tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 06 07:49:04 1998

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Re: An idea for a HolQeD competition

Anthony Appleyard wrote:

: DaH 'eybe' rurbogh mu' Qujvam, rapbe' DISmey ngo' DuSaQ Latin jatlhghach
: QIchmey DISmeyvam DuSaQ Latin jatlhghach QIchmey je.
: 
:   OK, that last sentence is queryable, but how to express `pronunciation'
: clearly here without letting a {-ghach} in? When CAN {-ghach be used}
: properly??? Why have {-ghach} in the grammar book if it can hardly ever be
: used?

"In Klingon, there are many instances of nouns and verbs being identical in
form... It is not known if all verbs can be used as nouns, but it is known
that VERBS ENDING IN SUFFIXES (such as {-Ha'} 'undo' in {lobHa'} "disobey')
can never be nouns. The Type 9 suffix {-ghach}, however, CAN BE ATTACHED TO
SUCH VERBS in order to form nouns." (TKD p.176, emphasis added) 

"So {-ghach} means something like condition of being X, if X is stative. Or
action or process involved with, or maybe result of the action, but the
process involved with Y where Y is, for the lack of a better term, an active
verb." (MO in HQ 3.3)  Okrand goes on to give examples of correctly formed
words: {tlhutlhtaHghach} "ongoing drinking", {nobtaHghach} "ongoing giving",
{nobpu'ghach} "a given (a finished case of giving)", {quvmoHghach} "process
of honoring", {belpu'ghach} "having been pleased".  He then gave some
"marked" terms, such as *{belghach} "pleasureness", *{nobghach} "givation,
one-time donation" and *{quvghach} "honoredness". 

Other correctly formed examples are {lo'laHghach} "value", {lo'laHbe'ghach}
"worthlessness", {naDHa'ghach} "discommendation", {naDqa'ghach}
"re-commendation" (all from TKD) and {quvHa'ghach} "dishonor" (from TKW).  I
don't recall there being any new {-ghach} nouns in KGT.

In short, {-ghach} is added to verbs *with suffixes*, but note that even so,
there are relatively few such nouns in the language (at least according to
our sample).  Do not attach {-ghach} to the bare verb stem.  Okrand calls
such incorrectly-formed forms "marked" -- wrong, but understandable if
somewhat queer sounding (as are his English "translations").  Such "marked"
forms are best left to Klingon poets after the mot juste for a particular
rhetorical effect.  Coming from an alien, particularly one with a heavy
offworlder accent, it will just sound wrong. 

Back to your query:  If you're bound and determined to come up with a noun
for "(correct) pronunciation", how about *{jatlhchu'ghach}?

Voragh
 
_____________________________________________________________________
Steven Boozer   University of Chicago Library   [email protected]

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