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Lesson 11: Relativizer

Vocabulary


	aba		to be fragrant
	áwith		baby, infant
	berídan		aunt
	dizh		kettle
	do		to be strong
	du–		Prefix (verb): try to VERB
	lal		milk
	mahina		flower
	oba		body
	wo–		Prefix (verb-and-noun pair): relativizer

Relativizer

[Verb (Neg) CP–S (CP–O)]

Láadan has a form that is much like an English “adjective + noun” sequence, as in “green tree” or “small child.” You can take any sequence of verb and subject (remembering that “adjectives” are only ordinary verbs in Láadan) and put the marker “wo–” at the beginning of each one. “Beautiful woman” is thus “woháya wowith.” This is very useful, but it is a bit different from English because it can only be used if you have just one verb. You cannot use this pattern to translate an English sequence like “little red brick wall.”

Linguistic Note:

English derives “the green grass” from “the grass which is green,” with “which is green” the relative clause; when a language does that with a morpheme instead of by grammatical processes like moving things around and deleting and inserting stuff, the morpheme is called a “relativizer.” So, “liyen” is “be green” and “hesh” is “grass;” “woliyen wohesh” is “green grass” because of the relativizing prefix.

You will have no trouble with combining the parts of the words in these patterns if you just add the endings before you add “wo–.” So, “I help the woman” is “Bíi den le witheth wa;” “I help the weary woman” is “Bíi den le wohóoha wowitheth wa.” You would not put an object marker on a verb, you see.

The plural marker is always the last piece added to any verb; thus “beautiful women” will be “mewoháya wowith.” And “I help the weary women” will be “Bíi den le mewohóoha wowith wa.”

Examples


	Bíi do with wa.		The woman is strong.
	Bíi dudo with wa.		The woman tries to be strong.
	Bíi áya with wa.		The woman is beautiful.
	Bíi dudo woháya wowith wa.		The beautiful woman tries to be strong.
	Bíi áya wodudo wowith wa.		The trying-to-be-strong woman is beautiful.

	Bíi medo with wa.		The women are strong.
	Bíi medudo with wa.		The women try to be strong.
	Bíi meháya with wa.		The women are beautiful.
	Bíi medudo mewoháya wowith wa.		The beautiful women try to be strong.
	Bíi meháya mewodudo wowith wa.		The trying-to-be-strong women are beautiful.

	Bíi bel with dizheth wáa.		The woman brings/takes the kettle.
	Bíi bel with worabun wodizheth wáa.		The woman brings/takes the old kettle.
	Bíi bel with meworabun wodizheth wáa.		The woman brings/takes the old kettles.

Exercises

Translate the following into English.


1	Bíi do wobalin wowith wa.
2	Bíi meshane mewolawida womid wáa.
3	Bíi wam wohaba woshum wa.
4	Bíi dubel omá wolaya wothilith waá.
5	Báa doth bebáa woshóod wohomideth?
6	Báa dathim wothal wothul?

Transform the following into relativized form in Láadan; then translate the result into English.

Example: “Bíi áya with wa. Balin with.” becomes “Bíi áya wobalin wowith wa.” The old woman is beautiful.

Note that the Type-of-Sentence Word and Evidence Word are not included in the second source sentence. They would have to be if they changed or if the sentences were not connected to each other. The sentences are, by the nature of the exercise, connected; we can therefore assume that the Type-of-Sentence Word and the Evidence Word are the same.

Another example: “Bíi bel omá mahinath waá. Aba mahina wa.” gives “Bíi bel omá wohaba womahinath waá.” The teacher brings/takes the fragrant flower (I’m told, but I don’t believe it).

Note that the second source sentence does include an Evidence Word; this is required because it is different than the one in the first sentence. However, since the bringing/taking of the flower (rather than its fragrant-ness) is the key action in the resultant sentence, the first source-sentence’s Evidence Word is the one we end up using in the result.


7	Bíi áana áwith wa. Áya áwith.
8	Báa néde ne ruleth? Bíi wam rul wa.
9	Bíi duden héena ábedáth wáa. Née héena wa.
10	Bíi duden héena ábedáth wáa. Míi ábedá.
11	Bíi amedara muda wa. Tháa muda.
12	Bíi dóhu le dimeth wa. Rahu dim.

Translate the following into Láadan.


13	Anna eats bad fruit.
14	The green plants don’t flower.
15	The weary worker knows them (many).
16	The working aunts speak Láadan.
17	What does the laughing grandmother ask?
18	Do you (few) teach the correct language?

In #14, did you have any trouble finding a verb meaning “to flower; to put forth flowers?” Remember that any Láadan verb can be used as a noun (so long as the meaning isn’t nonsense). Just so, Láadan allows you to use a noun as a verb. This process is just as simple as the reverse. Simply apply the appropriate verb affixes (even the lack of an affix for a singular verb) to the noun and use it in the verb’s position in the sentence. Using more Latinate language, “a flower” (mahina) could be termed “an efflorescence;” in the same idiom, “to flower” would be “to effloresce.” Here the noun is clearly derived directly from the verb; I think we can safely use “mahina” to mean the verb “to flower” as well as the noun “flower.”

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Answers


1	The old woman is strong.
2	The pregnant creatures are furry.
3	The fragrant air is still.
4	The teacher tries to take/bring the red fish (I’m told, but I don’t believe it).
5	Who follows the busy horse?
6	Does the good parent needlework?

7	Bíi áana woháya woháwith wa.
7	The beautiful baby is asleep.
8	Báa néde ne wowam woruleth?
8	Do you want a calm cat?
9	Bíi duden wonée wohéena ábedáth wáa.
9	The alien heart-sibling tries to help the farmer.
10	Bíi duden héena womíi wohábedáth wáa.
10	The heart-sibling tries to help the amazed farmer.
11	Bíi amedara wotháa womuda wa.
11	The thriving pig dances.
12	Bíi dóhu le worahu wodimeth wa.
12	I open the closed container.

13	Bíi yod be worathal woyuth wáa.
14	Bíi memahina ra mewoliyen wodala wi.
15	Bíi an wohóoha wohalá beneth wáa.
16	Bíi ndi mewohal woberídan Láadan wáa.
17	Báa mime wohada wohothul bebáath?
18	Báa mehom nezh wodóon wodaneth?

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