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Lesson 14
Your Turn 2


Vocabulary

beye

Indefinite Pronoun (someone, somebody, something)

esh

boat

eshá

sailor [esh (boat) + –á (DOER)]

–hal

Degree Marker: to an unusual degree

–hil

Degree Marker: to a minor degree; rather; somewhat

ili

water

ilisháad

to swim [ili (water) + sháad (to go/come)]

im

to travel

íthi

to be tall; to be high

líithi

to be white

líithin

to be grey

lili

to be wet

mela

ocean [me– (aggrandizer) + ili (water)]

melamid

dolphin, porpoise [mela (ocean) + mid (creature)] {CH}<

réele

harbor

shumáad

to fly [shum (air) + sháad (to go/come)]

Here we see two more of the set of Degree Markers. The first, –hal,” (to an unusual degree) is less forceful than –hul (to an extreme degree) which we’ve seen before. The second, –hil,” (to a minor degree) denotes that the action is less intense than neutral.

Indefinites

Beye” is known grammatically as an “indefinite pronoun” and means “someone” or “something.” As it is a pronoun, it also has the forms “beyezh” and “beyen” meaning “some(ones)” or “some(things)”—few/several (2 to 5) and many (more than 5), respectively. Whether the item/items to which “beye/beyezh/beyen” refers is/are people or things is subject to interpretation for the purposes of translation into English.

The various forms of “beye” can also be used to signify a non-specific subset of the available set of a given noun is (are) under discussion—as in the examples below:

Bíi melaya mahina wa. listen to this sentence pronounced

Flowers are red.
The flowers are red.

Bíi melaya mahina beyen wa. listen to this sentence pronounced

Some-many flowers are red.


Báa íthi bo? listen to this sentence pronounced

Is a mountain tall?
Is the mountain tall?

Báa íthi bo beye? listen to this sentence pronounced

Is some mountain tall?

In both of these examples, the item(s) being discussed are (is) many (or one) of the possible flowers (or mountains), but we’re not specifying which one(s). Notice that when used in this way, the “beye/beyezh/beyen” is postpositional to (immediately follows) the noun it modifies.

English Text

The Harbor

The day is beautiful. The stiff breeze is cool and moist. The sky is fleecy-clouded and blue; the clouds are high and white. The sea is green. Some-many seabirds are flying; fish and dolphins swim.

There are boats; some-few are large, and some-many are small. Some-many are white; some-few are gray; some-many are green and yellow. These-many boats are fast. The sailors are strong and beautiful, and they travel widely and are blessed.

My Láadan Translation with Morphemic Analysis and Retranslation into English

The Harbor

Réele

Réele

Harbor

Harbor


The day is beautiful. The stiff breeze is cool and moist. The sky is fleecy-clouded and blue; the clouds are high and white. The sea is green. Some-many birds are flying; fish and dolphins swim.

Bíi háya sháal wa. Rahowahil i lilihil yulehal. Bol i leyi thosh; mehíthi i melíithi boshum. Liyen mela. Meshumáad babí beyen; mehilisháad thili i melamid.

Bíi

DECL

háya

BeBeautifulTime

sháal

Day

wa.

MYPERC


Rahowahil

NON + BeWarm = BeCold + DEGminor

i

And

lilihil

BeWet + DEGminor

yulehal.

Wind + DEGunusual


Bol

BeFleecyClouded

i

And

leyi

BeBlue

thosh;

Sky

mehíthi

PL + BeHigh

i

And

melíithi

PL + BeWhite

boshum.

Cloud


Liyen

BeGreen

mela.

Ocean


Meshumáad

PL + Air + ComeGo = Fly

babí

Bird

beyen;

Indef>5

mehilisháad

PL + Water + ComeGo = Swim

thili

Fish

i

And

melamid.

Dolphin

The day is beautiful. The unusually strong wind is cold and wet, both to a minor degree. The sky is fleecy-clouded and blue; the clouds are high and white. The ocean is green. Some-many birds are flying; fish and dolphins are swimming.


There are boats; some-few are large, and some-many are small. Some-many are white; some-few are gray; some-many are green and yellow. These-many boats are fast. The sailors are strong and beautiful, and they travel widely and are blessed.

Bíi meham esh wa; merahíya beyezh, i mehíya beyen. Melíithi beyen; melíithin beyezh; meliyen i meléli beyen. Meralóolo esh hin. Medo i meháya eshá, i mehimehal i mehothel ben.

Bíi

DECL

meham

PL + BePresent

esh

Boat

wa;

MYPERC

merahíya

PL + NON + BeSmall = BeLarge

beyezh,

Indef2-5

i

And

mehíya

PL + BeSmall

beyen.

Indef>5


Melíithi

PL + BeWhite

beyen;

Indef>5

melíithin

PL + BeGray

beyezh;

Indef2-5

meliyen

PL + BeGreen

i

And

meléli

PL + BeYellow

beyen.

Indef>5


Meralóolo

PL + NON + BeSlow = BeQuick

esh

Boat

hin.

Demo>5


Medo

PL + BeStrong

i

And

meháya

PL + BeBeautiful

eshá,

Boat + DOER = Sailor

i

And

mehimehal

PL + Travel + DEGunusual

i

And

mehothel

PL + BeBlessed

ben.

X>5

There are boats; some-few are large and some-many are small. Some-many are white; some-few are gray; some-many are yellow and green. These-many boats are quick. The sailors are strong and beautiful, and they travel to an unusual degree and are blessed.

My Láadan Text

Réele listen to this pronounced

listen to this pronounced Bíi háya sháal wa.listen to this pronounced Rahowahil i lilihil yulehal.listen to this pronounced Bol i leyi thosh; mehíthi i melíithi boshum.listen to this pronounced Liyen mela.listen to this pronounced Meshumáad babí beyen; mehilisháad thili i melamid.listen to this pronounced

listen to this pronounced Bíi meham esh wa; merahíya beyezh, i mehíya beyen.listen to this pronounced Melíithi beyen; melíithin beyezh; meliyen i meléli beyen.listen to this pronounced Meralóolo esh hin.listen to this pronounced Medo i meháya eshá, i mehimehal i mehothel ben.listen to this pronounced

Comments

We’ve used the new Degree Markers in some routine, normative ways: rahowahil (cool, a minor degree of coldness); lilihil (moist, a minor degree of wetness). We also use them in some more advanced ways: yulehal (stiff breeze, an unusual degree of wind); mehimehal (travel widely, an unusual degree of traveling). These are good examples of perfectly acceptable uses for any of the Degree Markers.

At the beginning of the second paragraph, we use the Indefinite pronouns postpositionally to specify a non-specific subset of the available boats; however, having declared that we’re talking about boats in the first clause, we repeatedly use the Indefinite pronouns to modify that noun—but never restate the noun. Human languages avoid the frequent repetition of identical information, so this use of the modifier without the modified noun is perfectly acceptable.

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