tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 27 13:53:51 1995
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bIjatlh 'e' yImev
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: bIjatlh 'e' yImev
- Date: Thu, 27 Apr 1995 16:52:34 -0400
We have been convoluting the Klingon language long enough. From a linguist
who has travelled the world and scratched the surface of 28 languages, 5 of
which I am comfortable in, and in that my MA is in language arts, I hereby
claim that beings with the intelligence to speak language logically devise
simple means for expressing themselves.
My first project is: Although TDK p.65, §6.2.5 states that <'e'> is a
relative pronoun connecting sentences as objects to verbs mainly having to do
with speech or knowledge, TKD p.172, Appendix, Phrases clearly uses the
pronoun <'e'> as a connector after <yImev>, stop doing something. Now this
<'e'> cannot be so simply translated as "that." This sentence is more like
"Stop [your] speaking." Thus, I contend that one of my previous attempts at
making up a Klingon sentence may yet have merit: <moQ luQuj matlh mara je
'e' jeS worgh> was intended to mean "Worf participated in playing ball with
Maltz and Mara."
No. 2: Why must we contort our brains into such constructions as
<machHa'ghach> when there is already precedence for <tIntaHghach>? <-taH> is
used several times in the <-ghach> construction examples. Furthermore,
<machHa'> seems to come across as the "undoing of being little." Even
<machbe'ghach>, whether better or worse, seems to come across as "[the] not
being small."
No. 3: <puq latlh> vs. <latlh puq>. Surprise!!! Klingon DOES have
adjectives, TKD pp.49-50, §4.4. Contrary to pure adjectival use as in
English (which I arguably have called Federation Standard, viz. Michael and
Denise Okuda's Star Trek Chronology), the Klingon grammarians' concept of
adjectives seems to the Terran to be noun-noun constructions. In that Noun 1
possesses Noun 2, the adjective-noun 2 no longer only states (stative verb =
adjective, viz Chinese, etc.) the attributes of Noun 1 but also is the
possessed noun. Thus, <puq mach> does mean "little child." More literally,
it means "the little[ness] of the child." Now, <puq latlh> is "the
additionality of a child," ergo "an additional child." Although the Klingon
grammarians claim that this is a Noun 1-Noun 2 construct, Terrans will do
well to look upon the second noun (???) as an adjective while learning the
nuances of "feeling" the Klingon language.
No. 4: Textual analysis has led me to "discover" some words that are not in
TKD. <peH> lupeH mu'meyvam
Qapla'
peHruS