Vocabulary
| Athid | Person’s name | |
| Sha | Person’s name | |
| Thad | Person’s name | |
| óowamid | dragon | |
| hi | this | |
| sháad | go; come | |
| buzh | convention; “con” | |
| bil | fun | |
| bíi | I say to you, as a statement | |
| wa | The reason I claim that what I’m saying is true is that I have perceived it myself | |
| ril | a word used to indicate present time | |
| aril | a word used to indicate future time | |
| -hóo | a morpheme that is used to indicate special importance, or to give a word or phrase extra emphasis | |
| -di | a morpheme that means “to,” as in “I walked to the house.” |
Sentences
1. Bíi hi Athid wa.
“This is Athid.”
NOTE: All we need in this sentence is the Speech Act word at the beginning of the sentence, the evidential at the end, and “THIS/ATHID” in between. We don’t need a word for “is” and we don’t need one for “a.”
2. Bíi hi Sha wa.
“This is Sha.”
3. Bíi hi Thad wa.
“This is Thad.”
4. Bíi hi óowamid wa.
“This is a dragon.”
5. Bíi ril sháad Athid buzhedi wa.
“Athid is going to the con.”
6. Bíi ril sháad Sha buzhedi wa.
“Sha is going to the con.”
7. Bíi ril sháad Thad buzhedi wa.
“Thad is going to the con.”
8. Bíi ril sháad óowamid buzhedi wa.
“The dragon is going to the con.”
9. Bíi aril bilehóo buzh wa!
“The convention will be _fun_!”
Láadan Grammar Facts
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Láadan doesn’t allow “consonant clusters.” That is, it doesn’t let any two consonant sounds follow one right after the other (except for a very few words in which B is followed by R).
To keep sequences of two consonant sounds from happening, you put an “e” between them.
So, when you add “-di” [the ending meaning “to”] to “buzh” [the word for “convention” or “con”], you have to put an “e” between those two pieces to separate the consonant sound /zh/ from the consonant sound /d/.
That’s why “to the con” is “buzhedi” instead of just “buzhdi.” “Buzhdi” could not be a Láadan word.
By contrast, the Láadan word for “desert” is “shée“. Since “shée” ends in a vowel sound, “to the desert” is just “shéedi,” without any need for an inserted “e.”
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In the same way, Láadan doesn’t allow “vowel clusters” — two vowels in a row — and it inserts an “h” to keep that sequence from happening.
So, if you add the plural morpheme “me-” at the beginning of the word “eb” [which means to buy or sell] the result has to be “meheb.” The “h” is added to separate the first vowel /e/ from the second one.
Note: Two vowels together are allowed if one of them has high tone. So “áa” and “aá” are both allowed, without any need for an inserted “h”.
Pattern Practice
Complete the following sentences by adding the appropriate ending to the Láadan word that follows the sentence.
Example:
Bíi ril sháad óowamid buzhedi wa.
“The dragon is going to the con.”
1. Bíi ril sháad óowamid _____________ wa. [to the cave; cave — bethud]
2. Bíi ril sháad óowamid _____________ wa. [to the forest; forest — olin]
3. Bíi ril sháad óowamid _____________ wa. [to the town; town — miwith]
4. Bíi ril sháad óowamid _____________ wa. [to the spaceship; spaceship — yo]
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