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Vizka La Spat: A Loglan Example
Here are three, short, lines of Loglan which I will discuss in detail. All errors are my own.
Vizka la Spat. (See Spot.)
Vizka lepo la Spat, prano. (See Spot run.)
Prano, hoi Spat. I prano. (Run, Spot! Run!)
Topics
Loglan pronunciation is pretty simple. There are a few letters and letter combinations that sound different than in English, but as far as this sample is concerned, if you just use Spanish vowels (a=AH,e=EH,i=EE,o=OH,u=OO) you won't be far off.
"Spat" is a name. We know it is a name because only a name ends in a consonant. The name is used in two different ways here. "La Spat" refers to the one named Spot. "Hoi Spat" addresses the one named Spot, as if you had said, "O, Spot!"
"Vizka" and "prano" are predicates. We know they are predicates because they have a double consonant (viZKa, PRano) and end in a vowel. Predicates are the "meat" of the language, filling the role of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
A predicate is like a sentence with blanks waiting to be filled in. What the blanks mean is part of the definition of the word. The blanks are called arguments.
- Mi vizka. "I see (something) against (something)." or "I see."
- Mi vizka tu. "I see you."
- Mi prano. "I run to (somewhere) from (somewhere) over path (somewhere)." or just "I run."
- Mi prano tu. "I run to you."
If the first argument is missing, the predicate is a command.
What is not a predicate or a name is a "little word". These are the common words which give structure to the sentence. You've already seen "la", "hoi", "mi" and "tu". Another one is "le" which means "the thing described by".
- Mi prano. "I run."
- Le prano. "The runner." or "The thing described by: it runs."
- Mi vizka le prano. "I look at the runner."
"Po" is one of a set of powerful little words that make abstractions. "Po" means "is an event of" or "is a state of".
- Da prano. "It runs."
- Da po prano. "It is a run." or "It is an event of running."
"Le" and "po" can be put together.
- Lepo prano. "The run." or "The thing described by: an event of running."
The little word "I" (pronounced "ee") is used to separate sentences within a paragraph.
You now know everything.
Vizka la Spat. (See Spot.)
(Command) See the-one-named Spot!
Vizka lepo la Spat, prano. (See Spot run.)
(Command) See the-event-of the-one-named Spot, running!
Prano, hoi Spat. I prano. (Run, Spot. Run!)
(Command) Run, O Spot! (And) Run!
There is a lot more to the language of course, but these are some of the central ideas. Intrigued?
Copyright © 1997 by The Loglan Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
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