< Láadan < Lessons

Introduction

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

Family relationships

LáadanDescription
shinehothulgreat-grandmother
hothulgrandmother
shathulmother (formal term; honored mother)
mathulmother (intimate, informal)
emathmother, mama (intimate, informal)
henasibling by birth
héenasibling of the heart
rahéenanon-heart-sibling; completely incompatible with another, no hope of ever achieving some understanding.
yáawithteenager
háawithchild
áwithbaby
hoówithgranddaughter
shinehóowithgreat-granddaughter
berídanaunt
hoberídangreat-aunt

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

Remember that Possession markers can also be used.

Love

LáadanDescription
áayáamysterious love, not yet known to be welcome or unwelcome
áazhlove for one sexually desired at one time, but not now
ablove for one liked but not respected
adlove for one respected but not liked
amlove for one related by blood
ashonlove for one not related by blood, but kin of the heart
ayelove that is unwelcome and a burden
azhlove for one sexually desired now
éemelove for one neither liked nor respected
ohamlove for that which is holy
shamlove 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

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

VoiceSingularPlural, 2 to 5Plural, 6 or more
First Person ("I")LeLezhLen
Second Person ("You")NeNezhNen
Third Person ("He", "She")BeBezhBen

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

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