Some interesting features ========================= In the following, we shall use the following notations: - ``C`` and ``V`` stand for Lojban consonants and vowels; the usual ``CV``, ``CV'V``, ``VV`` (and so on...) notations keep the same meaning; - ``l`` / ``t`` / ``d`` and ``o`` stand for full-letter consonants and vowel *tengwar* , resp., as `defined previously `__, where ``t`` stands for any voiceless consonant, ``d`` for any voiced consonant, and ``l`` for any consonant; - ``L`` / ``T`` / ``D`` and ``O`` stand for consonant and vowel *tengwar*, resp., over which a vowel *tehta* is applied, with the exception of ``CY`` for which ``[tdl]y`` will be used instead. Additionnally, please remember that most of what follows is about the last mode defined in the `previous part `__, in which *tehtar* and full-letter vowels are mixed. The two others modes are far less interesting, and I didn't (yet!) take much time to study them. .. _morph: Lojban morphology rules applied to our Tengwar mode --------------------------------------------------- In this chapter I shall be somewhat following the order of Chapter 4 of the Lojban Grammar book. The groups of Lojban letters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ===================== ===== ====== ======= ===== ====== ============== ==================== ======= ======== **Lojban construct** ``V`` ``VV`` ``V'V`` ``C`` ``CV`` ``C/C`` ``CC`` ``CVV`` ``CV'V`` **Tengwar construct** ``o`` ``O`` ``o'o`` ``l`` ``L`` ``tt``, ``dd`` ``tt``, ``dd`` [1]_ ``lO`` ``L'o`` ===================== ===== ====== ======= ===== ====== ============== ==================== ======= ======== .. [1] the set of permissible initial consonant pairs is described fully in Chapter 4 of the Lojban Grammar. The first point here is that the Tengwar system makes it very easy to separate voiced from unvoiced consonants, because the voicing of a consonant is strictly indicated by a second bow in the *tengwa*. Therefore, the rule stating that one cannot use two adjacent consonants of different voicing can be easily rephrased as **"two adjacent consonant tengwar cannot have the same number of bows"**. Lojban's *cmavo* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Tengwar forms of Lojban *cmavo* are ``.o``, ``.O``, ``L`` and ``L'o``. Lojban's *brivla* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All Lojban *brivla* must end with a vowel, which gives, when using Tengwar, a mandatory ``L`` or ``L'o`` ending for every brivla. They also contain a consonant pair in the first 5 Latin letters, where "y" and the apostrophe are not counted as letters. In other words, this gives the only following possibilities as beginnings for *brivla*: ``CVVCC``, ``CV'VCC``, ``CVCCV`` (and ``CVC/CCV``), ``CCVCC``, ``CCVCV`` (CCVV not being possible). In the Tengwar notation, this gives ``lOll`` (or ``lOlL``), ``L'oll`` (or ``L'olL``), ``LlL`` (and ``LllL``), ``lLll`` (or ``lLlL``), ``lLL``. Hence the easy rule: **"there must be an unaccented above (the underdot doesn't count) tengwa within the first three tengwar which make up the brivla"**. Finally, all *brivla* must have more than one syllabe, therefore **must contain at least three consonant tengwar and two vowels** (for the above rule to be also respected) Lojban's *gismu* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gismu must be of the form ``CVC/CV`` or ``CCVCV`` and cannot contain the apostrophe (thus cannot contain ``VV`` nor ``V'V``). In Tengwar terms, this means that **gismu have exactly three consonant tengwar and two vowel tehtar, with one tehta set over the final consonant**. Lojban's *rafsi* and *lujvo* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Short *rafsi* are of the form ``CVC``, ``CCV`` or ``CVV``. Their Tengwar forms are therefore either ``Ll``, ``lL``, ``lO`` or ``L'o``. For four-latin-letter *rafsi*, it gives ``Lll`` or ``lLl``. (Mind the restrictions on ``ll`` and ``lL``, about the voicedness of consonants.) When grouping *rafsi* to form *lujvo*, one must take care of including a consonant pair in the first three consonant *tengwar*, **and must put a dot below the first tengwa of a forbidden consonant pair** (in Latin terms, insert a "y" between the two consonants). What is interesting about this last point is that the discreetness of the *tehta* for *"y"* makes it very easy to break up *lujvo* into rafsi; it suffices to follow the following rule, after stripping all underdot ("y") *tehtar*. - **Break after each pair of tengwar (either vowel or consonant) which contains only one tehta.** - **Take care not to leave standalone or pairs of tengwar with tehtar over them.** - **If two ajacent tengwar both have a covering tehta, try to isolate a three-tengwar rafsi form instead.** - **In case of a standalone "r" or "n" (it would then be an hyphenation letter), leave it away.** The justification to this rule is not straightforward; however, if you think about every combination of two *rafsi*, using the Tengwar notations introduced above, it just reflects the official Lojban rule. To illustrate this rule, let's take some random examples (taken randomly from the lujvo list): =========== ======================== ==================================================================== **LUJVO** **TENGWAR NOTATION** **BREAKS UP AS** =========== ======================== ==================================================================== zvastejbu ``lLlLlL`` ``lL+lL+lL`` (zva+ste+jbu) xalbarja ``LlLlL`` ``Ll+LlL`` (``lL+Ll+L`` not possible) (xal+barja) nancyprali ``LlllLL`` (``LllyllL``) ``Lll+lLL`` (nanc+prali) gacytisna ``LlLlL`` (``LlyLlL``) ``Ll+LlL`` (gac+tisna) cavysezlu'i ``LlLlL'o`` ``Ll+Ll+L'o`` (cav+sez+lu'i) daurda'a ``lOlL'o`` ``lOl+L'o``, then ``lO+r+L'o`` (dau+da'a) gairgau ``lOllO`` ``lOl+lO``, then ``lO+r+lO`` (gai+gau) fi'ortutra ``L'olLlL`` ``L'ol+LlL``, then ``L'o+r+LlL`` (fi'o+tutra) (BAD LUJVO) cacusku ``LLlL`` ``L+L+lL``? ``L+Ll+L``? can't break up with the above rule fuzpida ``LlLL`` ``Ll+L+L``? ``L+lLL``? ``LlL+L``? can't break up with the above rule =========== ======================== ==================================================================== I strongly believe that no badly formed *lujvo* can be broken up at all when using the above rule, although I didn't demonstrate it yet. .. _typo: Some notes on typography ------------------------ What is interesting with our system of vowels is that it eases a lot the process of separation of syllabes. So much that even to a certain extent, it makes the comma almost useless. Indeed, where is the comma actually used? It is mandatory in names to indicate a non-standard syllabic break (to turn an otherwise diphtong into two distinct vowels, for example), or can serve as a verbose indication in other words. However, it quite generally remains only used for breaks between vowels. Therefore, as our Tengwar mode states that only diphtongs should be written as a full-letter vowel *tengwa* with a *tehta* over it, and that other forms of vowels should be either written as a *tehta* (over a preceding consonant *tengwa*) or a single vowel *tengwa* (in case the vowel is standalone), breaking up a diphtong into two distinct vowels is just done by writing the two parts as full-letter *tengwar*, which is necessary to have the two sounds separated, but also sufficient the sense that the even presence of two adjacent vowels written in full indicates syllabic separation. No extra comma sign is thus needed in this case. Of course, in the case where the two vowels to be separated follow a consonant, when the separation occurs the first one should be transformed into a *tehta* over that consonant. .. _concl: Conclusion ---------- Our Tengwar mode for Lojban is now defined, and ready for use. However, several features of the Tengwar system have not been used, as I didn't figure out how they could be useful. Therefore, while the preceding baseline is a good start for a sensible use of the Tengwar system for Lojban, further additions must be expected, as a regular use of Fëanorian letters is likely to induce some more practical considerations. As it was initially announced, you should have noticed through this page how Lojban's morphology is superceded in the very structure of the Tengwar system. It is not a coincidence, though, because most of Lojban's morphology follow the same work direction than the one followed by Tolkien. However, it is important to notice how "logical" these rules are, and how sensible it is to include them within the writing system itself. ---- See also: - `Differences with ESR's proposal `__ - `The names of the Tengwar in Lojban `__ - `Tengwar sample `__