A student wrote to me:
I have a question. I came across the word ladilikan, which looks to be laadi (to advise, recommend, guide), -li (act of, -ing), and kan (language). So I’ve at least got a sort of verbal noun there, advising, the giving of recommendations, providing guidance, though I’m not entirely sure how the “kan” modifies that. In a word like fɔlikan, it’s at least more literal, like the language of playing an instrument, i.e., music or music theory.
How would you translate laadilikan? Counsel, consult, or am I way off and it’s something completely different?
Here’s my brief response…
The element kan in this word literally means something like “sound; language”. In this case, it’s a little bit like “word(s)” or “speech”. So laadi-li-kan = “advise-ing-words” (as in, “a piece of advice”).