tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 23 09:01:05 1996
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Re: KLBC (yInbogh lompu' joH)
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>Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 16:49:50 -0700
>From: "Robyn Stewart" <[email protected]>
>lenglaw' <adverb>meylIj. pIj mu'tlhegh nochqoqDaq <adverb>wIj
>vIlanbe'vIneH 'ach chay' chaw'bej Okrand 'e' vISovlaH? ghoja' chut
>Dalo'bogh.
>Your adverbs seem to wander around. I often don't want to put the
>adverb at the head of the sentence, but how can I know Okrand would
>actually permit it? Please tell us the rule that you use.
>reH(1) DIvI' Hol mu'tlhegh tIq law' tlhIngan Hol mu'tlhegh tIq puS
>'e' vItu'. wa' navDaq cha' Hol chev'bogh mabmey lIngchugh DIvI'
>tlhIngan 'ay'Daq nav chIm law'bej.
>(1) e.g. right here I might like to put the reH near the vItu'. In
>this case, it makes no difference whether I always notice or I notice
>that it is always thus, but sometimes it does matter. Robyn Stewart - NLK Consultants Inc. - [email protected]
ben, qechvam'e' wIqel Qanqor jIH je. chaq 'oH qel tlhIngan Hol
jatlhchuqghachmaj wa'DIch. yIqIm: "tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh not 'e' vInID".
qatlh pa' <adverb> vIlan? mu'tlhegh nachDaq vIlannIS! 'a mu'tlhegh
nachDaq vIlanbej. *cha'* mu'tlhegh DIghaj: "tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh", "'e'
vInID" je. TKD 'ay' 6.2.5 yIlaD.
I'll be a little clearer in English, since this needs to be understood by
the less Klingon-capable. This topic came up at or shortly after one of
the very virst Klingon conversations Krankor and I ever had. I was trying
to say something like "I never tried to speak Klingon before." And Krankor
thouhgt about it and realized the right way: tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh not 'e'
vInID. Why? Shouldn't the adverb "not" come at the beginning of the
sentence? Aha, but it DOES. There are TWO sentences here (read TKD
p. 65). The pronoun "'e'" refers to the preceding *sentence* as the object
of the current one. So "tlhIngan Hol vIjatlh" is one sentence, and the
NEXT SENTENCE is "'e' vInID." So the adverb comes at the beginning of its
sentence: before the 'e'. We don't punctuate or translate the sentences as
separate, but they are separate clauses. The rigid borders of sentences by
topic is language-dependent, and doesn't seem as strong in Klingon.
Klingon prefers shorter sentences and using more than one to accomplish its
goals.
~mark
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