NOV JUL Aug 19 2012 2014 2015 4 captures 13 Nov 09 - 19 Jul 14

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Vocabulary

It seems odd to the English ear, but the verb “bel” means both “to take” and “to bring.” English uses a pair of unrelated verbs in what linguists call a “deictic pair;” not all languages do this to the same extent that English does. An example may be helpful in reducing the oddness: when we say “Anna brings a casserole to the pot-luck,” or “Anna takes a casserole to the pot-luck,” the same person is transporting the same food to the same party; only the point of view of the speaker (linguist-speak: the deixis) has changed—either the speaker is at the party or she is elsewhere, respectively. Which English verb should be used in translating “bel” can (but need not necessarily) be made clear (linguist-speak: the deixis can be disambiguated) by the context in which it occurs.

The prefix “dó–” added to a “stative verb” (a verb that, in English, would be an adjective—that discusses a state of being), turns that verb into an “active verb” (one that, in English, would be a verb—that discusses an action). For instance, “míi” means “to be amazed;” “dómíi” means “to cause to be amazed” or, in more colloquial English, “to amaze.” The other effect of this transformation is that the Subject of “míi” (the one who is amazed) becomes the Object of “dómíi” (the one whom someone or something else causes to be amazed) and the one doing the amazing is the new Subject.

Object Case

[Verb (Neg) CP–S CP–Object]

To mark a Case Phrase as an Object, add “–th;” if the word ends in a consonant and we added “–th,” that would result in a forbidden consonant cluster (two or more consonants in a row together, which is forbidden in Láadan). In that case, we insert “e” between the final consonant of the noun phrase and the “–th.” Notice that there is no ending for the Case Phrase that is a Subject.

Examples

Note the “e” added between “shon” and “–th” to separate the consonants; also note that it’s unnecessary between “ede” and “–th” or between “bebáa” and “–th” or between “le” and “–th” below because “ede,” “bebáa” and “le” all end in vowels.

Note that the plural prefix is added subsequent to any other affix, so it appears first in the word, no matter how many prefixes there are.

Note that personal names do not receive Case endings. When the name of a person or animal fulfills the rôle of a Case that would take a suffix, the name is followed by “be” which accepts the Case ending instead. This rule applies to the names of living and once-living persons and creatures but not to the names of places or times.

Exercises

Translate the following into English

Note that there is no Object suffix on “dim” in #1 above. This is because there can be no ambiguity. Because a container cannot “want” anything, in Láadan its Object suffix is optional; you may use the suffix or not, at your discretion—so long as the meaning is not ambiguous. The same applies to #8 below: Láadan cannot “speak the grandparents,” so no Object suffix is required. And to #9 below. And also to #2 and #6 above and #13 below, although in these examples I have chosen to use the Object suffix; it is grammatically correct even when it is not required.

Incorporate the second noun as an Object; translate into English before and after.

Note the variant plural prefix “n–” in #8. The verb, “di,” begins with “d,” so we may use the “syllabic n” (like the final syllable in the English word “button”) instead of the usual “me–;” the variant pluralized form, “ndi,” is still a two-syllable word.

Translate the following into Láadan

The verb “close” in #13 might be a bit of a challenge. We know the verb “rahu” (to be closed); “to close” can also be termed “to cause to be closed.” “Dórahu” [from “dó–” (cause to VERB) + “rahu” (to be closed)] means just that.

A similar approach should be taken in #16 and #17, but here it is more straightforward because the syntax “cause to VERB” is clearly present. Don’t be confused by the English tendency to put the Object between “cause” and “to VERB;” Láadan uses the prefix “dó–” (cause to VERB) with the verb, then the Subject (the one doing the causing), then the Object (the one being caused to VERB).

Note the word “dóhada” (cause to laugh) as seen in #16. It has another meaning: “to be comical” or “to be funny.” When used in this way, it will take no Object—that is, the Subject is “funny” or “comical” in general; there is no specific person being “caused to laugh."

Did the word “age” in #17 give you pause? A verb can be used as a noun, so long as the result is not nonsense. For “stative verbs” (verbs that, in English, would be adjectives), the translation of the nominal form is perhaps most easily formed by adding “–ness” to the English adjective. In #17, “age” could be termed “old-ness;” that sounds like the nominal form of “balin” (to be old).

By now we’ve seen enough “one who...” formations to recognize how to make them. In #17, “needleworker” would be “dathimá” from “dathim” (to needlework) + “–á” (doer; one who).

Answers