tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 21 10:34:48 1996
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC: qavan/Savan, Hoch
- From: "Mark E. Shoulson" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: qavan/Savan, Hoch
- Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 13:34:43 -0400 (EDT)
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]> (message from Thorwald Peeters on Sun, 20Oct 1996 08:56:49 -0700)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>Date: Sun, 20 Oct 1996 08:56:49 -0700
>From: Thorwald Peeters <[email protected]>
>Mark E. Shoulson wrote:
>> >Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 14:26:17 -0700
>> >From: [email protected] (Gary Cowell)
>> >qavan, Hoch.
>> say "Savan"; you're addressing more than one of us.
>I was wondering: van means salute, [Sa-] is the prefix for I do to you
>(plural). Isn't it a bit overkill in Klingon to put [Hoch], everybody
>behind it? Doesn't the [Sa-] prefix take care of that?
Yes and no.
"Sa-" does indeed imply and make clear that more than one person is being
addressed. "Hoch" in this sentence isn't the subject, as I read it, but a
vocative. It's a term of address. Much as if I said, "Savan,
qaHpu'"/"I salute you, gentlemen." It's closer to the difference between
"Hello," and "Hello, all." The "Hoch" is not needed (indeed, *nothing* is
needed there: I am saluting you(plural), the people I am addressing), but
it is a vocative, saying "Oh, and I'm addressing "all," whatever that
means" (presumably all who hear me).
~mark
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface
iQB1AwUBMmu0LMppGeTJXWZ9AQGeoQL/c9Aujt+GpfeyH7qHq+i0tPDqmuUrwWIM
CRMmOHGglWnWwLcvmQMxD84kO79Yn7HfwWVtY5w45yRry8PbGT+DBmAavxuEuRbQ
5ZHWKHm8lUm+jWpAe/UPadq/u5WG9/Qv
=6sM1
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----