Appendix:Lojban/lo

• IPA^(key): /lo/

lo (article)

1. an article which converts a selbri (“predicate”) into a sumti (“argument”) by "returning" an instance of the x₁ sumti of the following word, which would otherwise function as a selbri (“predicate”); unlike le, this word does not add a connotation of definiteness (i.e., it would not translate to English as "the")

   xu la .okrand cu finti lo bacrynandu

   Did Okrand invent a tongue twister?

   (literally, “QUESTION PROPER-NOUN "OKRAND" invented SELBRI-TO-SUMTI Tongue-Twister”)

   ro lo mlatu cu nelci lo ladru

   All cats like milk.

   lo rozgu cu xunre ― Roses are red.

• A sumti (“argument”) phrase begun with lo ends with the elidable terminator ku unless no ambiguity results (in which case the terminator is elided).
• The article lo behaves in a rather epsilon operator-like fashion. For example, let K be a predicate standing for the Lojban selbri (“predicate”) klama, and let P be a predicate standing for the selbri (“predicate”) prenu, then the Lojban sentence "lo prenu cu klama" ^[1] could be expressed symbolically as ${\displaystyle K(\epsilon x\,P(x))}$, where ${\displaystyle \epsilon x\,P(x)}$ stands for "lo prenu".
• In a phrase such as "lo ci prenu" (where ci acts as an "inner quantifier"), the selbri which follows it may or may not "distribute" with respect to it, so that the "three people" may or may not be interpreted as acting as a concerted group, or so-called "mass". To be more precise, if the group acts concertedly, precede lo with lu'o, or equivalently, replace lo with loi. If the group does not act concertedly, but is instead "innocent" (the selbri "distributes" with respect to it), then use lo'i instead of loi.^[2]
  • A rule of thumb might be to avoid using inner quantifiers with lo altogether, just as in English it would wrong to say "*a three dogs".^[3] On the other hand, "a set of three dogs" would translate as "lo'i ci gerku", and "a group of three dogs (act as a team to) surround a man" would be "loi ci gerku cu sruri lo nanmu".
• In a phrase such as "ci lo prenu" (where ci acts as an "outer quantifier"), the selbri (“predicate”) which follows the ci does "distribute" with respect to it, so that the selbri applies to each one of the three individuals, separately.^[2]

• la
• le
• loi
• lo'i
• lo'e