tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jan 21 11:09:45 1998

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Re: KLBC Poetry

>pa'DajDaq ghaHtaH la''e' - The commander is in his quarters.
>naDev tlhInganpu' tu'lu' - There are Klingons around here.
>
>I don't know of canon justification for the distinction, but I use them
>slightly differently.  If the point of my sentence is to state the existence
>of something, and give its location, I use {tu'lu'}.  {DuqDaq ghewmey
>tu'lu'} - "there are bugs in the bowl."  If the point of the sentence is to
>specify the location of something you're already presumed to know about,
>then I might use pronoun as to be.  {vutpa'Daq 'oH Duq'e'} - "the bowl is in
>the kitchen."  
>
>Hmm, that means that I translate "The X is (locative)" with pronoun as to
>be, and "A/an X is (locative)" with {tu'lu'}.  Daj.  Can anyone think of a
>reason why I do this?

Seeing this I realize that I tend to do the same.
It looks like if there is an X in general we use [tu'lu'], but when we are
refering to a specific X then we use [pronoun/to be].
DuqDaq ghew tu'lu'   there is a bug in the bowl
Which bug?  Just simply "a bug, any bug"
non-specific object, non-specific subject
DuqDaq 'oH ghew      the bug is in the bowl
specific subject, "the bug", not any other bug, but "that" one, the one we
are aware of and possibly refered to already.

>}>There was a child on the floor.
>}
>}ravDaq 'oH puq'e'
>
>So I read this as "The child was on the floor."

Say this line a watch out for the mother's fist.  A puq is a ghaH, not a 'oH.


DloraH

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