tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 02 07:49:34 1996
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Re: how to say "any"
On Wed, 31 Jul 1996, JEFF ZEITLIN wrote:
> ::>The Federation speaks many languages, but only one "standard". If "DIvI'
> ::>Hol" refers to just one language, how do you refer to the others? (I
> ::>suppose you can use {tera' Hol} or something, but then what about the
> ::>Vulcans?)
>
> {vulqangan Hol} is the language of Vulcans (the
> inhabitants of Vulcan).
>
bIyajHa'! qechvam vIHechbe'! {chay' vulqangan Hol jatlhlu'}
vIjatlhtaHvIS, {chay' *any* DIvIDaq Hol jatlhbogh jatlhlu'} 'e' vIHech.
No, no, that's not what I meant! When I asked "how do you refer to
Vulcan" I didn't mean Vulcan specifically, I meant something like "how do
you refer to *any* Federation language". That is, how would you refer to
Vulcan, Terran, etc. without specifically using the words {tera'ngan
Hol}, {vulqangan Hol}, etc. The reason I used {tera' Hol} instead of
{tera'ngan Hol} was because I was trying to say something like "a
language spoken on Earth" (*any* language), as opposed to English (which
would seem to be {tera'ngan Hol} as well as {DIvI' Hol}). I couldn't use
{DIvI' Hol} for "*any* Federation language" because it already means
English.
My original and apparently unanswered question is: How do you say "Do you
speak any Federation language", in the sense of "any language spoken in
the Federation".
I have tried {DIvI'Daq Hol Dajatlh'a'} but that seems more like "In or
around the Federation, do you speak a language". Is it possible to have
{-Daq} modify just a word (Hol) instead of the whole sentence?
Also, why is there no "n" on {vulqangan}? Should it not be {vulqaNngan}?
Does an ending "n" disappear when you add {-ngan}? That would explain
{tlhIn}, {tlhIngan}.
----------
dave yeung
{toD Duj 'oH toDuj'e'}
Courage is a ship to the rescue