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The seventh lesson of each set of seven will give you the opportunity to put your skills to use in translating from English into Láadan. This story will also be fairly cartoonish, but don’t let that stop you from having fun with it.
Language is a fluid medium; there are always many ways to convey the same information. That said, my translation will be one way of rendering the English text into Láadan; yours may very well be another—especially as we go along and have more vocabulary and grammatical features with which to work.
ábed
farm
ada
to laugh
belid
house
boshum
cloud
dithemid
cow
do
strong
doól
at last; finally
dozh
to be easy
edemid
mouse [ede (grain) + mid (creature)]
éeb
juice; sap
éesh
sheep
éezh
goat
ham
to be present; there is/are
híya
to be small
hob
butter
–hul
Degree Marker: to an extreme degree; extremely
id
and then
lal
milk
lalom
to sing
lóolo
to be slow
meénan
to be sweet (flavor)
modi
to be ugly
na–
Prefix (verb): to begin to VERB; to start VERBing
omid
horse
owa
to be warm
rahíya
to be large [ra– (NON) + híya (be small)]
rahowa
to be cold [ra– (NON) + owa (be warm)]
ralóolo
to be quick; to be rapid; to be fast [ra– (NON) + lóolo (be slow)]
rohoro
storm
róomath
barn
rul
cat
shóod
to be busy
thée–
Prefix (verb): about to VERB, but not any minute
thu
honey
woth
wisdom; used as a verb: to be wise
yom
to be safe; to be secure
yul
wind
In English we say “It’s windy,” or “It’s cold,” or “It’s stormy.” There’s no specific thing being referred to by the “it” in these English sentences; it’s just the way we talk about the weather. Every language has little pieces of “how we say” certain things that, transposed word for word into another language, make no sense; language students call these pieces “idioms.” In Láadan the idiom for speaking about the weather involves the verb “ham” followed by the weather effect (sun, rain, wind, storm, and so on). So the English “It’s windy,” would be, in Láadan, “ham yul.” Of course, this sentence may need the Type-of-Sentence word and Evidence word: “Bíi ham yul wa.”
Notice, also, the ending “–hul”. This is the first we’ve seen of a whole set of Degree Markers. This one means that the verb to which it is attached is an “extremely” form of itself. This is straightforward in stative verbs (verbs that discuss a state of being—translated into English as adjectives); with active verbs (verbs that discuss an action—translated into English as verbs), “–hul” would intensify the action; the English would resemble “VERB extremely hard” or some such.
There are verb prefixes that seem, in the English translation, like “helping verbs,” but in Láadan they are just ways you can modify any verb. Two such are “na–” (begin to VERB; start VERBing) and “thée–” (about to VERB, but not any minute), listed above.
The Farm
It was an ugly day. It was cloudy, windy and cold, and it was about to storm. The people were busy and working hard. But they sang, and then the work was easy.
The cows and pigs were big, and the horses were strong. The goats were wise, and the sheep were slow. The cats were quick; the mice were small and afraid. At last the animals were safe; the barn was strong. And then the storm began.
The house was strong and warm. There was bread and butter and honey. There were milk and juice. The bread was warm; the honey and the juice were sweet. The people ate, and sang and talked and laughed.
The Farm
Ábed
Ábed
Farm
The/A Farm
It was an ugly day. It was cloudy, windy and cold, and it was about to storm. The people were busy and working hard. But they sang, and then the work was easy.
Bíide modi sháal wo. Meham boshum, yul i rahowa, i théeham rohoro. Meshóod i mehalehul with. Izh melalom with, id dozh hal.
Bíide
DECL + NARR
modi
BeUgly
sháal
Day
wo.
MADEUP
Meham
PL + BePresent
boshum,
Cloud
yul
Wind
i
And
rahowa,
Cold
i
And
théeham
ABOUTto– + BePresent
rohoro.
Storm
Meshóod
PL + BeBusy
i
And
mehalehul
PL + Work + DEGextreme
with.
Person
Izh
But
melalom
PL + Sing
with,
Person
id
AndThen
dozh
BeEasy
hal.
Work
The day was ugly. It was cloudy, windy and cold, and it was about to storm. The people were busy and working extremely hard. But the people sang, and then the work was easy.
The cows and pigs were big, and the horses were strong. The goats were wise, and the sheep were slow. The cats were quick; the mice were small and afraid. At last the animals were safe; the barn was strong. And then the storm began.
Bíide merahíya dithemid i muda, i medo omid wo. Mewoth éezh, i melóolo éesh. Meralóolo rul, i mehíya i mehéeya edemid. Doól meyom mid; do róomath. Id naham rohoro.
Bíide
DECL + NARR
merahíya
PL + BeLarge
dithemid
Cow
i
And
muda,
Pig
i
And
medo
PL + BeStrong
omid
Horse
wo.
MADEUP
Mewoth
PL + Wisdom
éezh,
Goat
i
And
melóolo
PL + BeSlow
éesh.
Sheep
Meralóolo
PL + BeQuick
rul,
Cat
i
And
mehíya
PL + BeSmall
i
And
mehéeya
PL + BeAfraid
edemid.
Mouse
Doól
AtLast
meyom
PL + BeSafe
mid;
Creature
do
BeStrong
róomath.
Barn
Id
AndThen
naham
BEGIN + BePresent
rohoro.
Storm
The cows and horses were large, and the horses were strong. The goats were wise, and the sheep were slow. The cats were quick, and the mice were small and afraid. At last the animals were safe; the barn was strong. And then it began to storm .
The house was strong and warm. There was bread and butter and honey. There were milk and juice. The bread was warm; the honey and the juice were sweet. The people ate, and sang and talked and laughed.
Bíide do i owa belid wo. Meham bal i hob i thu. Ham lal i éeb. Owa bal; memeénan thu i éeb. Meyod i melalom i medi i mehada with.
Bíide
DECL + NARR
do
BeStrong
i
And
owa
BeWarm
belid
House
wo.
MADEUP
Meham
PL + BePresent
bal
Bread
i
And
hob
Butter
i
And
thu.
Honey
Meham
PL + BePresent
lal
Milk
i
And
éeb.
Juice
Owa
BeWarm
bal;
Bread
memeénan
PL + BeSweet
thu
Honey
i
And
éeb.
Juice
Meyod
PL + Eat
i
And
melalom
PL + Sing
i
And
medi
PL + Speak
i
And
mehada
PL + Laugh
with.
Person
The house was strong and warm. There were bread and butter and honey. There were milk and juice. The bread was warm; the honey and the juice were sweet. The people ate and sang and talked and laughed.
Ábed
Bíide modi sháal wo.
Meham boshum, yul i rahowa, i théeham rohoro.
Meshóod i mehalehul with.
Izh melalom with, id dozh hal.
Bíide merahíya dithemid i muda, i medo omid wo.
Mewoth éezh, i melóolo éesh.
Meralóolo rul, i mehíya i mehéeya edemid.
Doól meyom mid; do róomath.
Id naham rohoro.
Bíide do i owa belid wo.
Meham bal i hob i thu.
Meham lal i éeb.
Owa bal; memeénan thu i éeb.
Meyod i melalom i medi i mehada with.
Yes, this is a lot of new vocabulary; the topic required more than was planned. But you can handle it. And at least some of the new vocabulary items are just opposites of words we already knew; Láadan forms opposites of many words by simply adding the prefix “ra–” (NON).
Patterned after the corresponding feature in many Romance languages—as well as the emerging standard in English—Suzette Haden Elgin held that the verb “ham” when used in the “there is/are” sense would never be pluralized. While this works well in languages where the noun carries the plural, in Láadan where the plural is only carried on the verb, this leads to confusion. Also, it can be very difficult to determine whether the meaning of “ham” should be translated “be present” (which would be pluralized) or “there is/are” (which would not).
The second generation took the decision to pluralize “ham” wherever more than one Subject is being discussed, regardless of whether “be present” or “there is/are” is intended.
Because the weather idiom was coined before the second generation took the decision to pluralize “ham” wherever appropriate—and because there really is only one weather, no matter how many facets thereof are being discussed in a single sentence—the weather idiom is always singular. For example, “It’s windy, cloudy, and cold,” would be “Bíi ham yul, boshum, i rahowa wa.”
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