tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 05 16:50:36 2004
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Re: imperative + -jaj
At 02:30 AM 7/4/2004, QeS lagh wrote:
>ghItlhpu' Dar'Qang:
>
> >Is there any sense that is made of using an imperative prefix + -jaj
> >suffix?
> >example: ?yItaHjaj
> >TKD doesn't seem to exclude it.
>
>Does {yItaHjaj} make sense to you? If it does, I'd like to know what you
>think it means.
>
>I do think that {yItaHjaj} is a nonsense, to be honest.
My first thought was that it was nonsense, however I began to imagine a
possible interpretation. I'm just checking here because I didn't want to
leave the stone unturned. Your answer is what I expected.
>taH:
> >bItaH 'ej bIchep
>
>Remember that this strictly means "You live long and prosper". It's not a
>command or a wish like the English, just a statement of fact.
>
But in context can this statement pick up wish-like qualities, or would the
sense of it just being a statement override the context?
That may not be clear, so I'll try to create an example. I realize that
Klingons would generally not mess around with parting niceties, so for the
moment consider a story written in tlhIngan Hol that includes a subplot
about two alien friends from a race that a Klingon /would/ expect to use
parting wishes.
The friends have been through some travail together and are about to part
for what may be permanently. If the story included something like:
jupDajvaD jatlh <<bItaH 'ej bIchep, jupwI'>>.
Do we know if a Klingon would interpret the sense of wish? Or would a
Klingon see it as a kooky statement sentence inappropriate for the context?
I can place myself mentally into either view.
Dar'Qang