tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 12 21:45:20 1998

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Re: QoghIj qaD


---Qermaq <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> ghItlh Qov:
...
> > 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):
...
> <<jav DeQmey. bIje'be'chugh vaj bIHegh!>>
> 
> nuq vIje' vIneH?

tlhaQ.  mI' Deghmey Daje'lI'.  majQa'.  vItlhojpa' jImIS.

> ------------------
> 
> 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.

I understand exactly what you are saying, and theories about the
evolution of suffixes crossed my mind as I considered whether I would
accept the (nuq (vIje' vIneH)) grouping.  Unfortunately, we can't
predict what 'real' Klingons would consider a comfortable 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)

I would just say, {nuq vIje'lI'}.  But it's still a good question.
==
Qov - Beginners' Grammarian 

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