tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 16 16:24:39 2004
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RE: Using the word "not"
- From: "david fourman" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: Using the word "not"
- Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 16:14:35 -0500
I suppose we can bring clarity to the meaning of the sentence if we
assume that klingon adverbs always follow a rule "the adverb always modifies
the verb and only the verb". In the sentence "Never (are) only fools
afraid", the word never nullifies the whole sentence, much like using
parentheses in math -(5+4): to use a crude example where "-" is never "5" is
the verb and "4" is the rest of the sentence. But if we assume that "not"
only modifies the verb of the sentence then the meaning remains "only fools
are never afraid" (-5+4).
Because Klingon has no verb for "to be", one cannot say "Never are only
fools afraid." Instead you can only say "Never Only fools afraid." So again
we can only assume that "not" is modifying the verb only. If for example we
wanted to say "Never are only fools afraid." it would be necessary to make
the sentence a two-parter. qoHpu' neH lughijlu''e' not, literally translated
means "that only fools are afraid, never.
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