Chapter 4: The Shape Of Words To Come: Lojban Morphology
This algorithm was devised by Bob and Nora LeChevalier in
1989. It is not the only possible algorithm, but it usually
gives a choice that people find preferable. The algorithm may
be changed in the future. The lowest-scoring variant will
usually be the dictionary form of the lujvo. (In previous
versions, it was the highest-scoring variant.)
- 1)
- Count the total number of letters, including hyphens and
apostrophes; call it “L”.
- 2)
- Count the number of apostrophes; call it “A”.
- 3)
- Count the number of “y”-, “r”-, and “n”-hyphens;
call it “H”.
- 4)
- For each rafsi, find the value in the following table.
Sum this value over all rafsi; call it “R”:
- CVC/CV (final) (-sarji) 1 CVC/C (-sarj-) 2 CCVCV (final)
(-zbasu) 3 CCVC (-zbas-) 4 CVC (-nun-) 5 CVV with an
apostrophe (-ta'u-) 6 CCV (-zba-) 7 CVV with no apostrophe
(-sai-) 8
- 5)
- Count the number of vowels, not including “y”; call it
“V”.
The score is then:
- (1000 * L) - (500 * A) + (100 * H) - (10 * R) - V
In case of ties, there is no preference. This should be rare.
Note that the algorithm essentially encodes a hierarchy of
priorities: short words are preferred (counting apostrophes as
half a letter), then words with fewer hyphens, words with more
pleasing rafsi (this judgment is subjective), and finally words
with more vowels are chosen. Each decision principle is applied
in turn if the ones before it have failed to choose; it is
possible that a lower-ranked principle might dominate a
higher-ranked one if it is ten times better than the
alternative.
Here are some lujvo with their scores (not necessarily the
lowest scoring forms for these lujvo, nor even necessarily
sensible lujvo):
12.1) zbasai
zba + sai
(1000 * 6) - (500 * 0)
+ (100 * 0) - (10 * 15) - 3 = 5847
12.2) nunynau
nun + y + nau
32500 - (1000 * 7) + (500 * 0)
- (100 * 1) + (10 * 13) + 3 = 6967
12.3) sairzbata'u
sai + r + zba + ta'u
32500 - (1000 * 11) + (500 * 1)
- (100 * 1) + (10 * 21) + 5 = 10385
12.4) zbazbasysarji
zba + zbas + y + sarji
32500 - (1000 * 13) + (500 * 0)
- (100 * 1) + (10 * 12) + 4 = 12976
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