tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 29 09:17:09 1998

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Re: KLBC - Adverbials

: ---Burt Clawson  wrote:
: > motlh QongDaq vIghoS jIDoy'DI'.  
: > "I usually go to bed when I am tired."
:
: By Okrandian rules it doesn't matter where you put the /jIDoy'DI'/, so
: I have no reason to tell you it would feel better before the main
: clause. But it would.  Nothing wrong with your adverb.

Also keep in mind that "go to bed" is an English idiom for "go to sleep"
{jIQongchoH} or "try to sleep" {jIQong 'e' vInID}.  A Klingon might
understand {QongDaq vIghoS} as "I approach the bed".  For all we know, they
may use another idiom -- such as "get into bed" *{QongDaq vIlIt} -- or none
at all.

: > reH nIteb jISop.  "I always eat alone."
: 
: To my understanding the point of /nIteb/ is "acting alone"
: "independently" not so much "while alone."  So to me the sentence
: above implies that you don't ever require help to eat, not that you
: don't eat in the company of others.  The latter meaning I would
: express with /jImobtaHvIS/. 

 - jagh DajeymeH nIteb DaSuvrup
   To defeat the enemy, be ready to fight alone. PK
 - qo'mey Sar charghtaHvIS chaH Dat tlhIngan may'Duj luleghDI' neH qIb nganpu'
    buQpu' may'Duj 'ej ghIjpu' 'oH. nIteb ghIjpu' je Deghvam
   this symbol grew to become as feared throughout the galaxy as the menacing
    profiles of their battlecruisers. SP1
 - nIteb SuvnIS DevwI'
    A leader must stand alone ("A leader must fight alone"). TKW
 - nIteb DujlIj yIchIj.
    Navigate your vessel alone. TKW
 - nIteb Qob qaD jup 'e' chaw'be' SuvwI'
    A warrior does not let a friend face danger alone. TKW
  
: > wej bochbe' puch.  "The toilet is not shiney yet."  nom yISay'moHchu'!
: > "Quickly, clean it perfectly!"
: 
: /wej boch/ is sufficient.  You've said "not yet not shiny," implying
: that the task is to Say'Ha'moH it.

 - wej vIlegh
   I don't see him yet. TKD
 - wej Heghchugh vay', SuvtaH SuvwI'
    A warrior fights to the death.
    ("If someone has not yet died, a warrior keeps on fighting"). TKW
 
: > puqhommey vIghIj 'e' rut vIparHa'.  "Sometimes I like to scare the
: > little children scattered all about."
: 
: /'e'/ takes the object position in the SAO sentence.  So where does
: the adverb go?  Before the SAO, as far as we can figure.  Thus /... rut
: 'e' vIparHa'/.  

lughlaw' Burt.  See SkyBox S26:

  DuraS tuq tlhIngan yejquv patlh luDub 'e' reH lunIDtaH DuraS be'nI'pu'
   lurSa' be'etor je. 
  The sisters of the House of Duras, Lursa and B'Etor, are constantly seeking
   a higher standing for the House of Duras within the Klingon High Council.

(I can only find this one example, though I seem to remember another. Anyone
else?)  {rut} would seem to belong in the clause it's modifying:

  rut puqHommey vIghIj 'e' vIparHa'.
  I like to sometimes scare the children.

  puqHommey vIghIj 'e' rut vIparHa'.
  I sometimes like to scare the children.

A fine distinction, to be sure, but one Klingon is capable of making.  

Perhaps the adverb is so placed because, in addition to being a pronoun,
{'e'} serves the practical function of clearly separating the two clauses,
which can be useful in long, complicated sentences.  Also, if you place the
adverb before {'e'} -- puqHommey vIghIj rut 'e' vIparHa' -- it sounds as
though {rut} is the subject of {ghIj}, particularly if you don't recognize
the word.  We may just have to accept this as idiomatic usage, in spite of
the "illegal" position of the adverb *between* the verb and it's object.

: Qov - Beginners' Grammarian


Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."        - Horace, Ars Poetica

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