Chapter 14: If Wishes Were Horses: The Lojban Connective System

10. Multiple compound bridi

Giheks can be combined with “bo” in the same way as eks:

✥10.1    mi nelci la djan.
    gi'e nelci la martas. gi'abo nelci la meris.
I like John
    and (like Martha or like Mary).

is equivalent in meaning to ✥8.1 and ✥8.2. Likewise, “ke … ke'e” grouping can be used after giheks:

✥10.2    mi dzukla le zarci gi'e dzukla le zdani
    gi'a ke dzukla le ckule gi'e dzukla le briju [ke'e]
I walk-to the market and walk-to the house,
    or walk-to the school and walk-to the office.

is the gihek version of ✥8.9. The same rule about using “ke … ke'e” bracketing only just after a connective applies to bridi-tails as to sumti, so the first two bridi-tails in ✥10.2 cannot be explicitly grouped; implicit left-grouping suffices to associate them.

Each of the pairs of bridi-tails joined by multiple giheks can have its own set of tail-terms:

✥10.3    mi dejni lo rupnu la djan.
    .inaja mi dunda le cukta la djan.
    .ijabo mi lebna le cukta la djan.
[If] I owe some currency-units to John,
    then I give the book to John
    or I take the book from John.

is equivalent in meaning to:

✥10.4    mi dejni lo rupnu nagi'a dunda gi'abo lebna vau
    le cukta vau la djan.
[If] I owe some currency-units then (give or take)
    a book to/from John.

The literal English translation in ✥10.4 is almost unintelligible, but the Lojban is perfectly grammatical. “mi” fills the x1 place of all three selbri; “lo rupnu” is the x2 of “dejni”, whereas “le cukta” is a tail-term shared between “dunda” and “lebna”; “la djan.” is a tail-term shared by “dejni” and by “dunda gi'abo lebna”. In this case, greater clarity is probably achieved by moving “la djan.” to the beginning of the sentence, as in ✥9.5:

✥10.5    fi la djan. fa mi dejni lo rupnu
    nagi'a dunda gi'abo lebna vau le cukta
To/from John, [if] I owe some currency-units
    then [I] give or take the book.

Finally, what about forethought logical connection of bridi-tails? There is no direct mechanism for the purpose. Instead, Lojban grammar allows a pair of forethought-connected sentences to function as a single bridi-tail, and of course the sentences need not have terms before their selbri. For example:

10.5.5)    mi ge klama le zarci gi nelci la djan.
I both go to the market and like John.

is equivalent in meaning to ✥9.2.

Of course, either of the connected sentences may contain giheks:

✥10.6    mi ge klama le zarci gi'e dzukla le zdani
    gi nelci la djan.
I both (go to the market and walk to the house)
    and like John.

The entire gek-connected sentence pair may be negated as a whole by prefixing “na”:

✥10.7    mi na ge klama le zarci gi dzukla le zdani
[False!] I both go to the market and walk to the house.

Since a pair of sentences joined by geks is the equivalent of a bridi-tail, it may be followed by tail terms. The forethought equivalent of ✥9.6 is:

✥10.8    mi ge dunda le cukta
     gi lebna lo rupnu vau do
I both (give the book)
    and (take some currency-units) to/from you.

Here is a pair of gek-connected observatives, a forethought equivalent of ✥9.9:

✥10.9    ge klama le zarci gi dzukla le briju
Both a goer to-the market and a walker to-the office.

Finally, here is an example of gek-connected sentences with both shared and unshared terms before their selbri:

✥10.10  mi gonai le zarci cu klama
    gi le bisli cu dansu
I either-but-not-both to-the office go
    or on-the ice dance.
I either go to the office or dance on the ice
    (but not both).