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Lesson 21: Vocabulary Interlude 4

Vocabulary


	bini		gift
	bithim		to meet
	Bóo		Type-of-Sentence Word: Request
	dazh		to be soft, pliant, yielding
	ed		tool
	éeya		sickness, illness
	lan		friend
	liri		to be colored
	lóolo		to be slow
	losh		money, credit
	mela		ocean
	shad		to be pure; to be perfect
	shal		courtesy; manners
	she		to comfort
	shim		to sexual-act (completely neutral & abstract term)
	waálh		Evidence Word: assumed false by X because X distrusts source; evil intent also assumed
	we		Evidence Word: perceived by X in a dream
	wili		creek, river
	wóo		Evidence Word: used to indicate that X states a total lack of knowledge as to the validity of the matter
	wóoban		to give birth

Examples


	Bíi éthe beth netho wa.		Your home is clean.
	Bíi dóhéthe ne beth netho wa.		You clean (cause to be clean) your home.
	Báa dóhéthe ne beth nethoth?		Do you clean your home?
	Báa dóhéthe bebáa beth nethoth?		Who cleans your home?
	Bóo dóhéthe ne beth nethoth.		Prithee clean your home.

In the English translation of Requests, I shall use the form “Prithee....” It’s rather stilted English, but it captures the sense of a polite request without the use of “please”, for which there is a separate Láadan word.

Notice that—unlike in English—the Subject is not optional in a Request in Láadan. The Subject will be specified, and usually will be some form of the second-person pronoun, “ne.”

Notice that no Evidence Morpheme is required in a Request (no information is being presented whose validity should be confirmed, just as is the case with the Interrogative). And on the subject of Evidence Words:


	Bíi laya mahina wi.		The flower is red (as anyone can plainly see).
	Bíi laya mahina wa.		The flower is red (according to my perceptions).
	Bíi laya mahina wáa.		The flower is red (I’m told, and I trust the source).
	Bíi laya mahina waá.		The flower is red (I’m told, but I mistrust the source).
	Bíi laya mahina waálh.		The flower is red (I’m told, but I mistrust the source—and I believe the source is misleading me on purpose with ill intent).
	Bíi laya mahina we.		The flower is red (in my dream).
	Bíi laya mahina wo.		The flower is red (in the story I’m making up; hypothetically).
	Bíi laya mahina wóo.		The flower is red (as a guess, with no convincing evidence).

“Waálh” is simply “waá” (I mistrust the source of the report) with the pejorative affix, “lh,” added to introduce the perception of ill intent to the situation; this is an excellent example of the use of the pejorative affix. Now that we’ve been introduced to “waálh,” “we” and “wóo,” we are now acquainted with the complete set of Evidence Words.

Exercises

Translate the following into English


1	Bíi eril néde ban ábedá mewolaya wobabí ledi wa.
2	Bíi lirihul esh wa.
3	Bíi áya dala wa. Báa mehaba mahina betha?
4	Em, i medazhehul mi betha wa.
5	Bíi im lan letho wilidi; nédeshub bithim be wolawida wosherídan bethath wa.
6	Bíi shal weth shadi i shonedi wa.
7	Báa aril doth Mázhareth edin bethath meladi?
8	Bóo bel ne mewoshad wonemeth omádi.
9	Bíi aril melóolo ra lezh; ril wóoban berídan lezhetha wa.
10	Bíi míi onida; eril sháad rul wodóon wobelidedi wáa.

Translate the following into Láadan


11	The assistant promised to braid my grandmother’s hair.
12	What did you (few) eat? Was it good?
13	Our food was fruit, bread and milk.
14	My father couldn’t help Michael to safety (I dreamed).
15	Who (plural) will move hence (from here) to the mountains?
16	Will the weary horse carry grain thither (to there)?
17	The money was a gift from the alien.
18	The man remembered to buy a tool.
19	The bankers don’t need to do the work.
20	A linguist created Láadan; it comforts us (many).

In #12, because we’ve already established the interrogative mode and the past tense in the first sentence, we don’t need to include either “Báa” or “eril” at the beginning of the second sentence (though we could, for emphasis or to remove any possibility of ambiguity).

In #15, did you notice that you couldn’t (yet) specify the mountains as plural? Our next lesson but one will ease this restriction.

In #16 & #18, did you notice the surface similarities between “edeth” from “ede” + “–th” (Object Case: grain) and “edeth” from “ed” + “–th” (Object Case: tool)? This can happen; in connected speech or writing it will not be so confusing.

In #17, did you have any trouble forming the word for “alien” as a noun? An alien is one who is alien (née): néehá.

In #19, were you able to form the word for “banker?” A banker is one who deals in (or “does”) money and credit: “loshá.”

In #20, were you able to form the word “linguist?” “Linguistics” is the science of language: “edan.” One who studies/practices this science is a “linguist:” “edaná.”

Also in #20, did you notice the ambiguity? The Subject of the second clause is “be” (she/he/it/X). It is impossible to tell, from the Láadan, whether it is the language or the linguist that comforts us. More discourse would be required to clarify.

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Answers


1	The farmer wanted to give me red birds.
2	The boat is extremely colorful.
3	The plant is beautiful. Are its flowers fragrant?
4	Yes, and its leaves are extremely soft.
5	My friend is traveling to the river; she intends to meet her pregnant niece.
6	Courtesy is a path to harmony and peace.
7	Will Margaret follow her cousin to the ocean?
8	Prithee take the perfect pearls to the teacher.
9	We shall not be slow; our aunt is giving birth now.
10	The family is amazed; the cat came to the correct house.

11	Bíi eril bédi boóbin dená delith hothuletha lethath wa.
12	Báa eril meyod nezh bebáath? Thal be?
13	Bíi eril ana lezhetho yu, bal i lal wa.
14	Bíi eril thad den ra thulid letha Máyel beth yomedi we.
15	Báa aril memina bebáa nude bodi?
16	Báa aril wida wohóoha wohomid edeth núudi?
17	Bíi eril losh bini néeháde wa.
18	Bíi eril dom eb withid edeth wáa.
19	Bíi ril methem meshub ra loshá haleth waá.
20	Bíi eril el edaná Láadan; ril she be leneth wa.

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