tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 01 05:32:54 2004

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Re: models of excellent language use

Alan Anderson ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

ja' lay'tel SIvten:
> From Nick Nicholas in response to a post by Mark E. Shoulson:
> "...works like the
> KBTP and any Shapkespeare we come up with will put him out of a job;
*they*
> will lay down the law for Klingon stylistics and grammar, *they* will be
the
> model in print for Klingonists to come..."   (19931207 19:36:25, #52)
>
> Nick said that 10 1/2 years ago.  And even now non-canon work is hardly
ever
> cited as an example of good Klingon.

bIlughbe'.  pIj laDwI' qeSlu': Qo'noS QonoS yIlaD.

> The principal literature in Klingon is
> NOT being held up as the model to follow.

bIlughchu'. What you're calling principal literature is the result of people
following the model. If _paghmo' tIn mIS_ were to *become* the model, we'd
have people speaking a "Nicholasian" Klingon dialect. However worthy of
admiration the translators' work, it is still imperfect.

> For that matter, neither is any of
> the work in "jatmey" or "Qo'noS QonoS".  The attitude of most of the
experts on
> this list seems to be that if it isn't directly from Okrand, it simply
isn't
> worth considering.

What we produce is not appropriate for beginners to *copy*. We obviously
think it's worth reading; otherwise, we'd not have put it out for general
consumption.

> So instead of studying SeQpIr and ghIlghameS to improve
> our language usage, we study only the paltry samples of text from Marc
Okrand.

"Paltry"?  The man has written entire books!

I can't speak for everybody, but by the time I had the ability to read
Shakespeare, my own style of language usage was pretty much set.  And I
really don't think Shakespeare is worth emulating in general -- much of the
grammar is somewhat stilted in order to maintain the meter.  Would you give
an ESL student a copy of MacBeth and tell her to emulate it in everyday
speech?  I hope not.

> I expect Nick would be very disappointed.  I know I am.

wa'maH ben Mark Okrand ngaq Suqpu'be' tlhIngan Hol yejHaD.  ngugh pIm yejHaD
ngoQHeymey. <<tlhIngan Hol wIjatlhlaH 'e' wIneH.>>  nom ghoj 'ej nom jatlh
'e' lunID.  'ach tlhoy jeQ jatlhwI'pu' 'eq.  Hol luyajchu'be'.  SIbI' mu'mey
chenmoH.  SIbI' Hol choHchoH.  mevbe'pu'chugh Hevetlh, qay'choHbej.  mu'ghom
neH ghajchugh vay', Hol lo'lu'bogh ghojlaHbe'.

wa' ngoD yIyaj:  tlhIngan Hol wIchenmoHbe' maH.  majatlh neH.  Quj chutvam
DalajQo'chugh, ghaytan reH bImogh.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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