tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Apr 05 01:43:01 1995

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Relative sentences

  Re the current arguments about relative clauses, I have looked up in more
detail how relative clauses are handled in Swahili, which like Klingon has a
relative inflection for the verb. Swahili like Klingon can have several
inflections on the same verb (but they are mostly prefixes not suffixes).
  In Swahili, simple sentence order is S-V-O, and relative clauses come after
their antecedent nouns. The Swahili relative inflection seems to have
originated as a demonstrative pronoun that got attached to the verb.
  If the antecedent is the subject of the relative clause, it is as in Klingon
(but in reverse order): "the cat which caught the mouse" = `cat
pasttense-which-catch mouse'.
  If the antecedent is the direct object of the relative clause, the relative
clause is usually in reverse (V-S) order, and the verb has the relative prefix
and also an object pronoun prefix: "the mouse which the cat caught" = `mouse
him-pasttense-which-catch cat'.
  If the antecedent is any other part of the relative clause, it can't be
done, but use 2 sentences (or nowadays the English-type `amba' construction).
  The book said that "I asked for the little hoe which the teacher and his
pupils do not use when cultivating their field" is too complicated to
translate with a verb relative inflection, as attempting it would result in
"the verb being separated from its antecedent, or a string of words getting
out of place". If I convert it into matter known to TKD, e.g. "I asked for the
little phaser which the captain and his crew do not use when guarding their
ship", any goes at translating it into Klingon as one sentence?

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