tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 06 11:04:42 2004

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Re: imperative + -jaj

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

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.

QeS lagh:
> >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.

Agreed.  Wishes are not commands and, more importantly, commands are not 
wishes.  Now, many humans (particularly Anglo-Americans) disguise commands 
as wishes, statements or even questions.  Imagine all of these being said 
by your superior:

   "I wish someone would bring me a cup a coffee."

   "I could really use some coffee."

   "My, it's cold in this room!"

   "Why haven't you closed that %^$& window?!"

   "I'd like someone to turn up the thermostat.  Now."

   "Will you turn up the thermostat?"

but that's because of a cultural bias against appearing to be 
rude.  Klingons don't have this hang-up.  In fact, I'd imagine that leads 
to a lot of misunderstandings between Klingons and Terrans until they get 
used to each other's peculiar ways.  In fact, Okrand mentions this in KGT 
(p. 105):

   Klingon culture is known as a rather straightforward one in which
   people speak in a forthright manner, saying exactly what they mean
   and never using an indirect expression when a blunt one will do.
   When a Federation citizen on Earth says "It's rather chilly in this
   room," he or she may really mean "I am uncomfortably cold and want
   somebody to close the window." The Klingon sentence {pa'vamDaq jIbIr}
   means "I am cold in this room"--nothing more, nothing less. If it is
   desirable to close the window, the Klingon will simply say, {Qorwagh
   yISoQmoH} ("Close the window!"). Similarly, if a Klingon wants to
   know something, he or she may simply demand that the information be
   given. For example, a common way to say "Which weapon do you want?"
   is not as a question at all but instead as a command: {nuH DaneHbogh
   yIngu'!} (literally, "Identify the weapon that you want!").

Dar'Qang:
>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.

QeS lagh:
> >> 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.

Dar'Qang:
>But in context can this statement pick up wish-like qualities, or would the
>sense of it just being a statement override the context?

Probably for Klingons, yes.

>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'>>.

   He said to his friend, "You continue and you prosper, my friend."
   "You'll continue and [you'll] prosper, my friend," he told his friend.

>Do we know if a Klingon would interpret the sense of wish?

Probably not.  But again, neither would I.

>Or would a Klingon see it as a kooky statement sentence inappropriate for 
>the context?

More than likely.

If it's a wish, use {-jaj}; that's what it's for:

   This suffix is used to express a desire or wish on the part of the
   speaker that something take place in the future. When it is used,
   there is never a Type 7 aspect suffix. {-jaj} is often translated
   with "may" or "let", and it is particularly useful when placing a
   curse or making a toast.  [TKD 175f]

Interestingly enough, Okrand did not use {-jaj} in either of his 
translations of the Vulcan send-off "Live long and prosper":

   yIn nI' yISIQ 'ej yIchep! [RT]

   yItaH 'ej yIcheptaH! [UPN ST 25th Anniversary Special]

but made them all commands, not wishes.

(Notice, BTW, the clever Klingon twist in the first one:  {yIn nI' yISIQ} 
"Endure a long life!"   This is not something a Klingon warrior, who looks 
forward to a glorious death in battle, would find desirable.)



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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