NOV JUL Aug 18 2012 2014 2015 4 captures 13 Nov 09 - 18 Jul 14

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Vocabulary

You will have noticed, in “homana” (dessert), the word “hom” (nectar).

And, in “hozhazh” (airport), “zhazh” (airplane).

Text

Daleyodewan Diídinethu

Bíi zha letho Máthu wa. Ham láad le hathóolethameth bath i hathóoleth boó. Ril den le Másha, hena lethath, i Shahina, edin lethath; mebud lezh daleyodewaneth yodeyod diídinethuda. Didi thul letha dinime ham rin hathameha i bin beha nol yodáda wahahé. Íi medinime meham batha shin hiwetha rinethuha, i hum i bada shin hiwethoha. Medinime meham hed ilida humeha ihée i hed rushida badaha ihée. Dinime ham ni e yobeda e zhuda bathaha ihée.  ¶

Bíi dush áya daleyodewan bróo eril memahinin Mathul i Berídanid Ánetheni i Hothul sháalede shin eril sháaledi ril; abaháalish belid wum wi. Aril ham deheni i thili i yáazh i thulana balinemidethu wáa. Íi ham udemeda onelaleden, i medalayun, i mud bremedaden, i bal i hob. Homana thuzh ahanathu i thizh doyuthu. Aril umeháalish daleyodewan, hulehul.  ¶

Bíi ril thódidi Mathul ledi wil dam le shalehé wa. Bíilan methéenosháad with menedebe hothede nedebe udathihéeya hi—i ben woho onida letha wáa.  ¶

Mehabelid Berídanid Máyel (be hena thulidetha letha) i eba betho, Berídan Méri, hunehoneha melaha thoma; methi bezh háawitheth boó: Nem, Oyimahina, i Elízhabeth. Berídanid Máyel wíitham; ulanin Berídan Méri ehometh.  ¶

Mehabelid Berídan Therísha (hena thuletha letha) i Thíben (wobun woheba betho) Halishónaha shéeha thoma; methi ra bezh háawith. Bel Berídan Ánetheni bezheth hozhazhede nudi mazhenan. Widahath meham Berídan Therísha i Berídanid Thíben nuha, mehabelid bezh botheha.  ¶

Bíi mehabelid Mathul i thulid letha i Másha (ham láad be hathóoletham bud) i le belid Hothul Shuzhéth bethoha beden wa. Hothul Shuzhéth thul Mathuletha. Mehabelid Berídan Ánetheni i Shahina (ham láad be hathóoletham nib) lezheden íi. Berídan Ánetheni eril shebasheb eba henahidehóotho Mathulethaháa.  ¶

Ril loláad le thena bróo aril nebithim le onida lethath.

Morpheme-by-Morpheme Analysis

Free Translation

Holiday Table

My name is Matthew. I’m six years and three months old. I’m helping Marsha, my sister, and Rose, my cousin; we’re setting the table for the holiday feast. My mother instructed that a plate should go in the middle and a bowl on top of it for each diner. Also the two forks should go on the left-hand side of the plate and the knife and two spoons on the right. And the water glass should go beyond the knife and the wine glass should go beyond the spoons. The coffee- or tea-cup should go beyond the forks.

The table has to be beautiful because Mom, Uncle Anthony and Grandmother have been cooking since the day before yesterday; the whole house is sooooo fragrant. There will be meat and fish and goose and turtle soup. Also there will be potatoes with cream, and carrots, and mushrooms with onions, and bread and butter. Dessert will be chocolate cake and apple pie. The table will be extraordinarily full, for-sure

Mom just instructed me to mind my manners. Many people will be arriving from several places this afternoon—and they all will be my family.

Uncle Michael (he’s my father’s brother) and his wife, Aunt Mary, live in the northwest near the ocean; they have three children: Pearl, Violet and Elizabeth. Uncle Michael is a clergyman; Aunt Mary is studying education.

Aunt Teresa (my mother’s sister) and Steven (her new husband) live in California near a desert; they don’t have children. Uncle Anthony is driving them here from the airport. While Aunt Teresa and Uncle Steven are here, they’ll stay in a hotel.

Mom and my father and Marsha (she’s nine) and I live in Grandmother Suzette’s house with her. Grandmother Suzette is Mom’s mother. Uncle Anthony and Rose (she’s eight) also live with us. Uncle Anthony is Mom’s brother whose wife died.

I’m happy because I’ll be meeting my family again.

Comments

This is a whole lot of vocabulary, but I suspect you’re tiring of being spoon-fed just a few words at a time.

You will have noticed, I’m sure, that sometimes Máthu refers to his uncle Ánetheni as berídanid (uncle), and at other times as “berídan” (aunt). English lacks a word for “the sibling of one’s parent where the sibling is not disclosed to be of either gender.” In Láadan, female is assumed (much as male is assumed in English), but we can use the un-masculinized version of a noun or pronoun to refer to a male person—just as we have been referring to men using the pronoun “be” for some time; we needn’t convert it to “behid” every time the man is referred to. In fact, it could be argued that insisting on the “–id” suffix is a way to emphasize that he is male—in effect saying “how like a man...” with every noun or pronoun. This is similar to English speakers who insist on referring, for instance, to a woman sculptor as a “sculptress” as though to set her apart, to rate her work on a different scale than that applied to a “real” (ie “male”) sculptor. The man saying, in Láadan, “Bíi le with wa,” is not lying, even though he uses “with” rather than “withid;” he’s merely stating that he is a person, no gender declared.

In this story, we see a new idiom: “sháal ril” meaning “today”. There is a set of related idioms: “sháal eril” means “yesterday”, “sháal shin eril” is “the day before yesterday”, and “sháal boó eril” is the day before that or “three days ago”. On the future side, “sháal aril” means “tomorrow”, “sháal shin aril” is “the day after tomorrow” and “sháal boó aril” is the day after that or “three days from now”. Any case ending (such as “–ya” (Time Case) or “–de” (Source Case) or “–di/–dim” (Goal Case)) would go on the noun, “sháal”.