tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 14 17:00:36 1996

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

RE: KLBC



December 14, 1996 2:56 PM, jatlh loDDoq:

> Qapla' SuStel(I can use Qapla' as a a greeting too,right?),

Well, not really.  As Okrand tells us in the Star Trek: Klingon Language Lab, 
"This word is often used as a salute of sorts, when warriors go off to 
battle."  This is how you should use it.

If you *absolutely* must say something before you start talking about the 
matter at hand (Klingons admire and prefer straightforwardness), get my 
attention by saying {SuH}.

> I've noticed a lot of people using HISlaH and HIja' for "yes".
> What's the difference?I think HIja' is used more frequently(sorry for this 
> word spelling),is it true?

TKD tells us that {HIja'} and {HISlaH} are used with roughtly the same 
frequency by speakers of Klingon.  However, we Earthers seems to have put a 
lot of emphasis on {HIja'} (probably because Okrand does; there's a long story 
about lip-synching).

To combat this, recently I've been saying {HISlaH} occasionally, whenever the 
mood strikes me.

> Qapla' SuStel,
> tera'nganpu' jIghaj tu' tIq lo'pu' <HISlaH> ghap/pagh('a'?)<HIja'>.
> pIm nuq'a'? jIQub <HIja'> Qatpu'

Ack.  I'm afraid this went right over my head.  Please do reread TKD.  A 
couple of pointers:

Noun conjunctions go *after* the nouns they join, while sentence conjunctions 
go *between* the sentences they join.

Sentence order is, of course, OBJ-VERB-SUBJ.  Do NOT just translate English 
into Klingon word-for-word.

bIghoj 'e' yImevQo'.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96955.6


Back to archive top level