tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 12 20:37:48 1998

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Re: QoghIj qaD

ghItlh Qov:

>Coming in to the middle of this, I was baffled as to the intended
>meaning. {nuq vIje' vIneH?} */I want what do I feed?/ */I want what
>will I buy?/ In comparison to ?/nuqDaq maba' DaneH/ it looks like
>"what do I want to feed/buy" but that doesn't make much sense either.
>
>I guess the question is, can we group (nuq (vIje' vIneH)) instead of
>((nuq vIje') vIneH)? I don't think so.

And now to me, the originator of this mess. First, for everyone who missed
the actual context of this (with corrections):

------------------

ngevwI' vISuch. vay' vIje' vIneH.

<<wa' vIje'chugh DeQmey 'ar qanob?>>

<<cha' DeQmey>>

<<wa'maH cha' vIje'chugh DeQmey 'ar qaDnob?>>

<<loS DeQmey>>

<<cha'vatlh vIje'chugh DeQmey 'ar qanob?>>

<<jav DeQmey. bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh!>>

nuq vIje' vIneH?

------------------

Technically, is this really our familiar QAO? charghwI' offered the nonsense
translation "I want that I buy what?" That is incorrect, yes, agreed. But
can the <neH> situation possibly not really be SAO after all? It feels
different somehow.

Now, the thing that makes this work for me - I almost see the <vIneH> as a
verb suffix. (Put the painstik away, Qov!) (Besides, charghwI' expressed
similar sentiments earlier.) I know it's not, and it doesn't actually act as
one, but it has that feel. More than any other verb whose object is a
sentence, this one seems to belong with the object sentence's verb. There
are surely cases where it isn't like this, but this is not one of them.
Think about it - doesn't <vIneH> remind you of a type-2 here? Not saying
that makes it ok - but that seems to explain the comfort in the
construction.

Ultimately, I guess the best work-around is something like <Doch
vIDelta'bogh yIngu'>. I can't say <nuq 'oH Doch'e' vIje' vIneH> for sure.

Ok, experienced Klingonists. How would you say it? "What do I want to buy?"
"Tell me the thing I want to buy."  The "want to" is important, I think - or
at least something carrying its meaning.

(And no arguments that a real Klingon would not say this. I am not a real
Klingon and I did not ask a Klingon merchant these questions. So
there. }}:oP)

Qermaq

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