The Complete Lojban Language
There is no particular stress required in cmavo or their compounds. Some conventions do exist that are not mandatory. For two-syllable cmavo, for example, stress is typically placed on the first vowel; an example is
- Example 4.6
- .e'o ko ko kurji
- .E'o ko ko KURji
This convention results in a consistent rhythm to the language, since brivla are required to have penultimate stress; some find this esthetically pleasing.
If the final syllable of one word is stressed, and the first syllable of the next word is stressed, you must insert a pause or glottal stop between the two stressed syllables. Thus
- Example 4.7
- le re nanmu
can be optionally pronounced
- Example 4.8
- le RE. NANmu
since there are no rules forcing stress on either of the first two words; the stress on re, though, demands that a pause separate re from the following syllable nan to ensure that the stress on nan is properly heard as a stressed syllable. The alternative pronunciation
- Example 4.9
- LE re NANmu
is also valid; this would apply secondary stress (used for purposes of emphasis, contrast or sentence rhythm) to le, comparable in rhythmical effect to the English phrase “THE two men”. In Example 4.8 (p. 52), the secondary stress on re would be similar to that in the English phrase “the TWO men”.
Both cmavo may also be left unstressed, thus:
- Example 4.10
- le re NANmu
This would probably be the most common usage.
4.3 brivla
Predicate words, called brivla, are at the core of Lojban. They carry most of the semantic information in the language. They serve as the equivalent of English nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, all in a single part of speech.
Every brivla belongs to one of three major subtypes. These subtypes are defined by the form, or morphology, of the word – all words of a particular structure can be assigned by sight or sound to a particular type (cmavo, brivla, or cmene) and subtype. Knowing the type and subtype then gives you, the reader or listener, significant clues to the meaning and the origin of the word, even if you have never heard the word before.
The same principle allows you, when speaking or writing, to invent new brivla for new concepts “on the fly”; yet it offers people that you are trying to communicate with a good chance to figure out your meaning. In this way, Lojban has a flexible vocabulary which can be expanded indefinitely.
All brivla have the following properties:
- always end in a vowel;
- always contain a consonant pair in the first five letters, where y and apostrophe are not counted as letters for this purpose (see Section 4.6 (p. 56).);
- always are stressed on the next-to-the-last (penultimate) syllable; this implies that they have two or more syllables.
The presence of a consonant pair distinguishes brivla from cmavo and their compounds. The final vowel distinguishes brivla from cmene, which always end in a consonant. Thus da'amei must be a
