Lojban Skill

".i la lojban. bangu lo ka ce'u logji" — "Lojban is a language characterized by being logical"

Lojban: the logical language designed for unambiguous machine-parseable human expression with perfect IPA correspondence.

Overview

Lojban (ISO 639-3: jbo) is a constructed language based on predicate logic, designed by the Logical Language Group (1987-1997) from James Cooke Brown's Loglan (1955).

Key properties:

• Unambiguous grammar (PEG-parseable)
• Culturally neutral vocabulary (from 6 source languages)
• 1:1 phoneme-grapheme correspondence
• Predicate-argument structure (selbri-sumti)

GF(3) Classification

Trit: 0 (ERGODIC)
Role: Mediator between natural language chaos and formal logic
Conservation: Balanced self-referential structure

Core Structures

Gismu (Root Words)

1341 root predicates, each with defined place structure:

Gismu	x₁	x₂	x₃	x₄	x₅
klama	goer	destination	origin	route	vehicle
tavla	speaker	listener	subject	language	—
djuno	knower	fact	subject	epistemology	—
gerku	dog	breed	—	—	—

Selbri-Sumti Structure

   lo prenu    cu    klama    lo zarci
   ────────         ──────    ────────
     sumti₁         selbri     sumti₂
   (the person)    (goes-to)  (the market)

IPA Correspondence

Lojban has perfect phoneme-grapheme mapping:

Letter	IPA	Description
a	/a/	open front
e	/ɛ/	open-mid front
i	/i/	close front
o	/o/	close-mid back
u	/u/	close back
y	/ə/	schwa (buffer)
'	/h/	glottal separator

Consonants map directly: p/b, t/d, k/g, f/v, s/z, c/j [ʃ/ʒ], x [x], m, n, l, r

Causal Scale Mapping

Level	Lojban Feature
0 (Total Order)	Unambiguous parse tree
1 (Ordered Locale)	Place structure with open slots
2 (Directed Locale)	Tense/aspect as directed modality
3 (Causal Structure)	Logical connectives (ja, je, jo, ju)
4 (Partial Causal)	Attitudinals (uncertainty markers)
5 (Indefinite Causal)	Metalinguistic quotes (lu...li'u)
6 (Process Matrix)	Self-referential predicates (logji)

SICP Connection

Lojban embodies SICP's metalinguistic abstraction (Chapter 4):

• selbri = procedure (predicate with place structure)
• sumti = arguments (fill places)
• tanru = compound predicates (composition)
• abstraction (nu, ka, du'u) = lambda over propositions

;; SICP metacircular evaluator parallel:
(define (lojban-eval bridi environment)
  (cond ((selbri? bridi)
         (apply-selbri (operator bridi)
                       (list-of-sumti bridi)
                       environment))
        ((tanru? bridi)
         (compose-selbri (tanru-parts bridi)))
        ...))

String Diagram Representation

        ┌─────────────┐
 x₁ ───→│             │───→ truth-value
        │   selbri    │
 x₂ ───→│  (klama)    │
        │             │
 x₃ ───→│             │
        └─────────────┘

Tanru composition:
        ┌──────┐     ┌──────┐
 x₁ ───→│sutra │────→│klama │───→ 
        └──────┘     └──────┘
         (fast)      (goer)
        = "sutra klama" (fast-goer = runner)

Key Cmavo (Grammar Words)

Cmavo	Function	GF(3)
cu	selbri separator	0
lo	descriptor (veridical)	+1
le	descriptor (described)	-1
nu	event abstraction	0
ka	property abstraction	+1
du'u	proposition abstraction	-1
ja	logical OR	0
je	logical AND	0
jo	logical IFF	0

Resources

• la sutysisku — dictionary
• la vlasisku — search engine
• CLL — Complete Lojban Language
• la karda — reference card

Integration with IES

# Parse Lojban to ACSet
function lojban_to_acset(text::String)
    parse_tree = camxes_parse(text)  # PEG parser
    acset = BridiACSet()
    for bridi in parse_tree
        add_selbri!(acset, bridi.selbri)
        for (i, sumti) in enumerate(bridi.sumti)
            add_sumti!(acset, sumti, place=i)
        end
    end
    return acset
end

Lojban ↔ String Diagram Morphism

The functor

L: Lojban → StringDiag

maps:

• selbri ↦ box with n input wires
• sumti ↦ wires
• tanru ↦ sequential composition
• connectives ↦ parallel composition (⊗)

This makes Lojban a free monoidal category generated by gismu.

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".i mi jimpe fi lo bangu" — "I understand about language"

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Autopoietic Marginalia

The interaction IS the skill improving itself.

Every use of this skill is an opportunity for worlding:

• MEMORY (-1): Record what was learned
• REMEMBERING (0): Connect patterns to other skills
• WORLDING (+1): Evolve the skill based on use

Add Interaction Exemplars here as the skill is used.