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Lesson 33: Vocabulary Interlude 6

Vocabulary


	áabe		book
	áala		thanks; “Thank you”
	benem		to stay
	–da		Suffix (Type-of-Sentence Word): said in jest; telling a joke
	dáan		word
	dun		meadow; pasture
	ezha		snake
	hosherídan		great-niece
	lali		rain
	loth		information
	lothel		to know
	loyo		to be black
	obeth		neighbor [o (around) + beth (home)]
	ódon		cheese
	nedaba		which (see Suzette Haden Elgin’s discussion of “nedaba” below)
	sho		to be heavy
	ulanin		to study
	wem		to lose
	yob		coffee
	zha		name

[In response to Elfquest Chaoist’s question, “It seems that question words don’t have any way to indicate whether they’re asking about a person or an object or a location, although some questions will be obvious,” Suzette Haden Elgin wrote:]

EC is correct; the third person pronoun is ambiguous in questions, so that “Báa eril yod bebáa thilith?” could be either “Who ate the fish?” or “What ate the fish?” and “Báa eril sháad ne bebáade?” could be either “Where did you come from?” or “What did you come from?” This sort of ambiguity is typical of human languages—the classic example for English is sentences like “Visiting relatives can be difficult”—but is a problem only for isolated examples. In actual discourse, spoken or written, ambiguity is very rare, and the language has plenty of resources for fixing it if it happens.

Nevertheless, EC’s question makes it clear that it would be useful for Láadan to have a “which” question word. Let’s add one—“nedaba,” roughly “Only + Q”—and set it up like this.

Báa

Question

eril

Past

yod

Eat

bebáa

It + Queston + Subject

thilith?

Fish + Object

Who/what ate the fish?

To disambiguate:

Báa

Question

eril

Past

yod

Eat

bebáa

It + Queston + Subject

thilith?

Fish + Object

(Báa)

(Question)

with

Person

nedaba?

Which

Who ate the fish?

Báa

Question

eril

Past

yod

Eat

bebáa

It + Queston + Subject

thilith?

Fish + Object

(Báa)

(Question)

mid

Creature

nedaba?

Which

What ate the fish?

NOTE: The parentheses around the “Báa” before “nedaba” means that it’s optional; it can be used or left out, as the speaker/writer wishes. And you could of course specify “wild animal” or “domestic animal” instead of the generic “creature” if the context required it.

Báa

Question

eril

Past

sháad

Go/Come

You

bebáade?

It + Question + Source

Where/What did you come from?

To disambiguate, follow the sentence with either “(Báa) hoth nedaba?” (which place) or “(Báa) dal nedaba?” (which thing).

NOTE: This doesn’t mean that the Láadan word “which” should be used the way the English one is; “nedaba” is intended only as a question word. You wouldn’t use it to translate “I know which child ate the fish.” How that would be done is a separate issue, and this is enough for now.

Examples


	Bíi wéedan le áabe háawitheda nedebe wa.		I read the book for the several children.
	Bóo benem ne betheha.		Prithee stay at home.
	Báa dáan hi bebáa?		What is this word?
	Báa sháad ezha bebáanal?		How does the snake go?

Exercises

Translate the following into English


1	Bíi eril mime obeth letho ledi wa, “Báa meloyo ezha?”
2	“Ra,” eril di le bedi, “meleyan bezh wa.”
3	“I meliri babí bebáanal?”
4	“Bíi lothel ra le wa.”
5	Báa hi losh bebáatho?
6	Báa shub ro bebáa?
7	Bíi ham lali, izh ham ra yul wa.
8	Bíi eril eb Therísha ódon lan nethoda wa.
9	Bó mebenem nezh núuha!
10	Bíi aril mesho dim áabethu menedebe wa.

Note the lack of “Báa” at the beginning of #3. This will occur in speech and is perfectly acceptable because there will be no confusion; the “bebáa” form conveys the fact that this is a question as well as what information is being requested. Of course, if the sentence requires a Speech Act Suffix (to express its emotional tone), we’ll need to have a Type-of-Sentence Word to “hang” it on.

Also in #3, we see the idiom for asking “what color” something is. Literally, we are asking “How (in what manner) is it colored?”

Note, in #6, the idiom for asking what the weather is like. Literally, the question means, “What does the weather do?”

Translate the following into Láadan


11	The ten plants bloomed suddenly.
12	I can’t sleep because I drank coffee.
13	The teacher got information during autumn at the farm.
14	The pigs will eat all the grain in the winter (offered as a warning, but with no evidence as to its validity).
15	Does the child have beautiful clothing?
16	Yes, someone made many garments for her out of good cloth.
17	Everything is very hot through the summer.
18	Either the food is soft or of course the baby will be sick (a warning).
19	If your house be not clean then I will clean it (a promise).
20	They (few) learn many words when they study Láadan.

Were you able to dissect the word “wohodenan” in the answer to #16? “Wo”; is the relativizer that connects it to “wothal;” “h” separates the vowels; “od,” the core of the word, means “cloth;” “e” separates the consonants; “nan” is the Instrument case ending. All together, it means “using cloth” (and the cloth is connected by the relativizer to the verb “thal” meaning “good”). Were you misled by the English to try to use “–thu” (of) in forming this word? Remember, you have to look “behind” the English to the meaning.

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Answers


1	My neighbor asked me, “Are the snakes black?”
2	“No,” I said, “they’re brown.”
3	“And what color are the birds?”
4	“I don’t know.”
5	Whose money is this?
6	What’s the weather like?
7	It’s raining, but it’s not windy (there’s no wind).
8	Teresa bought cheese for your friend.
9	Stay there! (said as to several small children)
10	The containers of many books will be heavy. OR The many containers of books will be heavy.

11	Bíi eril memahina dala thab bishibenal wa.
12	Bíi ril thad áana ra le bróo eril rilin le yob wa.
13	Bíi eril thel omá loth ábedeha wemoneya obée wáa.
14	Bée aril meyod muda edeth woho wemaneya wóo.
15	Báa thi háawith woháya wobud?
16	Em, eril el beye oweth menedebe beda wothal wohodenan wáa.
17	Bíi owahul abesh wumaneya obe wa.
18	Bée e dazh ana e aril éeya áwith wi.
19	Bé aril bre éthe ra belid netho ébre dóhéthe le beth wa.
20	Bíi mebedi bezh dáan menedebe widahath mehulanin bezh Láadan wa.

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