tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 27 15:34:49 1996

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Re: KLBC: Trial and error

Doq writes:
>QaghmeywIj vIchID vIyoH
><I have the courage to admit my mistakes>--glaring though they
>may be...

There are two main verbs here, so I must interpret this as two sentences:
"I admit my errors.  I am brave it."  The verb {yoH} doesn't look right
with an object; its prefix ought to be {jI-}.  If you really want this to
be a single sentence, you'll have to find a way to make one of the verbs
subordinate to the other, with a type 9 verb suffix.  Maybe this:
{jIyoHmo' QaghmeywIj vIchID} "Because I am brave, I admit my errors."
This use of the verb {chID} nags at me a bit; it doesn't feel quite right.

>OK, so let me try one on for size:
>wIbach HIchwIj 'e' maH ghojmoH
><I taught us to shoot my gun>

"It causes him to learn we that my pistol we shoot it."
There are multiple errors in grammar here.
"We shoot my gun" is {HIchwIj wIbach}.  Objects come *before* the verb.
You didn't use a prefix on {ghojmoH}, though I can't help you figure out
which one you ought to use here.  "I taught us" isn't easy to say in
Klingon.  There isn't a verb prefix for it, and the {-chuq} and {-'egh}
suffixes don't really allow for the difference between "I" and "us".
This probably needs some major rework.
You used {'e'}, which would make it translate as something like "I taught
that we shoot my gun"; it's the *fact* that was taught, not the action.

I'll change it from "us" to "them" in order to make it possible to stay
close to your wording:  {HIchwIj lubachlaHmeH chaH vIghojmoH} "I taught
them so that they can shoot my handgun."

>maHvaD nIch  vIje'
><I buy ammunition for us>

maj.

>ghojmoHwI' bach 'e' mughwI' 'e' jIH
><I am a gun instructor and translator>

I was referring to the required use of the *suffix* {-'e'} on the subject
of a "to be" sentence.  I'm not sure what you're trying to do with the
pronoun {'e'} here.  Since "I am" doesn't need a specified subject, the
"verb" is simply {jIH} and the object needs no special attention.  I don't
much care for the sentence structure with a plural object here, but if I
try to translate it I get {HIch ghojmoHwI' mughwI' je jIH}.  I'd much rather
make this a pair of sentences:  {HIch lo'wI'pu' vIghojmoH 'ej jImugh}
"I teach handgun users and I translate."


>> The adverb and verb meanings are obviously distinct; the issue
>> must be what, if anything, distinguishes the noun meanings.
>> I see them like this:  {batlh} refers to the code of actions
>> that define the behavior of an honorable warrior.  {quv} refers
>> to something like a gesture of respect or a token of esteem
>> which causes someone to be honored.
>Then <quv Hutlh Hohbogh tlhIngan 'ach qabDaj 'angbe'bogh> means
>that others will confer no honor on one who kills without
>showing his face? I know you said your distinctions are not
>canon, but I'd like to hear how you interpreted the gloss to
>come to them.

I was looking at the meanings of the words as other parts of speech and
trying to fit the noun meanings into that framework.  I had forgotten the
example in The Klingon Way; obviously {quv} isn't being used here the way
I suggested it might be interpreted.

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj

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