tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jul 02 07:27:33 2004

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Re: ghelmeH mu'tlhegh'e' Sayu'

Steven Boozer ([email protected])

• From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
• Subject: Re: ghelmeH mu'tlhegh'e' Sayu'
• Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2004 09:27:20 -0500
• In-reply-to: <[email protected]>
• References: <[email protected]>

Dar'Qang:
> > Does the sentence <<nuq vIjatlh 'e' DaneH>> form a question?

SuStel:
>First of all, {neH} doesn't use {'e'}.  Drop that.
>
>Next, we have the old problem of Question as Object.  It has been reported
>that Marc Okrand says you can't use questions as objects. This more or less
>ended a long-standing debate in the Klingon-speaking community.  {nuq
>vIjatlh} is a question, and so can't be the object of {neH}.  Therefore,
>this sentence is invalid.
>   [....]
>*{nuq vIjatlh DaneH} seems simple enough, but it technically violates what
>we know about Klingon.  Until Okrand says otherwise, avoid it.

SuStel is absolutely right if Dar'Qang was trying to say "What do you want 
me to say?"  However, there is a second, less likely, translation that 
avoids the dreaded QAO problem; though if asking about someone's wish, you 
need to add the interrogative suffix {-'a'}:

   <<nuq>> vIjatlh DaneH'a'?
   Do you want me to say [the word] "nuq"?

Although why Dar'Qang would want to do so eludes me.  <g>



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons 

• References:
  • ghelmeH mu'tlhegh'e' Sayu'
    • From: Dar'Qang <[email protected]>
  • Re: ghelmeH mu'tlhegh'e' Sayu'
    • From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>

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