tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Oct 28 10:08:47 1996

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RE: The FAQ section 3.5 -- charghwI' !?!


BearKessvo':

> Please excuse my interuption in your conversations, however, it seems to 
me
> that in All of the Know Languages spoken today, there are many rules &
> regulations on how they are to be spoken, yet, the very people that speak
> these languages hardly ever uphold these rules & regulations but rather 
"USE"
> the language in a way which will best serve them.

So, are you one of the very people who speaks Klingon?

The purpose of language is communication.  In order to communicate, a 
language community must agree on how the language is used.  If you use the 
language in such a way that violates these conventions, then you will fail 
to communicate effectively with the other users of the language.

For instance, if I wanted to say "High Council", and I came up with /jen 
yej/, not only would I be utterly wrong (it is in fact "the council is 
high", a sentence), I'd be missing the very obvious /yejquv/.  I bring this 
up, because your profile on AOL says "/jen yej Hung/", which comes out 
something like "the security council is high", and I have no idea what 
*that* is supposed to communicate.

> I think sometimes we tend to "Over-Think" these situations.

You also have to keep in mind the nature of the language we're considering. 
 It's not like we're studying Spanish from textbooks, where we could go to 
a native speaker and verify that we're doing something right or wrong. 
 It's more like we're studying Sanskrit from Panini's texts; there's noone 
left who speaks Sanskrit who we can go ask.  We just have to figure it out 
from the descriptions we have (TKD), and the various examples, in the form 
of canon presented by Okrand.  This is why we expend so much energy 
analyzing texts and grammar descriptions.

> I am by far, No Expert, nor do I wish to be, you all may keep that title, 
but
> while you intelects argue how to say this or that, we common people will 
be
> carrying on conversations and then you will have to learn what we are
> speaking so that you may "Over-Think" that. Thank you for your time, 
Qapla.

So, when you are having a conversation in Klingon, how do you use the verb 
/jatlh/?  How do you indicate a quotation?  How does your language 
community do this?  If you and the folks you speak Klingon with have any 
insights into this, bring them into this discussion!

--Holtej

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