tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 02 11:40:55 1996
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Re: KLBC: interrogative punctuation
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>Date: Fri, 29 Nov 1996 08:09:21 -0800
>From: "Andrew 'Ska' Netherton" <[email protected]>
>
>
>> > jIneH,
>>
>> "I want"? What do you mean by that?
>
> I thought it out-of-context to use <nuqneH>, as *I* am the one
>speaking here, and am the one who desires something. An alternate
>greeting form for this medium, specific to the content of my letter.
Heh. Makes a certain amount of sense... but unfortunately only in a
hindsight sort of way. I have to know what you meant before I can
understand what you meant.
>
>> > SuStel chojang. Qapla'...
>>
>> This should be a command. {SuStel, HIjang!} or {HIjang, SuStel!}
>
> I figured (loosely translating) "SuStel, you answer me." was
>sufficient. Yes, I could have stated it more forcefully, but then that
>brings up whether I *should* have. I could have easily written <SuStel
>chojangneS>, which probably would have made more sense. Yes? (Too many
>options...)
But remember that unless it's grammatically a command, it, well, isn't a
command. It's a statement. "chojang" means "you answer me", "you answered
me," "you will answer me," etc. It in no way is asking anyone to answer
you or requesting it. It's just making a statement. Perhaps it's an
expression of confidence: "Oh, SuStel, you're such a conscientious BG, I
know you'll answer me." But that's sort of simpering, isn't it? Adding
- -neS doesn't help either; it remains a statement of fact. You could say
"chojangnIS" though, which although a statement does help the meaning: you
must/need to answer me.
There's nothing demeaning or obscene or dishonorable about commanding or
about receiving commands. I once translated "Give me good night" from
Hamlet as "<<ram yItIv>> HIra'" (I had "ram yItIv" for "good night") and
people went on about how they couldn't see a Klingon saying "HIra'"/command
me. But why not? When you ask for directions to get someplace, *in
English* we don't like to talk about it in terms of being commanded... but
that's what it is. We give orders all the time, and most of them are very
polite and don't imply any slight. "Please pass the salt." "Excuse me."
"Give Fred my regards." "Please hold." and so on. Note canon, in a
situation where the ultra-polite -neS suffix was called for: "cha'pujqut
vIngevmeH chaw' HInobneS." Still with the imperative, because the speaker
wanted the listener to do something. And even asking to be commanded
happens in Klingon: "chay' jura'". Don't associate "command" with a social
structure; it doesn't necessarily have to be that way in a language, and
appears not to be in Klingon.
~mark
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