Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Loglan
n the closing decades of the 1 7th cen broadened the scope of formal reasoning the rules laid down for him by that lan
53
A FATHER j j j j j
E MET j j j
' -" "--"... . ......._---_ .... -
I
w
MACHINE; ALSO,
BEFORE VOWELS, j
0
/ j
> Y AS IN YET
'0
0 NOTE; ALSO,
;
BEFORE R, j
6 AS IN OR
U LUTE; ALSO,
BEFORE VOWELS, j
W AS IN WOE
. . .. .. .... ..... . . . .. _-
B BOY j
C SHE j j
----...... . .
0 DOG j j j j
....... _ .._-_. .
F FAT .I J
I
j
.. .. . .... . ----. .. .. . ....... _ .... - -
G GO .I ,I .I
IN OJ IN OJ
J AZURE [FRENCH JEAN ] j
ONLY ONLY
K COAL .I j j
V)
>-
z
LATE; ABLE j
z
0
V) .... ---... -... . ., -,._--_...
Z
0
u M MAN j .I
-0
N NO j j j
P PET j .I .I j j j
R RAIN; BROTHER j .I .I j
................._"._-
S SEW .I j j j j
T TON j j j j .I
V VERY NO j NO
Z ZEPHYR j j
LOG LAN SPEECH SOUNDS comprise the five vowels and 16 all eight languages. In some languages c ("sh" ) and j ("zh") Occur
consonants most widely distributed among the eight languages only in the comhinations tc ("ch" of "chum") and dj ("j" of
spoken by the 1,700 million people of the "target population." A "jam"), obliging a speaker of one ()f those languages to separate
check mark indicates that some similar version of the Loglan sound the Loglan sound out of the psychologically unitary native
occurs in the natural language. Only l, v and z are not common to sound. Loglan words are spelled phonetically with these letters.
54
tease them out. Lacking the very knowl corresponding meaning from the eight natural languages were respelled in Loglan pho
nemics. Trial words (including bIuIa and lablu as well as bla n u ) were then assembled
edge needed to assess the "power" of a
from the phonemes in these words, and each was scored according to the system illustrated
symbolic device, we have invoked in
here. Only the phonemes common to and OCCUlTing in the same order in both the Loglan
sight and speculative hypothesis to pack
and the natural word are counted. Since blanu incorporates all of English "blu," it is given
the structure of Loglan with the formal the maximum rating of 1 ( top right) ; since 28 per cent of the target population speaks
properties that seemed most suitable to English, blanu receives a score of .28 on the English line. Addition of the scores for all
its experimental purpose. Vie cannot be eight languages gave blanu the highest "total learnability" score of .76. This expresses the
sure that this imitative borrowing from probability that a person will learn the word from association with a familiar natural word.
55
tion. We assume that the probability of any Loglan words score 1 in at least CliFE [SHLEE'FEH] CliFE LEAF
learning a new word in a second lan M one language; that is, they contain DZEGO [DZEH'GOH] DZEGO EGG
guage on first, or very few, exposures is all the phonemes for the corresponding FORMA [FOR'MAH] FORMA FORM
well approximated by the proportion of word in that language [see top table at GROCA [GROH'SHAH] GROCA GROW
the phonemes in the corresponding na rightJ. These words, however, had to GRUPA [GROO'PAH] GRUPA GROUP
tive word that one finds in it. This is, of survive the test of learnability in other KAPRE [KAHP'REH] KAPR E COPPER
course, an extension of the familiar prac languages and achieve a high total learn KETLI [KET'LEE] KETLI KEDLE
tice of studying "cognate roots" in sec ability. Loglan distributes such favors
LAKSO [LAHK'SOH] LAKSO LOCK
ond-language learning. The problem of impartially, giving the speakers of each
KRUMA [KROO'MAH] KRUMA ROOM
finding the most learnable Loglan word of the languages, in proportion to their
NAR M I [NAR'MEE] N ARMI ARMY
-and Loglan words are found, not made numbers, easy cognate routes into its
NIGRO [NEEG'ROH] NIGRO NEGRO/BLACK
-is thus reduced to finding a permissible polyglot vocabulary [see bottom table at
PROZA [PROH'lAH] PROZA PROSE
sequence of Loglan phonemes that maxi right] .
mizes the proportion of the target popu RIZNU [REEl'NOO] RIZNU REASON
We have discovered over 1 , 000 Log
lation who will find matching phoneme Ian words by this means. They com SAZNO [SAHl'NOH] SAZNO KNOW
sequences in related words of their na prise the most frequent empirical terms SEDBO [SED'BOH] SEDBO SAID/SAY
tive tongues. Thus the Loglan word (words for phenomena, say) in any lan TRATI [TRAH'TEEl TRAT I TRY
blanu (English: blue), on the basis of its guage, and the ones least likely to be af TRUCI [TROO'SHEE] TRUCI TRUE
phoneme-match to words for blue in the fected by direct interlanguage borrow mCA [TEET'SHA] TITCA TEACH
eight major languages, has a learnability ing. Yet the average of their learnability
of .76. The score of .76 is obtained for scores is surprisingly high; about half of
LEARNABLE WORDS in Loglan for speak-
blantt in the following way. The propor them have scores above .5, and the range
ers of three of the eight languages of the
tion of the phonemes in blantt that of scores is from about .3 to . 9. These
target population incorporate all of the
matches the phonemes in the most simi figures indicate that our technique is not phonemes of the corresponding word in
lar natural word of corresponding mean entirely arbitrary, and preliminary tests the natural language and in the same order
ing is first computed for each language on English-speaking subjects suggest
[see table on preceding page J. This pro that the theoretical ratings tend, if any
portion we assume to be a best estimate thing, to underestimate the real learn
LOGLAN
of the ease with which the speakers of ability of the Loglan vocabulary. The
that language will learn the word blantt. figures also suggest that there is more .,.""_"_m''m_Y
-
We then multiply that proportion by the phonetic similarity among the world's
proportion of speakers in the target languages, even historically divergent MATMA [MOTHER]
population who speak that language. ones, than is commonly supposed. The
The product of these two proportions is possibility of a universal human tongue SUPTA [SOUP]
nothing but the joint probability of two may not be so remote after all.
..... ......... ...... "__.."v._
BLUE
events: first, that a subject drawn at Another feature of the Loglan vocabu BLANU [BLUE] BL U
random will be a Frenchman, say; and lary that should make it easy to learn
----"'----,-".. -" ,.. ..
RICE
second, that he will recognize his own is that each part of speech has its own RISMI [RICE] RAIS
word blett in the Loglan blantt. The phonetic form or forms. It is no accident
DIRT
probability of the first event is only .06; that words like blanu, as in the tables at DERTU [EARTH. SOIL] DRT
of the second, by our assumption, .67; right, are all five-letter words. They all
RAIL
and of their joint occurrence, therefore, possess, in fact, either of two similar con TRElU [RAIL]
R EL
.04. The sum of the resulting probabili sonant-vowel patterns. Blantt has the
VIEW
ties over all eight languages is the proba ccv'cv-form (that is, "consonant-con VITCU [SEE]
VI U
bility that some one of these eight alter son an t- stressed-vowel-cons on an t
PLEASE
native joint events will happen: that a vowel"). Words like bakso and cabro PLUCI [PLEASE] PliZ
subject drawn at random will either be a (pronounced "bahk'-soh" and "shah'
FORT
Frenchman and learn blan u through broh"), on the other hand, exhibit the FOR LI [STRONG] FORT
blett, or that he will be a German and pattern cv'ccv . These two five-letter
AURAL
learn it through blau, or that he will be forms are the only permissable forms of SORLU [EAR]
ORL
a Hindi-speaking Indian and learn it what we have called the simple Loglan
CLASS
through nila, or that he will be a J apa predicate, a grammatical category that KLESI [CLASS] KLAS
nese and not learn it (immediately) at roughly corresponds to the combined
GRODA [BIG] GROSS
all, and so on. Thus the probability that class of English common nouns, adjec
GROS
anyone in this vast polyglot population tives and verbs [see table on page 58J.
will (easily) learn blanu is .76. The Loglan makes no fixed distinctions be
nearest competitor for the job of repre tween these well-defined Indo-European MOSTLEARNABLE WORDS in Loglan
senting the concept "blue" is blula; a categories. By avoiding them it also have high "total learnability" scores meas
somewhat handsomer word from the avoids making the metaphysical distinc ured in terms of the phonemes that com
standpoint of the English-trained ear. tions between "processes" and "things" pose the corresponding words in all of the
But the learnability score of blula is only and between "substances" and "attri- eight natural languages. Each natural word
56
in which they occur in that word. Thus, according to the assump- common to the Loglan and the English word, in boldface type
tions of the Loglan word-finding system, the 20 words at left in the third column. But these words had to score in other
should prove to be immediately learnable by speakers of English. languages as well to be accepted in the Loglan lexicon. Similar
The Loglan words appear in the first column; their pronuncia lists can be drawn up for other major languages and repre-
tions in English phonetics, in the second column; the phonemes sent the Loglan words that their speakers would learn most easily.
TANG
TAN .76
LAN NILA
LAN NllA .76
MI RIZ REIS
MI .71
RIS RAIS
TU DHARTI TERRE ERDE
TU DARTI TER ERDA .71
LI FORTE FORT
LI FORTE FOR .65
__.__m __ .__
is respelled in letters representing Loglan speech sounds, with the these highscoring Loglan words. Because of its great number of
letters in bold face indicating the speech sounds shared with the speakers and its typically short words, Chinese also makes a contri
Loglan word. As this table indicates, the common features of Eng. bution. Russian and Japanese show np with the smallest frequency.
lish, Spanish, French and German, which are spoken by 52 per cent Hindi, with its short, consonantrich words, is intermediate de
of the target population, predominate in the determination of spite its slight similarity to the other IndoEuropean languages.
57
the formal structure of the Loglan vo end in vowels. CV
OPERATORS
cabulary. Whether they be simple five These regularities not only serve the :
letter or complex eight- and even ll purposes of grammatical distinction; : ... --.....-... -.-.... "-" ... .. -.. .....--
letter terms, all of the Loglan predicates they lead to a second interesting result. SENTENTIAL
OPERATORS C'/IV
are instantly identifiable by their No matter how words of any of these OPERATORS
phonetic forms. classes are ordered in the flow of speech,
their lexical separateness and their
COMPOUND
he other classes of Loglan ,:vords, as grammatical identity may be rapidly re CV'CV
T shown in the table at the right, have solved [see table on page 61 ]. The
OPERATORS
I
correspondingly recognizable phonetic reader is challenged to find a combina
SIMPLE CV'C/CV
forms, and they equally reflect the re tion of permissible word-forms that does OR
PREDICATES I
sults of modern logical analysis of gram not resolve. This remarkable property of CCV'jCV
mar. In collapsing the conventional Loglan contributes in turn to what may
European categories of noun, verb, ad ultimately be one of its most useful char CV'Cl
COMPLEX /CV'CI'cv
CCV'[
verb and adjective, the Loglan predicate acteristics: its audiovisual isomorphism. PREDICATES
embodies the realization that all such But more of this important matter later. [TWO-TERM] 0}/CCV'/CV
words may be treated alike for logical
PREDICATES
purposes. They share the distinguishing
property of extralinguistic reference.
e have said that logic and mathe-
W matics were our models. Therefore CV'Cl
ccv'[
/CV'C
/CV'C/CV
}
They are the descriptive terms for the one might expect Loglan to be terse, ex CV'Cl
/CCV'
}
COMPLEX CCV'[
multitude of empirically distinguishable plicit and symbolically compact, and
PREDICATES
objects, actions, qualities and so on with that the logical structure of its sentences CV'Cl
)THREE-TERM] /CV,C
which any language must deal. But for would be plainly apparent. In large meas CCV'[
/CCV'/CV
CV'Cl
mally considered, they are the inter ure the formal separation of empirical /ccv'
CCV'[
changeable counters of the linguistic content from logical structure achieves
transactions with which logic is con this result. Thus the logically manipu
cerned. Ignoring the distinctions be lable aspect of any statement in Loglan is PROPER NAMES LU -C
tween nouns, verbs, adjectives and ad expressed by its 90 operators and con
verbs, Loglan draws other distinctions nectives together with a handful of atti
LOG LAN WORD-CLASSES rellect the syn
that conventional grammar either does tude indicators. These 1 1 2 tiny words
tactical concepts incorporated in the gram
not draw or draws faintly. Thus all [ see table on page 60] carry the entire
mar of the language from symbolic logic
the emotive or attitudinal elements of burden of Loglan grammar and syntax,
and are readily identified by their charac
Loglan speech form a single phonetical and are always immediately recogniz teristic phonetic forms (second colum ..
ly distinct class. Such elements are able for what they are. Many of them from left ) . Thus any one-letter word is a
called indicators . They do not refer; are represented by distinctive symbols logical "connective" and is recognizable as
58
MAXIMUM
,
PROBABLE PROBABLE
ENGLISH WORD-CLASSES
EXAMPLE
REPRESENTED
SIZE OF
CLASS I SIZE OF
CLASS
FREQUENCY
RANGE
-:--.
.. . .. ".
SENSI = SCIENCE !
,
_------ ----
a vowel preceded by a glottal stop (.v). Any vowel diphtbong (l'v) icate," a class of words that takes in the nouns, adjectives, verhs
is an "indicator" of the attitude of the speake,' toward what he says. and adverbs of familiar grammars. Proper names may have any
Any open monosyllable, that is, a consonant followed by a vowel or length and consonant-vowel pattern, but they must be preceded
diphthong (cv or cl'v), or series of such syllahles (cv'cv) is an "op by the name operator lu, must end in a consonant and must
erator," a formal logical, mathematical or grammatical element of not include lu preceded by a consonant. As the columns at right in.
tbe statement in which it occurs. Any five-, eight- or ll-letter word dicate, the use (frequency range) of these words is roughly propor
containing a multiple consonant and ending in a vowel is a "pred- tional to their length and is inverse to the number in each class_
59
77 OPE RATORS
22 I N DICATORS
. ...
10 l U HELL0, GOODBYE
IA I E I I CERT A I NLY, PROBABLY, MAYBE
AI A E AO I WIL L, I WANT, I HOPE
EA EI EO EU WHAT? I S THAT SO? PLEASE. SUPPOSE.
OA O E 0 1 OU MUST, SHOULD, MAY, IT DOESN'T MAnER .
..........................................................................................................
9 SENTENTIAL OPERATORS
c:J:===== . ... ......... .. .... _.- ._ . _ .. _-_._. -
---.--..----. -
_
. ... . ...... .. ................. . -...-.-------.. ---.----.-
.
. .. ...................... . . .-... . . .. ..
.. _ ......... _ . ..... _ ... _ .. -
. . .. ..... ... .. .............._.-
'''' --.- ' - - -- -
. .
TUI TUE TAl KAI IN GENERAL, MOREOVER, ABOVE ALL, SUMM ING U P
N I E NIO PIU SOl HOWEVER, I N ANY CASE, I N PART ICULAR, THER EFORE
NIU UN [ALSO PASSIVE VOICE OF THREE,-PLACE PRED ICATES)
ONE HUNDRED TWELVE "LITTLE" WORDS carry the whole they i n c lude not only the familiar connectives "or" and "and" but
hurden of Loglan logic and grammar. Once these words have heeu the specialized logical concepts of equivalence and implication.
learned, the student will have acquired mastery over the entire The operators are all consonantvowel words. This large class in
grammatical apparatus of the language, together with the many cludes concepts represented in familiar languages by numbers, pro
logical and mathematical devices which have been built into that nouns, prepositions, verb endings, the most common adjectives
grammar. The words as sounded, or spelled, are listed in the col and adverbs, mathematical signs and of course punctuation marks.
umn at left. The logically more significant words have formal Nonetheless all the operators have a common function : to facili
"signs," shown in the middle column, which adapt them for writ tate inference, cross reference, manipulation and transformation
ten manipulation in the algebra of symbolic logic. Some of these within the flow of speech. They may be joined together to ex
signed words correspond to punctuation marks, which are spoken press compound operations ; for example, rada ("all of these" ) .
as well as written in Loglan. The English equivalents of all the The indicators are vowel diphthongs, and relate the attitude of
words are approximated in the column at right. There are four the speaker to what he says. The sentential operators are all com
classes of these "little" words. Each class is identified by its charac posed of a consonant followed by a vowel diphthong ; they serve
teristic phonetic pattern. The con nectives are the five vowel sounds ; various rhetorical functions in the context of sustained speech.
60
a
g
THE CH I E F OF THE GROUP OF ARMY GUIDES SAID THAT H E cv cvccv ccvcv ccvcv cvccv cv cvccv cv cv cv cv cv
WAS PLEASED T O S A Y THAT H E HAD KNOWN THE FACTS FOR ccvcv cv cvccv cv cv cv cv cv cvccv cv cv cvccv VCV
A LONG TIME. "TH EY CERTA I NLY DID NOT DECEIVE ME," YlV'CVCV cvccv cv cv cv Cv cvccv cvccv CVCVCYlV.
H E SAID FORCEFULLY, "EVEN THOUGH THEY TRIED "; AND CVCV ccvcv CV.VCV CCVCv Cv cv cv cv cv cvccv cv cv
ORDERED SEVEN HUNDRED OF THEM LOCKED U P I N THEIR cv ccvcv cv cv
ROOMS.
b h
LE NARMI GLiDA GRUPA CEFLI PA SEDBO KOKO DA PA NU
PLUCI PO SEDBO KO DA PAPACA SAZNO lE R I F EKTO . . . KA . v cv
IA NO D E MANDU M I KA DA PA FORLI SEDBO KA NU N I E '/Iv cv cv . . . . cv cv c'/lv
D E P A TRATI K A E P A DJORI S E N I N I DE NU LAKSO VI L E CV CV . . cv v CV . . .
RU KRUMA P E D E
d
J
CVCV'CCVCCV'CVCCV'CVCV'CCV.CVCV'CCVCVCV.CVCVCV lE NARMI GLiDA GRUPA CEFLI PA SEDBO KOKO DA PA NU
CCV'CV.CVCV'CCVCV.CVCVCVCVCV'CCV.CVCVCV'CCV.VCV PLUCI PO SEDBO KO DA PAPACA SAZNO LE R I F E KTO . . . KA
YlV'CVCVCV'CCVCV.CVCVCVCV'CCVCV'CCV.CVCVCYlV. IA NO D E MANDU M I KA DA PA FORLI SEDBO KA NU N I E
CVCVCCV'CVCV.VCVCCV'CVCV'CVCVCV.CVCV'CCVCVCV DE P A TRATI K A E P A DJORI S E N I N I DE N U LAKSO VI L E
CVCCV'CVCVCV RU KRUMA PE D E
e k
CVCV'CCVCCV'CVCCV'CVCV'CCV.CVCV'CCVCVCV.CVCVCV lE NARMI GLiDA GRUPA CEFLI PA SEDBO, X PA -PlUCI
CCV'CV.CVCV'CCVCV.CVCVCVCVCV'CCV.CVCVCV'CCV.VCV PO SEDBO, X PAPACA SAZNO LE R I F E KTO . . "IA--. Y MANDU
'INCVCVCV'CCVCV.CVCVCVCV'CCVCV'CCV.CVCVCYlV. MI" X PA FORLI SE DBO "-N I E Y PA TR ATI" PA DJORI
CVCVCCV'CVCV.VCVCCV'CVCV'CVCVCV.CVCV'CCVCVCV 700Y -lAKSO VI l E RU KRUMA P E Y
CVCCV'CVCVCV
f l
CV CVCCV CCVCV CCVCV CVCCV CV CVCCV CVCV.CVCVCV LE NGGRC PS, X p-p PO S, X PPCSA lE RI F . . . "IA--. Y
CCVCV CV CVCCV CV.CVCVCVCV CVCCV CVCV cvccv VCV M MI" X PFOS "-N I E Y PT" PO 700Y -l VI LE RU K PE Y
'IIV'CVCV CVCCV CV.CVCVCV CVCCV CVCCV CVCVCYlV.
CVCV CCVCV CV.VCV CCVCV CV'CVCVCV.CV cvccv CVCV
CV CCVCV CVCV
WRITTEN AND SPOKEN LOGLAN may be resolved easily into the predicates may be resolved as in f. Most of the unresolved
each other and reduced to purely symbolic expression. In a at sequences consist of consonantvowel alternations; these can only
upper left is an English sentence constructed of words whose be operators, and they are resolved in g. The remainder of the
Loglan equivalents are shown in other tables. The passage is trans passage is now easily resolved ( h ) into connectives (vowels pre
lated into written Loglan in b, and in c is transcribed as it might ceded by a glottal stop, Or .v) , indicators (diphthongs, or tv) and
sound if read rapidly with word identity lost but with a natural sentential operators (ctv) . With the spoken passage thus resolved
pattern of stresses (') and pauses (.) . The spoken transcript is into words, it is restored to full phonemic form ( i ) , and the
then resolved iu d into its consonantvowel (cv) pattern, with compound operators and fullstop are identified in j to restore
stresses and pauses and the occurrence of semivowels (t) noted. the passage to original written form. The punctuation may be
The adjacent consonants that identify predicates appeal' in bold carried a step further ( k ) with translation of the connectives and
face in e. Since pairs of consonants preceding a stressed vowel certain operators into their conventional signs as shown in the
(ccv') always begin a predicate, and pairs of consonants that fol chart on opposite page. The passage may then be completely
Iow a stressed vowel (v'cc) always occur in the middle of a predi mathematized, with predicates reduced to abbreviations and most
cate, and since predicates have only limited numbers of phonemes, operators represented by signs, to expose its logical structure ( l ) .
61
DA NA DONSU H E NOW G I V E S . L E LALDO M R E N I K E P A DONSU THE OLD MAN WHO GAVE THREE
DA PA DONSU H E GAVE. T E DA I I S E P R A N O O F T H EM TO T H E S E
DA FA DONSU HE WILL GIVE. ETC SEVEN RUNNERS
DA PACAGAVI FACI DONSU SOO N H E W I L L HAVE B E E N DA PRANO N A D E D Z O R U H E , RUNS WHEN HE, WALKS.
ETC. G I V I N G H E R E FOR A L O N G T I M E . DA PRANO PA D E D Z O R U H E , R U N S A F T E R H E , WALKS.
DA PRANO V I D E D Z O R U H E , R U N S WH E R E HE, WALKS.
ETC
N E GATIVES
N A D E DZORU KI DA P R A N O WHEN HE, WALKS H E , R U N S .
ETC
DA NO DONSU H E I S A NON .. G I V E R .
NO DA DONSU HE DOES NOT GIVE.
N I DA DONSU NONE OF THEM GIVES.
NI M R E N I NO M E N ETC
... ...... .... ._-_............ _-----
NE MRENI A MAN, O N E MAN
_
L O G L A N G R A M M A R d e r i v e s g r e a t flexibility and variety f r o m these operators yield the compound tense s ; for exam ple, papa ( be
manipulation o f the 1 12 "little w o r d s" t h a t d o all o f its work . forebefore ) indicates the pluperfect tense. I n such combinat i o n s
These w o r d s are defined a n d their functions explained in the table t h e y not o nly duplicate all o f the f a m i l i a r gmmmatical f o r m s
o n page 60 . A s demonstrated here, it i s tbe little words that de .. b u t g o far beyond t o e x p r e s s relationships that c a n be o n l y clumsily
termine whether a predicate--a term of extralinguistic reference, a pproximated in the natural languages, a s i s indicated by the trans
such a s donslt and pTano-is to serve i n a given statement a s a lat i o n of the c o m p o u n d operator pacogavi faci at center left. The
n o un, verb, a d j e ctive or a dverb, as in more familiar granlmars. flexibility o f the system i s suggested further by the transformations
Thus po ( before ) , no ( now) and fa ( after ) give the predi cate of donslt ( in this table "give," " giver," "gift," "generous," "gener
donsu ( give ) the function o f a verb ( upper left ) and "conju gate" ou sly," "generosity," and so on) i n accord with its a s s ociation
it thro u g h the future, present and p a st tense. C o mpound forms of with operators a n d co nnectives or its place i n a multiple predi cate.
62
63