The Complete Lojban Language
bl br cf ck cl cm cn cp cr ct dj dr dz fl fr gl gr jb jd jg jm jv kl kr ml mr pl pr sf sk sl sm sn sp sr st tc tr ts vl vr xl xr zb zd zg zm zv
Lest this list seem almost random, a pairing of voiced and unvoiced equivalent vowels will show significant patterns which may help in learning:
pl pr fl fr bl br vl vr cp cf ct ck cm cn cl cr jb jv jd jg jm sp sf st sk sm sn sl sr zb zv zd zg zm tc tr ts kl kr dj dr dz gl gr ml mr xl xr
Note that if both consonants of an initial pair are voiced, the unvoiced equivalent is also permissible, and the voiced pair can be pronounced simply by voicing the unvoiced pair. (The converse is not true: cn is a permissible initial pair, but jn is not.)
Consonant triples can occur medially in Lojban words. They are subject to the following rules:
- The first two consonants must constitute a permissible consonant pair;
- The last two consonants must constitute a permissible initial consonant pair;
- The triples ndj, ndz, ntc, and nts are forbidden.
Lojbanized names can begin or end with any permissible consonant pair, not just the 48 initial consonant pairs listed above, and can have consonant triples in any location, as long as the pairs making up those triples are permissible. In addition, names can contain consonant clusters with more than three consonants, again requiring that each pair within the cluster is valid.
3.8 Buffering Of Consonant Clusters
Many languages do not have consonant clusters at all, and even those languages that do have them often allow only a subset of the full Lojban set. As a result, the Lojban design allows the use of a buffer sound between consonant combinations which a speaker finds unpronounceable. This sound may be any non-Lojbanic vowel which is clearly separable by the listener from the Lojban vowels. Some possibilities are IPA [ɪ], [ɨ], [ʊ], or even [ʏ], but there probably is no universally acceptable buffer sound. When using a consonant buffer, the sound should be made as short as possible. Two examples showing such buffering (we will use [ɪ] in this chapter) are:
- Example 3.9
- vrusi
- [ˈvru si]
- or
- [vɪ ˈru si]
