this section are applicable both to BAI modals and to “fi'o”-plus-selbri modals.

Mixed modal connection

It is possible to mix logical connection (explained in Chapter 14) with modal connection, in a way that simultaneously asserts the logical connection and the modal relationship. Consider the sentences:

11.1)  mi nelci do .ije mi nelci la djein.
       I like you. And I like Jane.

which is a logical connection, and

11.2)  mi nelci do .iki'ubo mi nelci la djein.
       I like you. Justified-by I like Jane.

The meanings of Example 11.1 and Example 11.2 can be simultaneously expressed by combining the two compound cmavo, thus:

11.3)  mi nelci do .ijeki'ubo mi nelci la djein.
       I like you. And justified-by I like Jane.

Here the two sentences “mi nelci do” and “mi nelci la djein.” are simultaneously asserted, their logical connection is asserted, and their causal relationship is asserted. The logical connective “je” comes before the modal “ki'u” in all such mixed connections.

Since “mi nelci do” and “mi nelci la djein.” differ only in the final sumti, we can transform Example 11.3 into a mixed sumti connection:

11.4)  mi nelci do .eki'ubo la djein.
       I like you and/because Jane.

Note that this connection is an afterthought one. Mixed connectives are always afterthought; forethought connectives must be either logical or modal.

There are numerous other afterthought logical and non-logical connectives that can have modal information planted within them. For example, a bridi-tail connected version of Example 11.4 would be:

11.5)  mi nelci do gi'eki'ubo nelci la djein.
       I like you and/because like Jane.

The following three complex examples all mean the same thing.

11.6)   mi bevri le dakli
             .ijeseri'abo tu'e mi bevri le gerku .ijadu'ibo mi bevri le mlatu [tu'u]
       I carry the sack.
             And [effect] (I carry the dog. And/or [equal] I carry the cat.)
       I carry the sack.
             As a result I carry the dog or I carry the cat, equally.

11.7)  mi bevri le dakli
             gi'eseri'ake bevri le gerku gi'adu'ibo bevri le mlatu [ke'e]
       I carry the sack
             and [effect] (carry the dog and/or [equal] carry the cat).
       I carry the sack and as a result carry the dog or carry the cat equally.

11.8)  mi bevri le dakli
             .eseri'ake le gerku .adu'ibo le mlatu [ke'e]
       I carry the sack
             and [effect] (the cat and/or [equal] the dog).
       I carry the sack, and as a result the cat or the dog equally.

In Example 11.6, the “tu'e ... tu'u” brackets are the equivalent of the “ke ... ke'e” brackets in Example 11.7 and Example 11.8, because “ke ... ke'e” cannot extend across more than one sentence. It would also be possible to change the “.ijeseri'abo” to “.ije seri'a”, which would show that the “tu'e ... tu'u” portion was an effect, but would not pin down the “mi bevri le dakli” portion as the cause. It is legal for a modal (or a tense; see Chapter 10) to modify the whole of a “tu'e ... tu'u” construct.

Note: The uses of modals discussed in this section are applicable both to BAI modals and to “fi'o”-plus-selbri modals.

Modal conversion: JAI

The following cmavo are discussed in this section:

     jai     JAI                 modal conversion
     fai     FA                  modal place structure tag

So far, conversion of numbered bridi places with SE and the addition of modal places with BAI have been two entirely separate operations. However, it is possible to convert a selbri in such a way that, rather than exchanging two numbered places, a modal place is made into a numbered place. For example,

12.1)  mi cusku bau la lojban.
       I express [something] in-language Lojban.

has an explicit x1 place occupied by “mi” and an explicit “bau” place occupied by “la lojban.” To exchange these two, we use a modal conversion operator consisting of “jai” (of selma'o JAI) followed by the modal cmavo. Thus, the modal conversion of Example 12.1 is:

12.2)  la lojban. jai bau cusku fai mi
       Lojban is-the-language-of-expression used-by me.

In Example 12.2, the modal place “la lojban.” has become the x1 place of the new selbri “jai bau cusku”. What has happened to the old x1 place? There is no numbered place for it to move to, so it moves to a special “unnumbered place” marked by the tag “fai” of selma'o FA.

Note: For the purposes of place numbering, “fai” behaves like “fi'a”; it does not affect the numbering of the other places around it.

Like SE conversions, JAI conversions are especially convenient in descriptions. We may refer to “the language of an expression” as “le jai bau cusku”, for example.

In addition, it is grammatical to use “jai” without a following modal. This usage is not related to modals, but is explained here for completeness. The effect of “jai” by itself is to send the x1 place, which should be an abstraction, into the “fai” position, and to raise one of the sumti from the abstract sub-bridi into the x1 place of the main bridi. This feature is discussed in more detail in Chapter 11. The following two examples mean the same thing:

12.3)  le nu mi lebna le cukta cu se krinu le nu mi viska le cukta
       The event-of (I take the book) is-justified-by the event-of (I see the book).
       My taking the book is justified by my seeing it.

12.4)  mi jai se krinu le nu mi viska le cukta kei
             [fai le nu mi lebna le cukta]
       I am-justified by the event-of (I see the book)
             [namely, the event-of (I take the book)]
       I am justified in taking the book by seeing the book.

Example 12.4, with the bracketed part omitted, allows us to say that “I am justified” whereas in fact it is my action that is justified. This construction is vague, but useful in representing natural-language methods of expression.

Note: The uses of modals discussed in this section are applicable both to BAI modals and to “fi'o”-plus-selbri modals.

Modal negation

Negation is explained in detail in Chapter 15. There are two forms of negation in Lojban: contradictory and scalar negation. Contradictory negation expresses what is false, whereas scalar negation says that some alternative to what has been stated is true. A simple example is the difference between “John didn’t go to Paris” (contradictory negation) and “John went to (somewhere) other than Paris” (scalar negation).

Contradictory negation involving BAI cmavo is performed by appending “-nai” (of selma'o NAI) to the BAI. A common use of modals with “-nai” is to deny a causal relationship:

13.1)  mi nelci do mu'inai le nu do nelci mi
       I like you, but not because you like me.

Example 13.1 denies that the relationship between my liking you (which is asserted) and your liking me (which is not asserted) is one of motivation. Nothing is said about whether you like me or not, merely that that hypothetical liking is not the motivation for my liking you.

Scalar negation is achieved by prefixing “na'e” (of selma'o NAhE), or any of the other cmavo of NAhE, to the BAI cmavo.

13.2)  le spati cu banro na'emu'i le nu
             do djacu dunda fi le spati
       The plant grows other-than-motivated-by the event-of
             you water-give to the plant.

Example 13.2 says that the relationship between the plant’s growth and your watering it is not one of motivation: the plant is not motivated to grow, as plants are not something which can have motivation as a rule. Implicitly, some other relationship between watering and growth exists, but Example 13.2 doesn’t say what it is (presumably “ri'a”).

Note: Modals made with “fi'o” plus a selbri cannot be negated directly. The selbri can itself be negated either with contradictory or with scalar negation, however.

Sticky modals

The following cmavo is discussed in this section:

     ki      KI                  stickiness flag

Like tenses, modals can be made persistent from the bridi in which they appear to all following bridi. The effect of this “stickiness” is to make the modal, along with its following sumti, act as if it appeared in every successive bridi. Stickiness is put into effect by following the modal (but not any following sumti) with the cmavo “ki” of selma'o KI. For example,

14.1)  mi tavla bau la lojban. bai ki tu'a la frank.
            .ibabo mi tavla bau la gliban.
       I speak in-language Lojban compelled-by some-property-of Frank.
            Afterward, I speak in-language English.

means the same as:

14.2)  mi tavla bau la lojban. bai tu'a la frank.
       .ibabo mi tavla bau la gliban.
             bai tu'a la frank.
       I speak in-language Lojban compelled-by some-property-of Frank.
            Afterward, I speak in-language English
                 compelled-by some-property-of Frank.

In Example 14.1, “bai” is made sticky, and so Frank’s compelling is made applicable to every following bridi. “bau” is not sticky, and so the language may vary from bridi to bridi, and if not specified in a particular bridi, no assumption can safely be made about its value.

To cancel stickiness, use the form “BAI ki ku”, which stops any modal value for the specified BAI from being passed to the next bridi. To cancel stickiness for all modals simultaneously, and also for any sticky tenses that exist (“ki” is used for both modals and tenses), use “ki” by itself, either before the selbri or (in the form “ki ku”) anywhere in the bridi:

14.3)  mi ki tavla
       I speak (no implication about language or compulsion).

Note: Modals made with “fi'o”-plus-selbri cannot be made sticky. This is an unfortunate, but unavoidable, restriction.

Logical and non-logical connection of modals

Logical and non-logical connectives are explained in detail in Chapter 14. For the purposes of this chapter, it suffices to point out that a logical (or non-logical) connection between two bridi which differ only in a modal can be reduced to a single bridi with a connective between the modals. As a result, Example 15.1 and Example 15.2 mean the same thing:

15.1)  la frank. bajra seka'a le zdani .ije la frank. bajra teka'a le zdani
       Frank runs with-destination the house. And Frank runs with-origin the house.
       Frank runs to the house, and Frank runs from the house.

15.2)  la frank. bajra seka'a je teka'a le zdani
       Frank runs with-destination and with-origin the house.
       Frank runs to and from the house.

Neither example implies whether a single act, or two acts, of running is referred to. To compel the sentence to refer to a single act of running, you can use the form:

15.3)  la frank. bajra seka'a le zdani ce'e teka'a le zdani
       Frank runs with-destination the house [joined-to] with-origin the-house.

The cmavo “ce'e” creates a termset containing two terms (termsets are explained in Chapter 14 and Chapter 16). When a termset contains more than one modal tag derived from a single BAI, the convention is that the two tags are derived from a common event.

CV'V cmavo of selma'o BAI with irregular forms

There are 65 cmavo of selma'o BAI, of which all but one (“do'e”, discussed in Section 6), are derived directly from selected gismu. Of these 64 cmavo, 36 are entirely regular and have the form CV'V, where C is the first consonant of the corresponding gismu, and the Vs are the two vowels of the gismu. The remaining BAI cmavo, which are irregular in one way or another, are listed in the table below. The table is divided into sub-tables according to the nature of the exception; some cmavo appear in more than one sub-table, and are so noted.

   cmavo    gismu        comments

    Monosyllables of the form CVV:

    bai     bapli
    bau     bangu
    cau     claxu
    fau     fasnu
    gau     gasnu
    kai     ckaji        uses 2nd consonant of gismu
    mau     zmadu        uses 2nd consonant of gismu
    koi     korbi
    rai     traji        uses 2nd consonant of gismu
    sau     sarcu
    tai     tamsmi       based on lujvo, not gismu
    zau     zanru

    Second consonant of the gismu as the C:
        (the gismu is always of the form CCVCV)

    ga'a    zgana
    kai     ckaji        has CVV form (monosyllable)
    ki'i    ckini
    la'u    klani        has irregular 2nd V
    le'a    klesi        has irregular 2nd V
    mau     zmadu        has CVV form (monosyllable)
    me'e    cmene
    ra'a    srana
    ra'i    krasi
    rai     traji        has CVV form (monosyllable)
    ti'i    stidi
    tu'i    stuzi

    Irregular 2nd V:

    fi'e    finti
    la'u    klani        uses 2nd consonant of gismu
    le'a    klesi        uses 2nd consonant of gismu
    ma'e    marji
    mu'u    mupli
    ti'u    tcika
    va'o    vanbi

    Special cases:

    ri'i    lifri        uses 3rd consonant of gismu
    tai     tamsmi       based on lujvo, not gismu
    va'u    xamgu        CV'V cmavo can’t begin with “x”

Complete table of BAI cmavo with rough English equivalents

The following table shows all the cmavo belonging to selma'o BAI, and has five columns. The first column is the cmavo itself; the second column is the gismu linked to it. The third column gives an English phrase which indicates the meaning of the cmavo; and the fourth column indicates its meaning when preceded by “se”.

For those cmavo with meaningful “te”, “ve”, and even “xe” conversions (depending on the number of places of the underlying gismu), the meanings of these are shown on one or two extra rows following the primary row for that cmavo.

It should be emphasized that the place structures of the gismu control the meanings of the BAI cmavo. The English phrases shown here are only suggestive, and are often too broad or too narrow to correctly specify what the acceptable range of uses for the modal tag are.

    ba'i    basti   replaced by                    instead of
    bai     bapli   compelled by                   compelling
    bau     bangu   in language                    in language of
    be'i    benji   sent by                        transmitting
                    te=sent to                     ve=with transmit origin
                    xe=transmitted via
    ca'i    catni   by authority of                with authority over
    cau     claxu   lacked by                      without
    ci'e    ciste   in system                      with system function
                    te=of system components
    ci'o    cinmo   felt by                        feeling emotion
    ci'u    ckilu   on the scale                   on scale measuring
    cu'u    cusku   as said by                     expressing
                    te=as told to                  ve=expressed in medium
    de'i    detri   dated                          on the same date as
    di'o    diklo   at the locus of                at specific locus
    do'e    -----   vaguely related to
    du'i    dunli   as much as                     equal to
    du'o    djuno   according to                   knowing facts
                    te=knowing about
                    ve=under epistemology
    fa'e    fatne   reverse of                     in reversal of
    fau     fasnu   in the event of
    fi'e    finti   created by                     creating work
                    te=created                     for purpose
    ga'a    zgana   to observer                    observing
                    te=observed                    by means
                    ve=observed under conditions
    gau     gasnu   with agent                     as agent in doing
    ja'e    jalge   resulting in                   results because of
    ja'i    javni   by rule                        by rule prescribing
    ji'e    jimte   up to limit                    as a limit of
    ji'o    jitro   under direction                controlling
    ji'u    jicmu   based on                       supporting
    ka'a    klama   gone to by                     with destination
                    te=with origin                 ve=via route
                    xe=by transport mode
    ka'i    krati   represented by                 on behalf of
    kai     ckaji   characterizing                 with property
    ki'i    ckini   as relation of                 related to
                    te=with relation
    ki'u    krinu   justified by                   with justified result
    koi     korbi   bounded by                     as boundary of
                    te=bordering
    ku'u    kulnu   in culture                     in culture of
    la'u    klani   as quantity of                 in quantity
    le'a    klesi   in category                    as category of
                    te=defined by quality
    li'e    lidne   led by                         leading
    ma'e    marji   of material                    made from material
                    te=in material form of
    ma'i    manri   in reference frame             as a standard for
    mau     zmadu   exceeded by                    more than
    me'a    mleca   undercut by                    less than
    me'e    cmene   with name                      as a name for
                    te=as a name to
    mu'i    mukti   motivated by                   motive therefore
    mu'u    mupli   exemplified by                 as an example of
    ni'i    nibli   entailed by                    entails
    pa'a    panra   in addition to                 similar to
                    te=similar in pattern
                    ve=similar by standard
    pa'u    pagbu   with component                 as a part of
    pi'o    pilno   used by                        using tool
    po'i    porsi   in the sequence                sequenced by rule
    pu'a    pluka   pleased by                     in order to please
    pu'e    pruce   by process                     processing from
                    te=processing into
                    ve=passing through stages
    ra'a    srana   pertained to by concerning
    ra'i    krasi   from source as an origin of
    rai     traji   with superlative               superlative in
                    te=at extreme                  ve=superlative among
    ri'a    rinka   caused by                      causing
    ri'i    lifri   experienced by                 experiencing
    sau     sarcu   requiring                      necessarily for
                    te=necessarily under conditions
    si'u    sidju   aided by                       assisting in
    ta'i    tadji   by method                      as a method for
    tai     tamsmi  as a form of                   in form
                    te=in form similar to
    ti'i    stidi   suggested by                   suggesting
                    te=suggested to
    ti'u    tcika   with time                      at the time of
    tu'i    stuzi   with site                      as location of
    va'o    vanbi   under conditions               as conditions for
    va'u    xamgu   benefiting from                with beneficiary
    zau     zanru   approved by                    approving
    zu'e    zukte   with actor                     with means to goal
                    te=with goal

The lujvo “tamsmi” on which “tai” is based is derived from the tanru “tarmi simsa” and has the place structure:

       tamsmi: x1 has form x2, similar in form to x3 in property/quality x4

This lujvo is employed because “tarmi” does not have a place structure useful for the modal’s purpose.