Láadan/Lessons/12

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Relationships

Introduction edit

Inter-personal relationships can be described in much more detail, and with many fewer words, in Láadan.

Family relationships edit

Láadan Description
shinehothul great-grandmother
hothul grandmother
shathul mother (formal term; honored mother)
mathul mother (intimate, informal)
emath mother, mama (intimate, informal)
hena sibling by birth
héena sibling of the heart
rahéena non-heart-sibling; completely incompatible with another, no hope of ever achieving some understanding.
yáawith teenager
háawith child
áwith baby
hoówith granddaughter
shinehóowith great-granddaughter
berídan aunt
hoberídan great-aunt

You can use the suffix "-id" to explicitly specify maleness.

Remember that Possession markers can also be used.

Love edit

Láadan Description
áayáa mysterious love, not yet known to be welcome or unwelcome
áazh love for one sexually desired at one time, but not now
ab love for one liked but not respected
ad love for one respected but not liked
am love for one related by blood
ashon love for one not related by blood, but kin of the heart
aye love that is unwelcome and a burden
azh love for one sexually desired now
éeme love for one neither liked nor respected
oham love for that which is holy
sham love for the child of one's body, presupposing neither liking nor respect nor their absence

(Suzette Haden Elgin (1988), A First Dictionary and Grammar of Láadan, Second Edition, p. 136)

Pronouns edit

The standard pronouns can also be altered to indicate feeling toward them. Recall the basic pronouns:

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

And rules for adding feeling:

  • 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

Notes edit