This is an archive copy of wikilivres.ca as of 18 February 2017 (from the WikiTeam dump). The original site is closed.
What Is Lojban?/Part I/b
| Introduction | What Is Lojban?/Part I Introduction (continued) written by (edited by) Nick Nicholas & John Cowan |
Part II |
12. How about English as an international language?
English is commonly used as an 'international language' in the fields of science and technology, and is probably the most widely spoken language in the world. American dominance of technology in the twentieth century has caused massive borrowing from English into other languages that do not have words for all these new concepts. This dominance, and a heritage of colonialism and imperialism that has built resentment towards American and European impositions on native cultures, has caused recent movements in other countries away from English. The rising influence of other non-English-speaking countries on world economics, science, and technology makes further declines in the universality of English likely.
In addition, many who know English as a second language speak it only minimally, though they may be able to read or understand many words. India is a prominent example of a country where English is the only language more or less understood throughout the country, which has about 1500 languages and dialects; but the English spoken in India is often unintelligible to Americans or Britons. In fact, English is one of the most difficult languages to learn to use well. In countries where English is spoken along with other languages, it has been adapted into dialects which match the local culture and borrow words from the other local languages. Some of these dialects are as much as 70% unintelligible to American or British speakers, or to each other. As such, there is no single English language to call an 'international' one.
Lojban is a single language, with design features to discourage breaking up into separate languages. While it was developed primarily by Americans, and was designed to be at least as expressive as English is, Lojban's cultural neutrality gives equal priority to the structures and concepts of other languages and cultures. This cultural neutrality enhances Lojban's acceptability as an international language. Since it is as capable as English is of generating or borrowing any words needed to support the concepts of science and technology, and has special advantages for computer applications, Lojban is likely to spread worldwide through the technological community. Far more so than English, Lojban is simple and easy to learn for people of all cultures.
13. Can poetry be written in a 'logical' language or an 'unambiguous' one?
Original poetry has already been written in Lojban, and some has been translated into the language. Lojban's powerful tanru metaphor structure allows you to build concepts into words easily, as you need them, and has been used to create colorful images and to convey moving emotions. A Lojban speaker doesn't need a dictionary to use and understand millions of words that can potentially exist in the language. The absence of cultural constraints makes consideration of new ideas and relationships easier than in natural languages, spurring creativity. Lojban aids in communicating abstractions by identifying their nature explicitly. Lojban is thus a very powerful language, not only for poetry, but for discussing such abstract fields as philosophy, physics, metaphysics, and religion.
Lojban poets are already experimenting with new (and old) forms of poetry that seem especially well suited to the rhythm, sound, and flow of the language. Rarely do poets have such an opportunity to affect the development of a new language as they now can with Lojban. Lojban's rich and powerful. Lojban unleashes the full potential of poetic expression to communicate both concrete and abstract ideas.
14. How was Lojban developed?
The language, then called 'Loglan', was first described in the 1950s by Dr. James Cooke Brown. The 1960 Scientific American article Loglan was his call for assistance in developing the language. A revolution in linguistics was simultaneously taking place, resulting in a rapidly increasing knowledge of the nature of human language; this changed the requirements for the developing language. The first widely distributed Loglan dictionary and language description did not appear until 1975; the incompleteness of this description and continued development work discouraged people from learning the language. Furthermore, computers caught up with Loglan just then, making it possible to refine the grammar, eliminate ambiguity and mathematically prove its absence. For over forty years, this work has been performed by volunteers, and without financial support. Now, after several versions of the language, people have been learning and using the current version, which is the first to be called 'Lojban' (from the roots "logical-language" in Lojban).
This version is the first version with a stable vocabulary, and the first to have a stable and completely defined grammar. The stabilization of the language in this version has followed a painstaking and extensive period of research and analysis, between 1988 and 1998. Thus, in an important sense, Lojban is a very new language. To ensure Lojban remains stable while people learn it, the language definition is being closely controlled; the grammar and core vocabulary have already been baselined (frozen) for several years. When the number of speakers has grown significantly, and a Lojban literature has developed, Lojban will be treated like a natural language and allowed to grow and flourish without constraint, as do other natural languages.
15. How many people speak Lojban?
Questions of how many people speak a language greatly depend on your presuppositions and definitions -- which a language like Lojban, at least, can make explicit! The on-line Lojban mailing list, which constitutes the largest community of people using the language, has over 200 subscribers, with well over 20 regular posters as of this writing. The level of confidence of the language community has already risen to such a level that there is a Lojban-language-only discussion group, as well as the general mailing list. Lojban has also been used extensively in real-time conversation, both electronically (IRC) and face-to-face. Though the Lojban-speaking community is so widely diffused that the opportunity for conversation does not arise frequently, the number of Lojbanists who can sustain a conversation in the language certainly ranges beyond what can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and is steadily increasing. Lojban has been proven in communicative use for well over a decade, and the range and expressivity of the language is being continually explored by the language community.
The first speakers of Lojban have a unique opportunity. They are the history-makers who will shape the flavor of the first totally new language to achieve broad speakability. Their ideas will be most influential in setting the patterns of usage that others will learn from. Their experiences will teach things about language that have never before been learned – or learnable.
16. Why should I learn Lojban?
There are several reasons for learning the language now. Those who are working with the language now are actively consulted for their opinions on how to teach and spread the language. Within a few weeks of work learning from the materials already written, you will be able to work with those who have already started. You will be a significant part of this small but rapidly growing community. You will receive personal attention to any problems you have with the language from those leading the effort. If you are truly ambitious and committed to the language, you are welcome to join in that leadership.
Those with a computer background who learn the language now will be the leaders in developing the earliest practical computer applications for the language. Meanwhile, computer-oriented Lojbanists can also aid in developing computer-aided instruction tools or converting existing software to run on new computers.
People not interested in computers will also find Lojban a valuable language. You may be interested in the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, and in the scientific tests to be planned and conducted, or in other language-related research. You may be interested in Lojban's potential as an international language, and in the attempts to use the language to reach across cultural boundaries.
Regardless of your background, you will find learning Lojban to be a mind-expanding experience. Learning any language other than your native tongue broadens your perspectives and allows you to transcend the necessarily limited viewpoints of your native language's culture. Lojban, being simpler to learn than natural languages, provides this benefit much more quickly than does the study of other languages. And being quite different from natural languages, Lojban provides this benefit more directly.
Having learned Lojban, you will find it easier to learn other languages and to communicate with people from other backgrounds, regardless of the language studied; the linguistic principles you learn while learning Lojban are applicable to these languages and the communication problems they entail. The logical organization embedded in Lojban will aid you in organizing and clarifying your thoughts. Your new perspective on language, ambiguity, and communication will allow you to express those thoughts more clearly, even when you use an ambiguous natural language.
You needn't learn Lojban for any practical purpose, however. Many, if not most, of those who are learning Lojban are doing so because it is fun. Learning Lojban is intellectually stimulating, providing human interaction (a way to meet other people and get to know them) and mental challenge. Lojban has all the benefits of games designed for entertainment, with the side benefit of that entertainment developing into a useful skill.
Learning Lojban as an intellectual toy means that you can get enjoyment from learning Lojban without anywhere near the effort needed to benefit from studying other languages. While becoming fluent in Lojban will probably take hundreds of hours over several months, you can feel some sense of accomplishment in the language after just a couple of hours of study. You can use Lojban immediately for fun, while gaining skill with greater experience.
17. How do I learn Lojban?
This text appears in a booklet including a description of the grammar of Lojban and some introductory learning materials. If you are reading this text in a separately printed brochure, you may write to the Logical Language Group at the address found at the end of this brochure, and we will be happy to provide the complete booklet. We request a contribution of $5 to cover its cost.
If you are reading this brochure on-line, or have access to the Internet, the complete What is Lojban? booklet is also available on the World Wide Web for free at the address:
Once you have read this booklet, there are several directions you may proceed, depending on your goals for use of the language.
Most people learning the language will work for some time on their own before working with others. We recommend, where possible, that you identify at least one other person to study and interact with, either in person or by mail. The Logical Language Group maintains lists of Lojban students of various degrees of skill and activity levels. There is also both a general and an in-Lojban discussion group available on the Internet. Information will be found at the end of this document.
Almost any use you wish to make of Lojban requires some degree of mastery of the basic vocabulary. You can learn enough Lojban grammar to support conversation in just a couple of hours, but you will need vocabulary in order to use that grammar.
You can learn the Lojban vocabulary using computer software. The Logical Language Group has computer-aided-teaching programs distributed under the name LogFlash, with MS-DOS/Windows, Macintosh and Unix versions currently available. The software is based on flash-card teaching techniques, which are extremely efficient in helping you learn the vocabulary. Other computer software is available, including a parser and a glosser.
You can learn the Lojban grammar in several ways, including by studying the examples in our on-line text archives and mailing lists, and by going through the formal grammar description. (The formal grammars are available in two formats, YACC and simplified E-BNF.)
An introduction to the grammar of Lojban will be found in Technical Descriptions in the [What Is Lojban%3F|What is Lojban? booklet]]. There is also a set of introductory lessons available (these cover the basics of the language, but at a more leisurely pace): Lojban for Beginners, by Robin Turner and Nick Nicholas. A complete grammatical description of Lojban, The Complete Lojban Language by John W. Cowan, was published by the Logical Language Group in 1997. This is an authoritative reference, and can be used as an aid to learning the advanced features of the language.
A formal Lojban dictionary is being compiled, and will encompass the word lists already available from the Logical Language Group as of this writing. Draft versions of the dictionary are available on the Lojban web site (see contact details below).
Of course the only way to really learn a language is to use it. The Logical Language Group will assist you in finding other Lojban students of comparable skill level and interests, either in your local area or reachable by post or electronic mail. The on-line Lojban discussion groups regularly contain Lojban text, some with detailed translations and some without translation, as well as discussions of language points by various members of the Lojban community. There is also a discussion group specifically for beginners as of this writing. Of course the best way to use the language is to recruit friends and associates into studying and using the language with you. Even if they are not interested in the same language goals as you are, the 'hobbyist' aspect of the language will provide interesting and stimulating entertainment for all concerned.
18. What is The Logical Language Group?
The Logical Language Group, Inc. is a non-profit organization, the embodiment of the Loglan/Lojban community. We were founded to complete the language development process, to develop and publish teaching materials, to organize and teach the community, to promote applications of Lojban, and to initiate and lead research efforts in linguistics, language education, and other areas related to Lojban. Simply put, our purpose is to serve you in all manner of things Lojbanic. The Logical Language Group is not affiliated with The Loglan Institute, Inc., the organization founded by James Cooke Brown.
The Logical Language Group is also called la lojbangirz. (/lah lozh-BAHN-geerz./), its Lojban name. It was founded informally in 1987, and incorporated in 1988. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service approved our status as a non-profit educational/scientific charity in 1989, making donations and grants to the organization deductible under U.S. tax law.
Loglan/Lojban has been developed almost totally by volunteer labor and small donations of money. Lojban attracts people who are willing to devote a lot of time and effort to seeing their dreams become reality. Thus, our only income has been money derived from sales of our publications, and donations from interested supporters.
The Logical Language Group publishes and sells printed materials on Lojban. All language definition information is considered in the public domain, and most Logical Language Group publications are distributed under a policy which allows not-for-charge copying and redistribution. Computer versions of many of our publications are available on-line at no charge. We ask people who receive our materials by any of these means to let us know, so that we may better serve you, and donate liberally, so that we may continue to serve you.
Most materials that we sell require either prior payment, an informal commitment to pay on your part, or your statement that you cannot afford to pay for materials (in which case our supplying these materials is at our discretion). We attempt to flexibly support Lojbanists who have financial constraints, and will accept reasonable offers of reduced or delayed payments subject to our financial condition, given your commitment to actively maintain contact and involvement with the community. Obviously, the level of your prior and current activity and any commitments you make to learning the language, or to volunteer work for la lojbangirz., will be factored into our decision.
la lojbangirz. has a special commitment to support Lojbanists outside the U.S., because so many of the language goals are dependent on building an international community of speakers, and because we recognize the difficulties caused by the international currency market and the relative wealth of nations. We can accept bank cheques in most currencies and international payment via PayPal. We also encourage people to form groups so that they can receive a single copy of our materials, copying or passing them to others to keep the per-person costs low. We expect a lower standard of contact and contribution from overseas Lojbanists when deciding whether to continue sending our materials at reduced or no charge.
We ask all recipients of our materials to help us financially in any way you can. The Logical Language Group needs your gifts for support of the Loglan/Lojban project. Artificial languages are historically not self-sustaining financially, and have difficulty receiving outside support. The Logical Language Group, Inc. is prohibited by its bylaws from spending more than 15% of its expenses for administrative purposes, except by special agreement with a donor who agrees to cover such added costs in full.
19. How does The Logical Language Group serve the community?
The Logical Language Group coordinates and promotes activities involving Lojban and the Lojban community. In that role, it publishes materials enabling people to learn the language, and facilitates their forming a community of speakers. Most people involved with Lojban stay informed by checking our web page or participating in the Lojban mailing lists (see contact details below). The Logical Language Group also publishes newsletters and journals, including both general news, aimed at those not actively involved in learning and using the language, and more specific material, including discussions of features of the language, debates on research issues and applications, letters from the community and responses, and Lojban writings and translations.
Our printed publications are free of advertisements (other than our own ordering information, and occasional mention of individuals and organizations who have contributed particular service to our efforts); and we do not sell our mailing list. Our publications are distributed as cheaply as possible to encourage new people to participate. In the interest of attracting the widest audience possible, we are committed to distributing as much material as possible using the 'open source' concept for computer software and a similar policy for printed publications. This policy retains our copyrights but allows you, with relatively few restrictions, to copy our materials for your friends.
Certain materials that we publish contain information that we place in the public domain. All language definition information is considered to be public.
If you are attempting to learn the language, we will provide as much help as we can to assist you. We will put you in touch with Lojbanists who might be interested in studying or communicating with you in the language. You can also send your writings to us for review, or for indirect exchange with others. We try to foster research and social interaction among those who are learning, or who have already learned the language. We aid such people in organizing, leading, and teaching formal classes and study groups, and will sponsor affiliated groups in local areas where non-profit sponsorship can be of benefit. We conduct an annual celebration of the language and community (July or August), called 'Logfest', in conjunction with our annual business meeting in the Washington DC area. We also expect to support other local meetings and gatherings as the community grows.
Of course, we also try to publicize the language. Our representatives can attend meetings to give presentations on the language. We distribute informational material, including these booklets. Through our efforts, and with your help, the community of Lojbanists is rapidly growing.
20. What can I do now?
You can become involved in the Lojban project in a variety of ways, depending on your background and interests, and on your available time:
- you can participate in completing the language documentation;
- you can devise applications for Lojban in computers, education, linguistics, and other fields;
- you can help in organizing Lojbanists in your area, and in recruiting new Lojbanists;
- you can help in teaching the language to new people (even while learning yourself);
- you can assist in spreading Lojban to non-English-speaking cultures by helping translate materials into other languages, and by identifying, recruiting, and communicating with contacts in other countries (international involvement is vital to ensuring that Lojban remains culturally neutral);
- you can contribute financially to support our organization, its activities, and its publications;
- you can use Lojban in composition, translation, and conversation with other Lojbanists.
For many of these activities, you need to learn the language first. However, even those who haven't yet had time to learn the language can assist in recruiting and contributing ideas to the effort.
Helping to publicize the language, of course, does not take a lot of time, or necessarily even knowing the language. Talk to friends, relatives and colleagues. We will gladly provide copies of this brochure on request. Lojban tends to sell itself; people who learn of it are more often than not intrigued by it.
Keep in touch with us. We want to know your ideas and opinions on the language, on our various activities, and on our products. We welcome open debate on the language, and have even printed and made available writings that are critical of various aspects of our efforts, when they are of sufficient general interest. Open debate aids in understanding and improves the overall quality of the language and of our presentation of it to the world. Much of the language design is now complete, and the Logical Language Group is committed to maintaining a stable version of the language. Nonetheless, we would rather hear criticism now within our community and either correct our problems or prepare an adequate response, than do so later when such issues are raised by outsiders.
In short, Lojban is a product of all of the community, including you – if you choose.
Of course, the most important thing you can do is:
Use Lojban!: Lojban will not really achieve the status of 'language' until people use it. We need creative people to write Lojban prose, poetry, and dialog. We need translations made from fiction, technical literature, from religious and philosophical writings, and from music. Only in this way will Lojban be proven practical, and gain the credibility it needs to succeed.
21. Who do I contact?
We have several volunteers who serve to coordinate Lojban activities in specific regions of the world. There is also a limited amount of Lojban materials translated into languages other than English. This support is constantly being added to; please contact us for details.
The Logical Language Group's website, which contains all its publicly available information, is at:
Several active Lojban-related mailing lists are available on the Internet. The general Lojban list is lojban; the list for discussions in Lojban only is jbosnu; and the list specifically for beginners is lojban-beginners. They may be accessed as follows:
Web
- lojban@yahoogroups.com
- jbosnu@yahoogroups.com
- lojban-beginners@chain.digitalkingdom.org
Subscribe http://www.lojban.org/lsg2/ for all lists.
(All lists are mirrored outside yahoo.com, on the Lojban web server: http://www.lojban.org/lsg2/)
If you have received a registration form and an order form with this booklet, you can provide us with useful information to aid us in serving you, and can order some of our materials. Write or call:
- The Logical Language Group, Inc.
- 2904 Beau Lane
- Fairfax, VA 22031
- U.S.A.
- (+1 703) 385-0273
E-mail can be sent to us at: lojban@lojban.org
- .e'osai ko sarji la lojban.
- /eh-ho-sigh, ko-SAHR-zhee, lah LOZH-bahn./
- Please support Lojban!