The Complete Lojban Language
they are used to build a lujvo. A long rafsi may be used, especially in noisy environments, in place of a short rafsi; the result is considered the same lujvo, even though the word is spelled and pronounced differently. Thus the word brivla, built from the tanru bridi valsi, is the same lujvo as brivalsi, bridyvla, and bridyvalsi, each of which uses a different combination of rafsi.
When assembling rafsi together into lujvo, the rules for valid brivla must be followed: a consonant cluster must occur in the first five letters (excluding y and '), and the lujvo must end in a vowel.
A y (which is ignored in determining stress or consonant clusters) is inserted in the middle of the consonant cluster to glue the word together when the resulting cluster is either not permissible or the word is likely to break up. There are specific rules describing these conditions, detailed in Section 4.6 (p. 56).
An r (in some cases, an n) is inserted when a CVV-form rafsi attaches to the beginning of a lujvo in such a way that there is no consonant cluster. For example, in the lujvo
- Example 4.26
- soirsai
- from sonci sanmi
- “soldier meal”
- field rations
the rafsi soi- and -sai are joined, with the additional r making up the rs consonant pair needed to make the word a brivla. Without the r, the word would break up into soi sai, two cmavo. The pair of cmavo have no relation to their rafsi lookalikes; they will either be ungrammatical (as in this case), or will express a different meaning from what was intended.
Learning rafsi and the rules for assembling them into lujvo is clearly seen to be necessary for fully using the potential Lojban vocabulary.
Most important, it is possible to invent new lujvo while you speak or write in order to represent a new or unfamiliar concept, one for which you do not know any existing Lojban word. As long as you follow the rules for building these compounds, there is a good chance that you will be understood without explanation.
4.6 rafsi
Every gismu has from two to five rafsi, each of a different form, but each such rafsi represents only one gismu. It is valid to use any of the rafsi forms in building lujvo – whichever the reader or listener will most easily understand, or whichever is most pleasing – subject to the rules of lujvo making. There is a scoring algorithm which is intended to determine which of the possible and legal lujvo forms will be the standard dictionary form (see Section 4.12 (p. 69)).
Each gismu always has at least two rafsi forms; one is the gismu itself (used only at the end of a lujvo), and one is the gismu without its final vowel (used only at the beginning or middle of a lujvo). These forms are represented as CVC/CV or CCVCV (called “the 5-letter rafsi”), and CVC/C or CCVC (called “the 4-letter rafsi”) respectively. The dashes in these rafsi form representations show where other rafsi may be attached to form a valid lujvo. When lujvo are formed only from 4-letter and 5-letter rafsi, known collectively as “long rafsi”, they are called “unreduced lujvo”.
Some examples of unreduced lujvo forms are:
- Example 4.27
- mamtypatfu
- from mamta patfu
- “mother father” or “maternal grandfather”
- Example 4.28
- lerfyliste
- from lerfu liste
- “letter list” or a “list of letters”
- (letters of the alphabet)
