Láadan/Láadan Grammar Reference

Letters in Láadan Letter Pronunciation IPA a father /ɑ/ e bell /ɛ/ i big /ɪ/ o hope /o/ u moon /u/ th think /θ/ zh pleasure /ʒ/ sh shine /ʃ/ lh - /ɬ/ b aback /b/ d dream /d/ h high /h/ l wealth /l/ m him /m/ n month /n/ r red /ɹ/ w weep /w/ y you /j/ Notes A. Words cannot end with the letters "h", "w", or "y". B. Split up double-consonants with the letter "e". Example: hesh = grass, hoth = place, hesh+e+hoth = heshehoth = park. C. Split up double-vowels with the same accents with the letter "h". Example: ra = not, en = understand, ra+h+en = rahen = misunderstand D. Two vowels next to each other are only allowed if one of them is accented. Example: Láadan, Aáláan Accented Vowels A letter with an accent mark gets pronounced with a slightly higher pitch, and slightly more emphasis. Low tone – Example, /lō/ or /lò/ High tone – Example, /ló/ With two vowels side-by-side, there can be an accent on the first vowel or the second vowel. These have different sounds: Loó – /lǒː/ Lóo – /lôː/ Pronouns Pronouns can be neutral, though if a gender is assumed it is generally feminine. Voice Singular Plural, 2 to 5 Plural, 6 or more First Person ("I") Le Lezh Len Second Person ("You") Ne Nezh Nen Third Person ("He", "She") Be Bezh Ben Beloved, honored, or despised You can change the pronouns to match some feeling about who you're talking about: Beloved - change the "e" vowel with "a". la, lazh, lan, ba, bazh, ban, na, nazh, nan Honored - change the "e" vowel with "i". li, lizh, lin, bi, bizh, bin, ni, nizh, nin Despised - add "lhe-" to the beginning. lhele, lhelezh, lhelen, lhebe, lhebezh, lheben, lhene, lhenezh, lhenen Speech Act Morpheme At the beginning of a phrase, a sentence marker is added to indicate what kind of sentence it is. Speech Act Morpheme Description Bíi Indicates a declarative sentence (usually optional) Báa Indicates a question Bó Indicates a command; very rare, except to small children Bóo Indicates a request; this is the usual imperative/”command” form Bé Indicates a promise Bée Indicates a warning Extensions You can attach a suffix to each of these in order to further specify the speaker/writer's intentions: Láadan Description -(None) Said neutrally -d Said in anger -th Said in pain -li Said in love -lan Said in celebration -da Said in jest -de Said in narrative -di Said in teaching -du Said in poetry -ya Said in fear Evidence Morpheme An evidence marker is added to the end of a sentence. If there are several sentences strung together and context is clear, these can be omitted from additional sentences. Evidence Morpheme Description wa Known to speaker because perceived by speaker, externally or internally wi Known to speaker because self-evident we Perceived by speaker in a dream wáa Assumed true by speaker because speaker trusts source waá Assumed false by speaker because speaker distrusts source; if evil intent by the source is also assumed, the form is “waálh” wo Imagined or invented by speaker, hypothetical wóo Used to indicate that the speaker states a total lack of knowledge as to the validity of the matter Content Words and Function Words Láadan does not have traditional verbs, nouns, and adjectives, as in English. There are two types of words: Content words and Function words. Most content words can be used as both verbs and nouns. (“Dance”, “Dancing”, would both be “Amedara”). Verbs and adjectives are the same class of words. (“Red”, “To be red”, would both be “Laya”). Identifier Case Láadan does not have a verb for “to be”, as in English. If you want to state [noun A] is [noun B], any verb will be left off and the subject and identifier will be used: Láadan English Breakdown Bíi le with wa. I am a person. Bíi (I declare) le (I) with (person) wa (perceived by me). Object Case Use the “-th” suffix to mark the object in a sentence. An object is an item being acted on. In the sentence “I ate rice.” – Rice is the object. In Esperanto, this would be “Mi manĝis rizon”, where rice (rizo) has an object marker -n. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi ulanin le Láadaneth wa. I study Láadan. Bíi (I declare) ulanin (to study) le (I) Láadaneth (Láadan+object) wa (perceived by me). Notes: If an act can only go one way (I can learn Láadan, but Láadan cannot learn me), the object marker is not necessary. Remember that double-consonants get split up by an "e". (Láadan+e+th) Degree markers Neutral degree markers Láadan Description -hel to a trivial degree; slightly -hil to a minor degree; rather (none) to an ordinary degree -hal to an unusual degree; very -hul to an extreme degree -háalish to an extraordinary degree Láadan English Vocab words Báa íthi bo? Is the mountain tall? íthi = tall, bo = mountain Bíi íthihul bo wa. The mountain is extremely tall. (Neutral) Negative degree markers Láadan Description -hele to a troublesome degree -hile to a severe degree -hule to an intolerable degree -shule an unbearable degree, would cause a catastrophic event; used as an emergency form. Láadan English Vocab words Báa íthi bo? Is the mountain tall? íthi = tall, bo = mountain Bíi íthihule bo wa. The mountain is extremely tall. (Negative - it's awful that it's tall!) Positive degree markers Láadan Description -théle to a pleasing degree; fine -thíle to a more-than-pleasing degree; excellent -thúul to an extraordinarily pleasing degree; magnificient -thúle to the furthest degree of pleasingness possible; perfect Láadan English Vocab words Báa íthi bo? Is the mountain tall? íthi = tall, bo = mountain Bíi íthithúul bo wa. The mountain is extremely tall. (Positive - it's great that it's tall!) Interrogative degree markers The interrogative marker, "-haba", can be used to ask "to what degree?" Láadan English Vocab words Báa íthi bo? Is the mountain tall? íthi = tall, bo = mountain Báa íthihaba bo? How tall is the mountain? (Amberwind Láadan Lessons 2012 295) Duration markers A Duration marker can be added to the beginning of a verb. Láadan Description na- to start to... ná- to continue to... ne- to repeat... no- to finish/complete... nó- to cease to... Láadan English Vocab words Bíi eril nóhulanin le wa. I've stopped studying. eril = past, ulanin = to study Bíi eril nahulanin le wa. I've begun studying. Repetition marker A Repetition Morpheme can also be used to specify a pattern in which something is done. Láadan Description bada repeatedly, at random badan repeatedly, in a pattern over which humans have no control brada repeatedly, in a pattern fixed arbitrarily by human beings bradan repeatedly, in a pattern fixed by humans by analogy to some phenomenon (such as the seasons) bradá repeatedly, in what appears to be a pattern but cannot be demonstrated or proved to be one Láadan English Vocab words Bíi hal le brada wa. I work regularly. hal = work Pluralization The prefix “me-” is used to indicate plural. However, it is used on the verb – not the noun. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi áya with wa. The woman is beautiful (my perception). Bíi (I declare) áya (beautiful) with (person/woman) wa (perceived by me). Bíi meháya with wa. The women are beautiful (my perception). Bíi (I declare) meháya (plural+beautiful) with (person/woman) wa (perceived by me). Adjective with noun If you want to modify a noun by combining it with an adjective, you add the “wo-” prefix on both the adjective and the noun. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi hal with wa. The woman works. hal (work) with (woman) Woháya wowith Beautiful woman Bíi hal woháya wowith wa. The beautiful woman works. Bíi adal wobalin wohothul wi. The old grandmother sews. Negation To make a sentence negative, put “ra” immediately after the verb. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi u áath wa. The door is open. Bíi (I declare) u (open) áath (door) wa (perceived by me). Bíi u ra áath wa. The door is not open. Bíi (I declare) u (open) ra (not) áath (door) wa (perceived by me). You can also negate other words by prefixing it with "ra". For instance: Láadan English Breakdown Bíi rahu áath wa. The door is closed. Bíi (I declare) rahu (closed) áath (door) wa (perceived by me). And/Or "i" is used for "and". Láadan English Breakdown Bíi yod i rilin le wa. I eat and drink. Bíi (I declare) yod (eat) i (and) rilin (drink) le (I) wa (perceived by me). "e" is used for "or". Láadan English Breakdown Bíi néde le thuhal e thuzh wa. I want candy or cake. Bíi (I declare) néde (want) le (I) thuhal (candy) e (or) thuzh (cake) wa (perceived by me). Yes/No Questions When asking yes/no questions, the word order will be the same, but “Báa” (question type-of-sentence marker) will be used instead of “Bíi”, and you leave off the evidence marker. Láadan English Breakdown Báa thal ne? Are you good? Báa (Question) thal (good) ne (you)? "Yes" is "Em". "No" is "Ra". Interrogative Questions In English, we have words like who, what, when, where, why… In Láadan, who/what/when/where questions still begin with “Báa”. The third person pronoun “be” is used in place for what is being asked about (or a plural form), and the suffix “–báa” to mark it as what we’re asking about. Láadan English Vocabulary Báa áya bebáa? What is beautiful? áya = beautiful, bebáa = they+question Báa yod ne bebáath? What are you eating? yod = to eat, -th = Object marker Báa sháad ne bebáadi? Where are you going to? -di = Goal marker Báa hal ne bebáaden? Who do you work with? -den = Association marker Báa lalom ne bebáawáan? Why are you singing? -wáan = Reason-cause marker Tenses In a sentence, you can add tenses like "ril" (now), "eril" (past), to clarify the time which the action happened. Here is a list of tenses: Láadan English Sample Phrase Translation eril past Báa eril yod ne? Did you eat? aril future Báa aril yod ne? Are you going to eat? ril present Báa ril yod ne? Are you eating (now)? eríli far past Báa eríli yod ne? Did you eat long ago? aríli far future Báa aríli yod ne? Will you eat, far in the future? rilrili hypothetical Báa rilrili yod ne? Would you eat? Embedding sentences Once you're comfortable with basic sentence structures, you may want to include one sentence in another. For example, "Did you know that [grandma died]?", where "Grandma died" is its own sentence, but is included in a larger sentence. Embed statement: -hé The "-hé" marker can be used to embed one statement within another statement. "-hé" will be added to the last word in the internal sentence. Láadan English Vocab words Bíi áya le wa. I am beautiful. áya = to be beautiful Bíi lith le [áya lehé] wa. I think that I am beautiful. lith = to think Bíi lith be [áya lehé] wa. She thinks that I am beautiful. Embed question: -hée This marker can be used to embed a question within a sentence. The external sentence can also be a question, or it can be a statement. "-hée" will be added to the last word in the internal sentence. Láadan English Vocab words Bíi áya le wa. I am beautiful. Bíi lith be [áya lehée]? Do you think that I am beautiful? Bíi lothel ra le [áya lehée] wa. I don't know whether I am beautiful or not. lothel = to know Embed relative clause: -háa A relative clause modifies a noun. With the statement and question embedding markers above, the internal sentences are relatively standalone ("the rain is cold." "do you think that [the rain is cold]?"). Here, however, the relative clause will modify the sentence as a whole. Láadan English Vocab words Bíi an behid witheth wa. He knows a woman. Bíi lalom with wa. The woman sings. Bíi an behid [lalom witheháath] wa. He knows a woman who sings. (Amberwind Láadan Lessons 2012 295) Comparison Note the difference between using "-hé" and "-háa": Láadan English Vocab words Bíi dom le [hal withehé] wa. I remember that [the woman works]. dom = to remember Bíi dom le [hal witheháa] wa. I remember the [woman that works]. Passive Voice Marker -shub Maybe you want to describe what is happening in a more passive voice; for example, changing "Jane coveted the treasure" (active), "The treasure was coveted by Jane". The first version, we would order it something like: Speech-act-morpheme verb subject object evidence-morpheme Where the subject is Jane and the object is the treasure. Passive sentence with an Agent In order to change the original active sentence to passive move the subject, which is the Agent doing the action, (Jane) after the verb and the object (treasure) immediately before the verb. The object is now in the focus position. Step Láadan English Vocab words Active Bíi eril yod le thuzheth wa. I ate cake. eril = past, yod = eat, le = I, thuzh = cake Passive, with Agent Bíi eril thuzheth yod leshub wa. The cake was eaten by me. Passive sentence without an Agent You would also add the suffix -shub onto the end of the subject (Jane). If your sentence does not have an Agent subject (The treasure is coveted), then you will still move your object before the verb, and add the -shub suffix to the verb. Step Láadan English Vocab words Active Bíi eril yod le thuzheth wa. I ate cake. eril = past, yod = eat, le = I, thuzh = cake Passive, no Agent Bíi eril thuzheth yodeshub wa. The cake was eaten. Preposition-like Markers In Láadan, there are no prepositions. Instead, there are suffixes added to the end of words. Goal Marker: -di This is similar to the “to” preposition. Append “-di” to the goal. (“I am going to the store” – store would be the goal). Láadan English Breakdown Bíi aril sháad le anawehedi wa. I’ll go to the grocery store. Bíi (I declare) aril (later) sháad (come/go) le (I) anawehedi (grocery store+goal) wa (perceived by me). Source Marker: -de This is similar to the “from” preposition. Append “-de” to the source. (“I came from home” – home would be the source). Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril sháad le bethede wa. I came from home. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) sháad (come/go) le (I) bethede (home+source) wa (perceied by me). Association Markers: -den, -dan This is similar to “with”. There are two forms of with: “-den” (neutral), and “-dan” (with pleasure). Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril im le ruledan wa. I travelled with a cat. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) im (travel) le (I) ruledan (cat+with-pleasure) wa (perceived by me). Instrument Marker: -nan This is similar to “with” or “per”, denoting a tool being used to accomplish a task. The suffix is “-nan”. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril yod le thuzheth bathanan wa. I ate cake with a spoon. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) yod (eat) le (I) thuzheth (cake+object) bathanan (sppon+with) wa (perceived by me). Beneficiary Markers: -da, -dá, -dáa, -daá This marker is for when you’re doing something “for” someone or something else. There are a few variations: Suffix Meaning -da voluntarily -dá by force, against X’s will. -dáa obligatorily, as by duty -daá accidentally Láadan English Breakdown Bíi ril hal le hothuleda wa. I work for the grandmother. Bíi (I declare) ril (now) hal (work) le (I) hothuleda (grandmother+for-voluntary) wa (perceived by me). Location Markers: -ha, -ya This is similar to the preposition “at”. To denote location in space, use “-ha”. To denote location in time, use “-ya”. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril hal le hohaleha wa. I worked at the office. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) hal (work) le (I) hohaleha (office+at) wa (perceived by me). Bíi aril hal le háasháaleya wa. I will work at morning. Bíi (I declare) aril (later) hal (work) le (I) háasháaleya (morning+at) wa (perceived by me). Manner Marker: -nal To denote a manner with which something is done, use the marker “-nal”. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril amedara le áyanal wa. I danced beautifully. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) amedara (dance) le (I) áyanal (beautiful+manner) wa (perceived by me). Reason Marker: -wáan To mark a reason, add the suffix “-wáan”. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril yime be óowamidewáan wa. She ran because of the dragon. Bíi (I declare) eril (ealier) yime (run) be (she/he/it) óowamidewáan (dragon+reason) wa (perceived by me). Purpose Marker: -wan Mark the purpose with “-wan”. Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril sháad be hohaledi halewan wa. She went to the office to work. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) sháad (come/go) be (she/he/it) hohaledi (office+goal) halewan (work+purpose) wa (perceived by me). Cause-to marker: dó- Láadan English Vocab words Bíi yod le wa. I am eating. yod = to eat Bíi dóyod le mideth wa. I am feeding the animal. mid = animal Possessive Marker: -tha, -thi, -the, -thu, -tho There are several forms of the possessive marker: Suffix Meaning -tha by reason of birth -thi by reason of chance -the for unknown or unacknowledged reason -thu the false (“partitive”) possessive, as in “a dress of velvet” -tho other (purchase, gift, law, custom, et cetera) Láadan English Breakdown Bíi eril láad le shinehal nethoth oyinan wa. I saw your computer. Bíi (I declare) eril (earlier) láad (perceive) le (I) shinehal (computer) nethoth (you+object+possessive) oyinan (eye+with) wa (perceived by me). Path marker: -mu Let's say that we want to say that we're going from point A to point C, by going *through* point B. In this case, we'd mark point B as the "path", using the *-mu* marker. Examples Láadan English Vocab words Bíi sháad le wa. I'm coming/going. sháad = to come/to go, le = me Bíi sháad le bethedi wa. I'm going home. beth = home Bíi sháad le hohalede bethedi wa. I'm going home from the office. hohal = office Bíi sháad le bethedi heshehothemu obe wa. I'm going home through the park. heshehoth = park, -mu = path marker, obe = through Bíi sháad le bethedi wilimu óobe wa. I'm going home along the river. wili = river, óobe = along Bíi sháad le bethedi oódóomu yil wa. I'm going home (via) under the bridge. oódóo = bridge, yil = under Noun Declensions Additional detail can be added to words, such as emotions (happiness, anger, etc.). By adding on to these words, using the first and second declensions, you can encode more information in a single word, instead of having to formulate lengthy sentences to describe your current state. First Declension: For reasons... Láadan Description -i for no reason -e for good reason(s) -o for foolish reason(s) -u for bad reason(s) -(e)he despite negative circumstances (Suzette Haden Elgin A First Dictionary and Grammar of Láadan, Second Edition 1988 132) Láadan English Vocab words Bíi loláad le thena I feel joy, for good reasons loláad = to perceive internally Bíi loláad le thehena I feel joy, despite negative circumstances Bíi loláad le nena I feel contented, for good reasons Second Declension: Blame/reason... The second declension can be used to specify reason, blame, and futility of the statement. You can essentially answer three questions with each suffix: There is a reason that I feel this way: (True/False) There is someone to blame for this situation: (True/False) There is something that can be done about the situation: (True/False) In the table below, "T" symbolizes "True", and "F" symbolizes "False". -ara -ala -ama -ana -ina Reason T T T T F Blame T T F F F Futility T F T F F Anger: bara, bala, bama, bana, bina (Suzette Haden Elgin A First Dictionary and Grammar of Láadan, Second Edition 1988 133) Láadan English Bíi loláad le bala I feel angry, there is a reason, there is someone to blame, and it is not futile. Compounding As in English, compounds are usually head-final. That is, a mid-(e)math animal-building is a kind of building (a ‘stable’), not a kind of animal. A bud-(e)halid clothing-competition = ‘masquerade’ is a kind of competition, not a kind of clothing. There are a small number of exceptions, though. A bud-(e)shun clothing-ceremony is "ritual clothing", not a kind of ceremony. Similarly dale-shun object-ceremony = ‘ritual object’. Od-obeyal cloth-gold is a kind of cloth decorated with gold, not a kind of gold (though this may be a metaphor). The word hoth, place, works head-finally in the regular way; dutha-hoth heal-place is ‘hospital’, hesh-(e)hoth grass-place is ‘park’, etc. However, as the prefix ho-, it becomes head-initial. ho-zhazh is ‘airport’ (a place of planes=zhazh), and ho-hal is ‘office’ (hal = work). Verb-noun compounds usually have verb-object semantics: di-shóo-dal tell-happen-things = ‘to tell the news’. The verb-object compound can point to an external meaning: wida-dith carry-voice means "telephone" (=that which carries the voice). Another compound order is modifier-verb: óoma-sháad foot-go = walk, go by foot. Of course, the same works for adjectives: muda-(h)éthe pig-clean is a kind of clean (a half-assed clean state). Modifier-verb order can lead to, effectively, an ‘inverted’ object-verb order: oba-(h)éthe body-clean is to clean one’s body, to take a shower or bath (but it’s being encoded as a kind of cleaning; cp. English ‘housecleaning’ vs. ‘clean the house’). As when inflecting words, consonant clusters are resolved with an -e-: hal work + zhub insect = halezhub ‘ant’ And vowel clusters are resolved with -h-: ezha snake + ith light = ezhahith lightning bolt Vowel clusters can be allowed if it’s the same vowel with different tones (the only kind of vowel cluster present in Láadan): rá- not + alehale music = ráalehale musically deprived But different vowels or longer sequences get the -h- even with different tones: muda pig + éthe clean = mudahéthe pig-clean. owa warm = úuzh bedding = owahúuzh ‘blanket’. When the junction point of a compound repeats the same phonemes, they usually merge into one: rumad + doni hide-dirt → rumadoni (‘dig’), rather than *rumadedoni. óoya + aáláan heart-wave = óoyaáláan (‘pulse’), rather than *óoyahaáláan. In some cases whole syllables may be dropped: wil let + oba body + mina move → *wilobamina → wilomina ‘to perform, act’ (as in theatre) Or the coda (ending) of the last syllable of the first word may be dropped, combining it with the next word: wíyul breath + aáláan wave → wíyulaáláan → wíyaáláan ‘respiration rate’ This seem to be especially common when the consonant is repeated: oba body + bedi learn → obabedi → obedi ‘to acquire a skill’ Here, the repetition-dropping process removes an entire echoing sequence, preserving the two high tones of lámála: odama lips + lámála caress → *odamalámála → odámála ‘kiss’ Parallel compounds (without head, as in Chinese) take the infix -i- ‘and’: dim-i-dim box-and-box = ‘cupboard’ bod-i-bod line-and-line = ‘computer program’ ban-i-bel = give-and-take Compare these semantics with simple reduplication, which may take the usual -e- to separate consonants: hul-e-hul [extreme degree sufix]-[extreme degree suffix] = heck yes, emphatic yes hath-e-hath time-time = forever, eternity Parallel compounds (with -i-) suggest repetition, iteration, while reduplication suggests large degree, magnification. Degree suffixes like -hal ‘to an unusual degree’ are used to coin words: bod line + -hal [unusual degree] = bodehal ‘rod’ tham circle + -hal = thamehal ‘globe, planet’ sháad come, go + -hul [extreme degree] = sháadehul ‘grow transcendentally’ yul wind + -hul = yulehul ‘hurricane’ The negative morpheme/sound lh is usually added to the start or end of a word. It can be temporary/inflectional: awith ‘baby’ lhawith or awithelh ‘this darned baby’ And it can also be compounded into new words (derivational): ada laugh, lhada scorn ranahá drinker, ranahálh alcoholic Instead of affixing lh, an 'l' inside the word can mutate into 'lh': bediloth knowledge lesson, bedilhoth useless knowledge lesson lol feeling of community, lolh oppressive feeling of community éholob threat, éholhob very malicious threat This lh-mutation also works for on-the-spot, temporary coinages: éelen grapes; éelhen these darned grapes In the following word, an infix -lh- between morphemes seems to cause a vowel to echo: dó strong, rado weak; dó-rado dominate; dó-lh-orado dominate with evil intent.