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dun
field; meadow
eb
to buy; to sell
mina
to move
miwith
town, city [mi (leaf) + with (person)]
nu
here
núu
there
olin
forest
sheb
to change
shée
desert
yed
valley
The Goal Case Phrase is that toward which the action of the Verb is directed. To mark a Noun as the Goal of a sentence, use the suffix
When Suzette first created Láadan, she elected to use
Along with the Goal Case, we get the conjunction “údimú” (whither—a fairly archaic English form meaning “to where”). Not a question-word, this conjunction introduces a clause that fulfills the Goal case-role—as in the English sentence, “I know whither the birds fly.”
Bíi sháad behid wa.
He comes/goes.
Báa sháad behid bebáadim?
Whither (to where) does he come/go?
Bíi sháad behid déeladim wa.
He comes/goes to a garden.
Bíi sháad behid Méri bedim wa.
He comes/goes to Mary.
Bíi sháad behid déela Méri bethodim wa.
He comes/goes to Mary’s garden.
By this time it should be routine to note that personal names do not take suffixes, as in the fourth and fifth examples above, and that the Case ending will move to the end of the Possessive case phrase, as in the fifth.
You may not recognize the rather archaic form “whither.” It is Goal Case in English and means “to where” (“bebáadim” in Láadan). There are a few other English Goal Case forms: “hither” means “to here” (“nudim” in Láadan); “thither” means “to there” (“núudim” in Láadan); “nowhither” means “to nowhere” (“radim” in Láadan).
Bíi medibíi bezh údimú sháad behid wa.
They (few) declare whither he comes/goes.
Bíi mesháad bezh nudim wa.
They (few) come hither (to here).
Bíi mesháad bezh núudim wa.
They come/go thither (to there).
English is persnickety about needing to know whether someone or something is “coming” or “going.” In reality, this is a distinction without a difference. Láadan doesn’t make the distinction and works just fine, as a language, without it. Linguists have a name for this type of ambiguity: deixis; it discusses an action for which there are two words, depending upon the point of view of the speaker. In the first example above, the English need to have the ambiguity resolved is satisfied. Because “they” are coming/going “to here” (“here” being, by definition, where the speaker is located), the verb can be clarified to “come” rather than “go.”
Bíi mesháad bezh hidim wa.
They (few) come/go to this/that (place).
Bíi mesháad bezh zhedim wa.
They come/go to the same (place).
Bíi mesháad bezh beyedim wa.
They come/go somewhither (to somewhere).
Bíi mesháad bezh radim wa.
They come/go nowhither (to nowhere).
Bíi mesháad bezh déela radim wa.
They come/go anywhither but to a garden.
Bíi mesháad bezh hizh hizhedim wa.
They come/go to each other.
Notice the pair of examples using “radim”
Bíi eril om le wa.
I taught.
Bíi eril om le shoneth wa.
I taught peace.
Bíi eril om le nedim wa.
I taught (to) you.
Bíi eril om le shoneth nedim wa.
I taught (to) you peace.
Bíi eril nohom le wa.
I finished teaching.
Bíi eril dúuhom le shoneth nedim wa.
I failed to teach you peace.
With any communication verb (“om” in this case), the one doing the communicating is the Subject (“le” here), the thing being communicated (here “shon”) is the Object, and the one to whom the Object is being communicated (here “ne”) is the Goal. These case assignments remain even when one or more of the case phrases are omitted (as in the first and third examples above). Other verbs we already know that would fall into this category are “ban” (to give), “di” (to speak) and all its derivatives, “lalom” (to sing), and “wida” (to carry).
The word “shon,” above, need not have an Object Case suffix; there would be no ambiguity since “peace” cannot teach “me” “to you.” Nevertheles, the Object Case sufffix is grammatically correct (if quite formal) when the speaker/writer elects to include it.
1
Bíi aril mesháad edin edalahátha nudim wa.
2
Báa wida omid berídan lalomáthath bebáadim?
3
Bíi dubel ebalá wohowa wobaleth miwithedim wáa.
4
Bóo nahom ne Láadan Másha bedim.
5
Bíi eril ban Elízhabeth wolaya wobabíth dená omáthodim wa.
6
Bíi wil lothel eshoná údimú eril dúuhim héena betho wa.
7
Bíi ril memina duthahá i ehá wonée womudath wa.
worahith woholin
8
Báa eril eb hothul Mázhareth betha mewobun womazheth?
bebáa
9
Bíi rilrili medoth meworabalin woháawith shonáth wa.
woliyen woyed
10
Bíi ril thad den Ánetheni wohéeya wohaláth we.
woyom wohoth
11
Bé eríli meshumáad onida lenetha wa.
wohóya wobeth lenetho
12
Bóo ril mehalehale nen yáawith thabeshan.
romid worile woshéethu
In #8, we see the word “eb” (to buy; to sell). Like “sháad” (to come; to go) and “bel” (to bring; to take), the deixis can be confusing in the English translation (even though the ambiguity is a non-issue in the Láadan). Unlike “sháad” and “bel,” the deixis on “eb” is resolved quite readily; if the Object is being transferred to a Goal, then “eb” should be translated “sell.”
13
Is the carpenter going to change the window into a door?
14
The sage promised [didactically] to Steven, “It was stormy and windy, and now the sky is fleecy-clouded, but the weather will be continue to be bad [obviously].”
15
Might the caregiver hear whither Mathew and Suzette were departing?
16
The farmer asked me, “Whither is the sailor swimming?”
17
I promised him, “She arrived at the harbor at last”
18
The field is clearly brown with dry grass; is Anna walking thither?
If the farmer in #16 had wished to speak less formally, the interrogative Type-of-Sentence Word would have been optional; there is a form of the interrogative pronoun in that sentence that makes it quite clear a question is being posed—and the person relating the utterance also signaled that a question was being asked.
In #17, the provided Láadan shifts the content “promise” into the quotation, since the explicit inclusion of that information is so much easier in Láadan than it is in English.
In #18, did the English construction “brown with dry grass” give you any difficulty? Consider that the dry grass is not accompanying the field; it’s the instrument whereby the field is brown. And, of course, “ralili” (to be dry)
1
The botanist’s cousins will come hither (to here).
2
Whither (to where) is the horse carrying the singer’s aunt/uncle?
3
I understand the baker is trying to bring/take warm bread to town.
4
Prithee begin to teach Láadan to Marsha.
5
Elizabeth gave a red bird to the teacher’s assistant.
6
Would that the peacemaker know whither her/his heart-sibling tried and failed to travel.
7
A healer and a scientist are moving an alien pig.
Bíi ril memina duthahá i ehá wonée womudath worahith woholinedim wa.
A healer and a scientist are moving an alien pig to the dark forest.
8
Did Margaret’s grandmother sell the new cars?
Báa eril eb hothul Mázhareth betha mewobun womazheth bebáadim?
To whom/what did Margaret’s grandmother sell the new cars?
9
Young children may follow a peacemaker.
Bíi rilrili medoth meworabalin woháawith shonáth woliyen woyededim wa.
Young children may follow a peacemaker to a green valley.
10
I dreamed Anthony can help a frightened worker.
Bíi ril thad den Ánetheni wohéeya wohaláth woyom wohothedim we.
I dreamed Anthony can help a frightened worker to the safe place.
11
I swear, long ago our (many of us) family flew.
Bée eríli meshumáad onida lenetha wohóya wobeth lenethodim wa.
I swear, long ago our (many of us) family flew to our beautiful home.
12
Prithee music, you fifty teenagers.
Bóo ril mehale nen yáawith thabeshan romid worile woshéethudim.
Prithee music to the wild animals of the silent desert.
13
Báa aril sheb belidá demeth áathedim?
14
Bíi eril dibé wothá Thíben bedim wa, “Bédi eril ham rohoro i yul, i ril bol thosh, izh aril nárathal ro wi.”
15
Báa rilrili láad nayahá oyunan údimú eril menasháad Máthu i Shuzhéth?
16
Bíi eril dibáa ábedá ledim wa, “Báa ril ilisháad eshá bebáadim?”
17
Bíi eril di le behidedim wa, “Bé eril nosháad behizh réeledim doól wa.”
18
Bíi ril leyan dun woralili woheshenan wi; báa óomasháad Ána núudim?