Грамматика ложбана/4.2

2. cmavo

Первая группа слов Ложбана, которая рассматривается в этой главе - это cmavo. Это служебные слова, связывающие воедино весь Ложбан. Многие из них сами по себе ничего не значат, но могут влиять на смысл brivla, к которым они приставлены. Cmavo подобны союзам, предлогам, числительным и знакам пунктуации в русском языке. Существует более сотни подвидов cmavo, так называемых “selma'o”, каждый из которых выполняет определённую грамматическую роль. Различные selma'o будут рассмотрены в главах с 5-й по 19-ю, а в Главе 20 будут подведены итоги.

Взависимости от структуры, различают четыре формы обычных cmavo. Вот несколько примеров этих форм:

   V-форма      .a      .e     .i      .o     .u
   CV-форма     ba      ce     di      fo     gu
   VV-форма     .au     .ei    .ia     .o'u   .u'e
   CVV-форма    ki'a    pei    mi'o    coi    cu'u

Кроме того, существует cmavo “.y.” (помните, что “y” - это не V), перед и после которого необходимы паузы.

A simple cmavo thus has the property of having only one or two vowels, or of having a single consonant followed by one or two vowels. Words consisting of three or more vowels in a row, or a single consonant followed by three or more vowels, are also of cmavo form, but are reserved for experimental use: a few examples are “ku'a'e”, “sau'e”, and “bai'ai”. All CVV cmavo beginning with the letter “x” are also reserved for experimental use. In general, though, the form of a cmavo tells you little or nothing about its grammatical use.

“Experimental use” means that the language designers will not assign any standard meaning or usage to these words, and words and usages coined by Lojban speakers will not appear in official dictionaries for the indefinite future. Experimental-use words provide an escape hatch for adding grammatical mechanisms (as opposed to semantic concepts) the need for which was not foreseen.

The cmavo of VV-form include not only the diphthongs and vowel pairs listed in Section 1, but also the following ten additional diphthongs:

           .ia    .ie    .ii    .io    .iu
           .ua    .ue    .ui    .uo    .uu

In addition, cmavo can have the form “Cy”, a consonant followed by the letter “y”. These cmavo represent letters of the Lojban alphabet, and are discussed in detail in Chapter 17.

Compound cmavo are sequences of cmavo attached together to form a single written word. A compound cmavo is always identical in meaning and in grammatical use to the separated sequence of simple cmavo from which it is composed. These words are written in compound form merely to save visual space, and to ease the reader’s burden in identifying when the component cmavo are acting together.

Compound cmavo, while not visually short like their components, can be readily identified by two characteristics:

1)

   They have no consonant pairs or clusters, and

2)

   They end in a vowel.

For example:

2.1) .iseci'i

      .i se ci'i

2.2) punaijecanai

      pu nai je ca nai

2.3) ki'e.u'e

      ki'e .u'e

The cmavo “.u'e” begins with a vowel, and like all words beginning with a vowel, requires a pause (represented by “.”) before it. This pause cannot be omitted simply because the cmavo is incorporated into a compound cmavo. On the other hand,

2.4) ki'e'u'e

is a single cmavo reserved for experimental purposes: it has four vowels.

2.5) cy.ibu.abu

      cy. .ibu .abu

Again the pauses are required (see Section 9); the pause after “cy.” merges with the pause before “.ibu”.

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

2.6) .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

2.7) le re nanmu

can be optionally pronounced

2.8) 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

2.9) 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 2.8, 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:

2.10) le re NANmu

This would probably be the most common usage.