tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Dec 11 08:21:22 2003

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Re: tagh'a jIlIH'egh

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

From: "Scott Willis" <[email protected]>

> 2. «mu'mey yap vISovlaw'» vIQub.
> I don't think {Qub} can be used like this, in the sense of "to think, to
> believe".  (If I'm wrong, someone will correct me, I'm sure.)
> For this sense, I've seen { 'e' vIHar} "I believe it" used most often, as
> you did in your message. Repetition is much more acceptable in {tlhIngan
> Hol} than in English, so you needn't fear sounding like a broken record.

Philip's sentence doesn't seem to be trying to say "I believe."  It sounds
to me like he's quoting the thoughts in his head.

We have information on how speech quotations work.  You have to use a "verb
of saying," as I call them: /jatlh/ or /ja'/.  The sentence containing this
verb is placed next to the quotation.  For instance,

    jIjatlh naDev yIghoS.
    naDev yIghoS jIjatlh.
    "I said, "Come here."

    muja' HIHotQo'.
    HIHotQo' muja'.
    He told me, "Don't touch me."

Quotations only work with the verbs of saying.  If you want to describe how
you say something, use another sentence.

    jIjach; jIjatlh naDev yIghoS.
    jIjach; naDev yIghoS jIjatlh.
    I shouted, "Come here!"

    jach; muja' HIHotQo'.
    jach; HIHotQo' muja'.
    He shouted at me, "Don't touch me!"

    (You could even put the /jach/ part at the end if you wanted.)

We have no information that says we can quote with a "verb of thinking."
And that's where Philip's sentence really comes into question.  «mu'mey yap
vISovlaw'» vIQub.  There's no reason to think that, except for /neH/, a
sentence can be the object of a verb without using /'e'/ as a stand-in.  The
problem is, if you recast this as /mu'mey yap vISovlaw' 'e' vIQub/ "I think
that I probably know many words," you not only lose the idea of a quotation,
but you're being redundant (you could just leave it as /mu'mey yap
vISovlaw'/ "I think I know sufficient words").

I'd say this sentence calls for some kind of recasting, at Philip's
discretion.

'ach Dojqu'bej Philip Hol ghojmeH laH.  not ghaH vIleghpu', 'ach tlhIngan
Hol jatlhchu'taH!  majQa'!

SuStel
Stardate 3944.1

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