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Lesson 28: Place Case

Vocabulary


	both		hotel
	buzh		conference; convention; “con”
	ehoth		geography [e– (science of) + hoth (place)]
	–ha (variant: –sha)		Suffix (noun): Place Case
	luben		map
	menedebenil		among (many) [menedebe (many) + nil (inside)]
	nedebenil		among (few; several) [nedebe (few; several) + nil (inside)]
	shinenil		between [shin (two) + nil (inside)]
	than		underground
	widahoth		where

“Widahoth” does not mean “where” in the sense of “Where is the....?” Rather, “widahoth” is a subordinating conjunction—like “bróo” (because)—meaning “where” in the sense of “I work where the work is” (Bíi hal le widahoth ham hal wa).

English uses “between” to refer to a location intermediate to two objects and “among” if the location is intermediate to three or more objects. Just so, Láadan uses different words to refer to a location intermediate to two, three-to-five, or six-or-more objects. They are “shinenil,” “nedebenil” and “menedebenil,” respectively.

Place Case

[(Aux) Verb (Neg) CP–S CP–Place]

To mark a Case Phrase as Place, add the ending “–ha.” This ending specifies an event or state as being at a particular location in space.

The suffix “–sha” is offered as a variant form for “–ha” so that when the final syllable of a word to which the Place Case marker is to be added is “–ha,” the sequence “–ha+ha” can be avoided. (Suppose the name of some town in Láadan were “Baha” and you wanted to construct a sentence saying that something is located at Baha; instead of “Bahaha” you would use “Bahasha.”)

There are also going to be times when ambiguity would be caused because “h” is the epenthetic phoneme inserted between vowels when two vowels would otherwise occur together, and it could be difficult to tell whether the “h” was that inserted “h” or the first letter of “–ha.” In such cases, you would use “–sha.”

Examples


	Bíi ham babí menedebe thosheha wa.		There are many birds in the sky.
	Bíi meham rosh i óol thosheha wa.		The sun and moon are in the sky.

Notice that when “ham” (to be present; there is/are) is used to mean “there is” or “there are,” it is never pluralized. When “ham” is used to mean “present” (as in the second example above) it is pluralized when the things present are plural.


	Báa ham esh bebáaha?		Where is the boat (present)? Where is there a boat?
	Bíi ham esh iliha wa.		The boat is (present) on the water. There is a boat on the water.

Note the two different translations possible for each of the sentences above. Since “ham” can mean either “be present” or “there is/are,” these are acceptable translations for the Láadan sentences. The choice of which English version to use will be contextual: was a boat being talked about already? If not, the “there is/are” translation will work better; if so, the “be present” version will be more appropriate.


	Bíi hal le beth lethoha wa.		I work at my home.
	Bíi hal le beth lethoha o wa.		I work around my home.

English has a wide variety of prepositions which are used [...] to make the information more precise; thus, something will be said to be not just “at” a particular location but “inside, between, underneath” and so on. In English these prepositions are used as the first element in the phrase and could be said to be used instead of a more general case-marking preposition. In Láadan the general marker is always used, but there is a set of more narrow forms that can be added to the phrase to make its meaning more precise. We can say that “–ha” means “at” some place; if more precise information is required, the speaker puts an additional locational word at the end of the Case Phrase. In the examples above, the first sentence is perfectly grammatical; the word “o” in the second sentence adds “around” to the meaning at the speaker’s discretion. The set of words like “o” (called postpositions) never change their form in any way; they take no affixes at all.


	Báa hal be bebáaha?		Where does she work?
	Bíi hal be widahoth ham hal wa.		She works where there is work. She works where the work is.

Note the two very different meanings of the English word “where.” In the first example above, it is a question word requesting information about a location (bebáaha in Láadan). In the second, it is a subordinating conjunction—in essence, it is saying that the clause which follows it describes a location (widahoth in Láadan).

Exercises

Translate the following into English.


1	Bíi eril meláad beyezh ith óolethuth oyinan iliha wáa.
2	Báa ham wolawida wohomid bebáaha?
3	Bíi eril methel babí wothal wohedeth haneha wáa.
4	Bíi aril yod imá widahoth ban beye anath bedi wáa.
5	Bíi yom onida letha betheha wa.
6	Bíi aril mehamedara withid esh nethoha wáa.

Incorporate the second noun phrase as a Place; translate into English before and after.


7	Bíi eril mebithim lan netho beyeneth wa.	ábed lezhetho
8	Báa aril wóoban rul?	bebáa
9	Bíi eril wóoban rul wa.	belid yil
10	Bóo menáwam nezh.	romid ihé
11	Báa ham wili?	bebáa
12	Bíi ham wili wa.	weth ihée

Did you notice the difference between the questions posed in the second parts of #8 and #11? In #8, the cat will be giving birth; the question is only where this will occur; so we have a verb “wóoban” (to give birth) all ready for us. In #11, the question is entirely about the location of the river; in English we use the verb “to be” in this situation, but Láadan doesn’t have that kind of “to be” verb; we use “ham” (to be present; there is/there are) instead—just as we’ve already seen in #2. So #11 could be translated either “Where is there a river?” or “Where is the river (present)?” The difference between these two English questions comes from the situation: was a river already under discussion? If so, the second translation is more apt; if not, then the first would be.

In #10, did you get the “flavor” of “romid?” Formed from “ro” (weather) + “mid” (creature), it means “wild animal.” The complement of “romid” is “shamid” (domestic animal) from “sha” (harmony) + “mid” (creature).

Translate the following into Láadan.


13	Where does Margaret sleep?
14	The old worker traveled, long ago, in the East.
15	The teacher and the student will be together in the North.
16	The fish feels pain in its mouth (made up).
17	My garden is fragrant because beautiful flowers thrive there.
18	Something is happening inside the container.

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Answers


1	Some (few) ones saw moonlight on the water.
2	Where is the pregnant horse?
3	The birds got/obtained the good grain in the south.
4	The traveler will eat where someone gives her food.
5	My family is safe at home.
6	The men will dance on your boat.

7	Your friends met some people.
	Bíi eril mebithim lan netho beyeneth ábed lezhethoha wa.
	Your friends met some people on our farm.
8	Will the cat give birth?
	Báa aril wóoban rul bebáaha?
	Where will the cat give birth?
9	The cat gave birth.
	Bíi eril wóoban rul belideha yil wa.
	The cat gave birth under the house.
10	Prithee remain (continue to be) calm (you several).
	Bóo menáwam nezh romideha ihé.
	Prithee remain calm before the wild animal.
11	Is there a river?
	Báa ham wili bebáaha?
	Where is the river?
12	There is a river.
	Bíi ham wili wetheha ihée wa.
	The river is beyond the road.

13	Báa áana Mázhareth bebáaha?
14	Bíi eríli im wobalin wohalá Heneha wáa.
15	Bíi meshidi omá i bedihá Huneha wa.
16	Bíi ril úuya thili óoyo bethaha wo.
17	Bíi aba déela letho bróo metháa mewoháya womahina núuha wa.
18	Bíi shóo beye dimeha nil wa.

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