Chapter 7. Attitudes & Interjections#

What Are Attitudinal Indicators?#

In English, you convey emotion through tone of voice — but tone disappears in writing. Lojban handles this with attitudinal indicators (da'i words): dedicated particles that explicitly express attitude, emotion, and stance. They have no truth value of their own; they layer emotional color onto whatever is said.

Attitudinals can appear:

• At the start of an utterance — coloring the whole sentence
• After any word — coloring just that word

.ui la .teris. cu klama [Yay!] Terry is coming!

la .teris. .ui cu klama Terry [yay!] is coming. (happiness is about Terry specifically)

la .teris. cu klama .ui Terry is coming [yay!] (happiness is about the coming specifically)

All attitudinals can be negated with -nai (opposite) or neutralized with -cu'i (neutral/indifferent).

---

How the pieces fit together (scales and domains)#

CLL pictures the attitudinal system as a small space you move in, not a flat list of particles. In practice you combine:

Any layer can be skipped: .ui alone is already a full utterance. The geometry is just a map — it helps you see that .uicai is “same emotion, higher volume,” and .uiro'e is “same happiness, but about an idea.”

---

Pure Emotion Indicators#

These express the speaker's feelings about the world as it is. The u-series are the simplest:

.ui mi facki fi le mi mapku [Yay!] I found my hat!

.ue la .teris. cu klama [Wow!] Terry is coming!

.uenai la .teris. cu klama [Of course.] Terry is coming. (it was expected)

.uu do cortu [Poor you.] You're in pain. (sympathy)

.u'u do cortu [I'm sorry.] You're in pain. (guilt/repentance — I feel responsible)

Note the distinction between .uu (sympathy — it's not my fault) and .u'u (repentance — I feel partly responsible). Both can be translated "I'm sorry" in English.

The o-series covers more complex or ambivalent emotions:

.oi la .djan. klama [Ugh!] John is coming. (complaint about it)

.o'onai la .djan. klama [Angry!] John is coming. (anger)

.o'u mi facki fi le mi mapku [Phew!] I found my hat. (relief)

The i-series (pure emotions) includes:

.ii smacu [Eek!] A mouse!

la .djan. .iu klama John [love!] is coming. (speaker loves John)

la .djan. .ionai klama That good-for-nothing John is coming. (disrespect for John)

---

Propositional Attitude Indicators#

These express the speaker's attitude toward a potential state of affairs — not just a feeling but an orientation (intent, hope, desire, belief, etc.):

.ai mi klama le zarci [I intend to] go to the store. (signals intent, not just prediction)

.au mi sipna [I want to] sleep.

.a'o mi kanryze'a [Hopefully] I'll feel better.

.a'ucu'i do pante [No interest] you complain. = I have no interest in your complaints.

The e-series covers more complex propositional attitudes:

.e'o ko klama [Please] come here! (polite request)

.e'a ko citka [Permission:] Go ahead and eat!

.ei mi viska le cukta [I should] read the book.

.e'u mi'o klama le zarci [Suggestion:] Let's go to the store.

Finally, the i-series propositional attitudes (overflow from the a/e sets):

.ianai do pu pensi le nu tcica mi [Disbelief!] You thought you could fool me.

.ie mi cusku [Agreement] — I said it too.

.i'enai do .i'e zukte I don't approve of what you did, but I approve of you (the latter attitudinal attaches to do).

---

Intensity Markers (CAI)#

Every attitudinal sits on a seven-point scale. The scale runs from maximal positive through neutral to maximal negative. You express your position on the scale by appending a CAI cmavo directly to the attitudinal:

.uicai mi facki [ECSTATIC!] I found it!

.uiru'e mi facki [Mildly pleased.] I found it.

.uicu'i = I feel neither happy nor unhappy about it.

.uinai = unhappy; .uinaicai = absolutely miserable.

Using CAI without an emotion word acts as a pure emphasis/de-emphasis marker:

cai alone = [strongly!] — emphasizes whatever follows cu'i alone = [whatever] — signals indifference

Applied to .ei (obligation), the scale captures English modal distinctions precisely:

---

Evidential Indicators#

Evidentials say how the speaker knows or relates to what they're claiming. A bridi marked with an evidential becomes indisputable in a useful sense — you're reporting your own epistemic state, which no one else can directly contradict.

za'a la .teris. cu klama [I see that] Terry is coming.

ti'e la .teris. cu klama [I heard that] Terry is coming.

pe'i le nu do tavla cu xlali [In my opinion] your talking is bad.

ja'o mi bilma [Therefore] I am sick. (concluded from symptoms)

ca'e le vi mlatu cu barda [I hereby declare] this cat is big. (defining it so)

ba'acu'i le tuple be mi cu se cortu [I experience] my leg hurts. (direct sensation, present tense on the ba'a scale)

ru'a doi livinston. Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

Ask about evidentials with ju'apei: What is the basis for your claim?

Evidentials often appear at the start of a sentence or attached to .i in running discourse.

---

Discursive Indicators#

Discursives comment on the structure of the discourse — how this utterance relates to what was said before or after. Unlike attitudinals, they express no particular emotion.

Consecutive discourse (how this relates to the previous statement):

mi klama le zarci .i ku'i mi na ponse lo jdini I'm going to the store. However, I have no money.

la .alis. cadzu .i si'a la .djan. cadzu Alice walks. Similarly, John walks.

mi po'o darxi le mi tamne Only I hit my cousin. (no one else did)

Commentary on words (how words are being used):

mi cadzu .i va'i mi klama lo stuzi vau lo jamfu I walk — in other words, I travel somewhere on foot.

Commentary on discourse (the nature of what's being said):

.zo'o mi klama le solri [Just kidding:] I'm going to the sun.

.ba'u mi ponse pa milono cutci [Exaggerating:] I own a million shoes.

.je'unai le tcati cu glare [Sarcastically:] The tea is hot. (it's cold)

sa'e le cinfo cu xabju le sruri be le xamsi Precisely speaking, the lion lives in the savanna surrounding the sea.

Knowledge (speaker's certainty):

ju'o la .djan. klama John is certainly coming.

la'a mi morsi I'm probably dying. (dramatic but useful example)

Discourse management (navigating the flow):

ta'o mi pacna lo nu do klama By the way, I hope you come.

ra'u mi na djica le nu do klama Most importantly, I don't want you to come.

mu'a le zarci .e le briju For example, the store and the office.

da'i do viska le mi mensi .i xu do nelci ri Suppose you saw my sister — would you like her? (hypothetical framing)

ganai da'i do viska le mi mensi If [hypothetically] you saw my sister… (counterfactual)

ganai da'inai do viska le mi mensi If [in reality] you see my sister… (open conditional)

---

Emotion Category Modifiers (ro'a-series)#

The ro'a-series modifiers attach after any attitudinal to specify which domain of experience the feeling belongs to. They multiply every attitudinal into six more specific variants:

Combine after an attitudinal (and after any intensity marker):

.o'unairo'o = physical discomfort (.o'u = comfort/relaxation, nai = negative, ro'o = physical)

.oinairo'a = social frustration / irritation

.uiro'e = intellectual joy / delight in an idea

.o'unaire'e = spiritual discomfort (e.g. feeling out of place in the wrong church)

.eiro'u = sexual obligation — a uniquely Lojbanic emotional label with no direct English word!

You can also use category words alone, without specifying an emotion:

ro'e = I'm concentrating / it's a mental matter ro'anai = I'm feeling antisocial

---

Attitudinal Modifiers#

Beyond categories, there are eight attitudinal modifiers that refine how an emotion is experienced or expressed. They combine after an emotion+intensity string:

Examples:

.ause'i = [want-self] = I want it for myself! .ause'inai = [want-other] = I want you to have it!

.uuse'i = self-pity .uuse'inai = pity for others

.o'onai ri'enai = suppressed anger (I'm furious, but holding it in) .o'onai ri'e = openly expressing anger

.e'ese'a = I can do it all by myself! .e'ese'anai = I can do it if you help me.

ko ga'inai nenri klama le mi zdani [I regard you as superior] Please enter my home. (very formal/deferential)

ko ga'i nenri klama [I regard you as inferior] Get inside! (imperious)

ga'i attaches to the referent, not the speaker — so attach it to a sumti to mark it:

doi ga'inai appended to any statement = [addressing a social superior]

---

Attitude Questions, Empathy, and Contours#

pei — attitude question: "How do you feel?" / "Do you feel X?"

pei alone = How are you feeling? / How do you feel about that? .iepei = Do you agree? (asking about agreement) .aipei = Are you going to do it? (asking about intent) .e'apei = May I? / Can I please?? (asking for permission) pei.o'u = Are you comfortable?

Respond with a CAI marker: .iepei → .iecai = Yes, absolutely!

dai — empathy: attributes the preceding attitudinal to someone else, not the speaker:

.oiro'odai = [Pain-physical-empathy] = Ouch, that must hurt! (empathizing with their pain)

le bloti .iidai .uu pu klama le xasloi The ship, fearfully, poor thing, sank to the ocean floor. (.ii is attributed to the ship via dai; .uu is the speaker's own pity)

bu'o — attitude contour: whether you are starting, continuing, or ceasing to feel an emotion:

.o'onai bu'o = I'm getting angry! .iu bu'onai .uinai = I don't love you anymore; I'm sad.

Note that .ui .ui .ui ≠ .uicai — repeating an attitudinal means the feeling continues, not that it intensifies.

ge'e — the non-specific emotion placeholder:

• Used to express some feeling without naming it: ge'e = I feel something (but won't say what)
• Used to separate two emotion strings so a modifier doesn't bleed across: .ui ge'eru'e = happiness (at unspecified level) + some weak unspecified feeling
• .iige'e = I'm not saying whether I'm afraid or not

---

Miscellaneous Indicators#

Some indicators fit no single category:

ki'a is among the most-used: it marks that you heard the words but don't understand their referent or meaning:

mi nelci le ctuca I like the teacher. le ctuca ki'a Which teacher? / The teacher — (confused)

na'i marks a false presupposition or grammatical/factual error in what was said:

xu do klama = Is it true that you're going?

bi'u helps with reference tracking in narrative:

le bi'u nanmu = a man (new, not yet mentioned) le bi'unai nanmu = the man (previously referred to)

fu'e / fu'o: Cross-Sentence Attitudinal Scope#

Normally an attitudinal colors only the word (or sentence) it follows. But sometimes you want a single attitudinal to govern a whole passage — multiple consecutive sentences. fu'e opens an attitudinal scope and fu'o closes it:

fu'e .ui [Start happiness scope]

la .teris. cu klama .i le zarci cu melbi .i mi ponse le mi plise Terry comes. The store is beautiful. I have my apple.

fu'o [End happiness scope — all three sentences above were colored by .ui]

Without fu'e/fu'o, you would need .ui before every sentence in the passage.

Rules:

• fu'e must be immediately followed by an attitudinal (possibly stacked): fu'e .ui .o'u opens both happiness and relaxation.
• fu'o closes all currently open fu'e scopes (there is no matched-pairs system — a single fu'o closes everything).
• A new fu'e inside an open scope replaces the current scope with the new one.
• Attitudinals used within an open scope attach normally to individual words and don't affect the scope.

fu'e .oi [Complaint mode on] le zarci cu vimcu .i le karce cu spofu .i lo crino mlatu cu batci mi The store is closed. The car is broken. A green cat bit me. fu'o [End complaint scope]

All three sentences are colored by .oi (complaint/ugh).

---

Vocative Indicators: Full COI Catalogue#

Vocatives (selma'o COI) are used to directly address someone, establish conversational roles, or manage communication protocol. Unlike pure attitudinals, they typically precede a name (without la) or description; do'u is the elidable terminator.

doi is the general-purpose address particle, not a scale — just doi + name:

doi .djan. — Hey John! / O John!

All COI members require a pause before a name to prevent the name absorbing the cmavo (write with a period: coi .djan.); or insert doi between them: coi doi djan.

Most COI cmavo form scales with nai (opposite) and sometimes cu'i (neutral/standby). These signal conversational state, especially in structured/radio communication.

mi'e is unique — it identifies the speaker, not the listener:

mi'e .djan. — I am John. mi'enai .djan. — I am not John. (denying an attribution) fe'omi'e .djan. — Signing off, this is John. re'imi'e .djan. — Ready, this is John. (e.g., answering roll-call)

The last COI in a chain controls whose name follows: if mi'e is last, the name is the speaker's; otherwise it's the listener's.

Selected examples:

coi .alis. — Hello, Alice. co'o — Goodbye. ju'i — Attention! / Hey! ju'icu'i — At ease. / Stand down. ju'inai — Dismissed. ki'e do — Thank you. ki'enai — You're welcome. / No thanks. fi'i .djan. — Welcome, John. / Come in, John. fi'inai — You are not welcome. be'e — May I speak? / Request to speak. be'ecu'i — Stand by. be'enai — Don't speak. / Not now. je'e — Roger. / Understood. je'enai — Negative. / Not understood. vi'o — Wilco. / Will comply. vi'onai — Will not comply. mu'o — Over. (done transmitting) mu'ocu'i — (pausing mid-speech) mu'onai — I'm not done yet. ke'o — Please repeat. / Say again. fe'o — Over and out. / Signing off. ta'a — I interrupt. / Excuse me, I need to speak. ta'anai — I yield the floor. / Go ahead. nu'e mi klama — I promise I'll come. nu'enai — I won't. / I refuse.

ta'a mi djica lo nu cusku [Interrupt] I want to say something.

ta'anai doi .frank. I yield to you, Frank.

---

Scalar vocatives: quick “radio-style” flows#

Many COI cmavo form scales (plain / cu'i / nai). In real conversation they often appear in pairs — interrupt vs yield, request vs grant, over vs still talking:

These are the same words as in the table above; the extra value is seeing them as protocol slots, not isolated greetings.

---

A short dialogue (attitudinals + vocatives)#

Terry and Alice meet at a workshop. (In running Lojban text you would often mark the speaker with sei la … cusku — see Chapter 17 — here we label lines in English for readability.)

Terry: coi doi .alis. — Hello, Alice.

Alice: .uicai coi doi .teris. — [Delighted] Hi, Terry!

Terry: pei do gleki — How do you feel? / Are you happy?

Alice: .iecai .i .e'u mi'o pinxe lo ckafi — Absolutely. Let’s get coffee [suggestion].

Terry: je'e .i ki'e .i mu'o — Understood. Thanks. Over.

Alice: ta'anai .i fe'o — Go ahead [continue]. Signing off [playful, or end of side-channel].

This is not a full-length scene — it only shows coi, .ui, pei, .ie, .e'u, je'e, ki'e, mu'o, ta'anai, fe'o strung together. Extend it with .oi, evidentials, or more COI as you learn them.

---

sei … se'u: Speaker attribution in running text#

sei (selma'o SEI) lets you embed a comment about the utterance itself without making it part of the bridi's truth conditions. The most common use is speaker-tagging in dialogue transcripts:

.i sei la .teris. cusku se'u (sentence) — [comment] Terry says [end-comment]

The sei … se'u frame is parenthetical: it does not change what the sentence asserts. se'u closes the frame; it can be omitted when the end is unambiguous, but keeping it is clearest.

A coffee-bar scene with sei-tagging:

la .teris. joi la .alis. nerkla le kafybarja Terry and Alice go into the coffee bar together.

.i sei la .teris. cusku se'u ta'a ro zvati .i mi ba speni la .alis. .iu Terry said, interrupting all present: “I’m going to marry Alice, my love.”

.i sei la .alis. cusku se'u nu'e .djan. do ba zvati le nu mi spenybi'o Alice said: “I promise you, John — you’ll be at the wedding.”

.i sei la .djan. cusku se'u ki'e cai John said: “Thank you so much!”

.i sei le selfu cu cusku se'u re'i The server said: “Ready to take your order.”

.i sei la .teris. cusku se'u fi'i ro zvati .i ko pinxe pa ckafi fi'o pleji mi Terry said: “Welcome, everyone. A round of coffee, on me.”

.i sei le selfu cu cusku se'u vi'o The server said: “Will do.”

Grammar note: sei can appear anywhere inside a sentence — not just between sentences. It is a member of selma'o SEI; se'u is in selma'o SEhU. Both are covered in the text-structure section of Chapter 17.

---

Summary#

• Attitudinals are particles expressing feeling, attitude, or epistemic stance — no truth value of their own
• Families × polarity × intensity (CAI) × domain (ro'a-series) — the “geometry” of the system; only the first layer is mandatory
• Attach after any word to color it; at sentence start to color the whole sentence
• -nai = opposite polarity; -cu'i = neutral/cancel; -cai/-sai/-ru'e = intensity scale (7 positions)
• u-series = simple emotions; o-series = complex/ambivalent; i-series (pure) = fear, solidarity, love, etc.
• a/e/i-series (propositional) = intent, desire, request, obligation, belief, agreement
• ro'a-series = category modifiers: social/mental/emotional/physical/sexual/spiritual
• Attitudinal modifiers: ga'i (rank), le'o (aggression), vu'e (ethics), se'i (self/other), ri'e (release), fu'i (assistance), be'u (sufficiency), se'a (self-sufficiency)
• pei = attitude question; dai = empathy; bu'o = attitude contour; ge'e = unspecified
• Evidentials (ja'o ca'e ba'a su'a ti'e ka'u se'o za'a pe'i ru'a ju'a) — source of knowledge
• Discursives — 5 groups: consecutive, word-commentary, discourse-commentary, knowledge, management
• Misc: ki'a (confused), na'i (wrong), jo'a (correct despite appearance), xu (truth question), bi'u (new referent)
• Vocatives (selma'o COI) manage the conversational frame; doi = general address particle (no scale); scalar COI often come in protocol pairs (e.g. ta'a / ta'anai)

Full COI catalogue (most form nai/cu'i scales):

• coi = hello; co'o = goodbye
• ju'i = attention! / ju'icu'i = at ease / ju'inai = dismissed
• ki'e = thank you / ki'enai = you're welcome
• fi'i = welcome / fi'inai = unwelcome
• mi'e = I am [name] (identifies speaker, not listener) / mi'enai = I am not [name]
• be'e = request to speak / be'ecu'i = standby / be'enai = don't speak
• re'i = ready/listening / re'icu'i = standby / re'inai = not ready
• mu'o = over (done) / mu'ocu'i = pausing / mu'onai = not done
• je'e = roger/understood / je'enai = negative/not understood
• vi'o = wilco/will comply / vi'onai = will not comply
• ke'o = please repeat / ta'a = I interrupt / ta'anai = I yield
• nu'e = I promise / nu'enai = I refuse; pe'u = please; fe'o = signing off
• Last COI in a chain governs whose name follows; mi'e last = speaker's name
• sei … se'u = parenthetical metalinguistic comment (speaker-tag in dialogue); does not affect bridi truth conditions