Wikijunior:Languages/Lojban

Wikijunior

Introduction Glossary Authors Print Version

Languages

Arabic Assamese Bengali Bikol Catalan Dutch English Esperanto Estonian French German Hebrew Hindi Japanese Korean Latin Mandarin Chinese Manipuri Marathi Nahuatl Norwegian Polish Portuguese Quenya Russian Sanskrit Serbian Spanish Swahili Sylheti Tagalog Tamil Turkish Urdu

Welcome to Lojbanistan! Let's begin.

What writing system(s) does this language use?

Lojban uses the Latin alphabet, with some changes. All letters are lowercase, except for in names, when capital letters are sometimes used to say which syllable is stressed. The letters H, Q, and W are not used. The apostrophe (') is pronounced like an H in English. A period (.) is a pause between words. A comma (,) is used to separate two vowels. For example the name Pierre would be "pi,ER" in Lojban. The reason Lojban has a modified alphabet is to remove the guesswork in pronouncing words. For example, if you read a new word, let's say ambiguity, you might pronounce the first i to rhyme with pee, and the ui to rhyme with you-we (by the way, this is the correct pronunciation), but how do you know if the i isn't pronounced like the ee in bee, or the ui like wee? Those combinations of letters can make both sounds. This sort of confusion is the definition of the word ambiguity. Lojban's strange alphabet is designed to get rid of ambiguity; since there is only one way to pronounce a word in Lojban, there's no confusion at all!

Where is this language spoken?

Worldwide, but some people might say "Lojbanistan" which means the same thing. Since Lojban isn't a natural language, it isn't really associated with places like English is. Many English speakers are found in England and the United States, but speakers of Lojban are found everywhere around the world.

What is the history of this language?

Lojban had its roots in a language called "Loglan". In 1987, the Logical Language Group was created to further develop Loglan, and eventually created Lojban—that makes Lojban a constructed language.

constructed language — a language that someone invented. This is unlike English and other natural languages whose rules and vocabulary evolved over hundreds or thousands of years.

How can I write my name in Lojban?

1. Spell your name phonetically in Lojban. "Drew" becomes "dru", for example.
2. If it ends with a vowel, drop it or add a consonant (usually ⟨s⟩). "dru" is now "dr" or "drus" (I'd go with the latter).
3. Put dots at the beginning and end. "drus" is now ".drus.".

What are some basic words in this language that I can learn?

lonu rinsa	Greetings
coi	Hello
co'o	Good-bye
do mo	What's up?
ki'e	Thanks
je'e	Okay, You're welcome
mi'e ...	My name is ...
ma cmene do	What is your name?
loi valsi	Words
mi	I
do	you
glico	English
klesi	type

What is a simple song/poem/story that I can learn in this language?

You can read the main page of the Lojban web site in Lojban: www.lojban.org.