tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 13 12:51:42 2004

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Re: -be'lu' vs. -lu'be'

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

    QuvlIjDaq yIH tu'be'lu'jaj
    May your coordinates be free of tribbles! PK

Quvar:
>Not to be nitpicky too ;-) but taking this correctly, the english
>translation should be "May there be NO single tribble in your coordinates".
>More than one tribble would need the lu-prefix: {lutu'be'lu'jaj}
>
>But yes, Marc Okrand has explained in KGT 168-172 that this prefix is
>sometimes omitted, perhaps this is one of these cases ;-)

When it comes to {tu'lu'} the prefix is almost *always* omitted.  In fact, 
there are no examples from Okrand with {lutu'lu'} used with a plural 
noun.  All use just {tu'lu'}:

   naDev tlhInganpu' tu'lu'
   There are Klingons around here. TKD

   naDev cha'maH cha' joQDu' tu'lu'
   There are twenty-two ribs here. KGT

   DujvamDaq tlhIngan nuH tu'lu'bogh pov law' Hoch pov puS 'ej DujvamDaq
  'op SuvwI' tu'lu'bogh po' law' tlhIngan yo' SuvwI' law' po' puS
   It [IKV Pagh] has the best weapons and some of the finest warriors in
   the Klingon fleet. S7

   SuvwI'pu' qan tu'lu'be'
   There are no old warriors. TKW

   reH nuHmey tu'lu'
   There are always weapons. KCD

   cha' choQmey naQ tu'lu' 'ej tep choQ bIngDaq lo' law' bID choQ tu'lu'
   2 Full Decks and a Half Utility Deck under the Cargo Deck  (KBoP)

Okrand never actually says this, but I like to think of {tu'lu'} "there is, 
there are" as a sort of frozen expression or unconjugated autonomous phrase.

In English, too, "there is" - more often the contracted form "there's" - is 
sometimes heard with a plural noun in colloquial or uneducated speech.  Qov 
calls {lutu'lu'} "the Klingon version of 'whom'," meaning a technically 
correct grammatical form which has virtually disappeared in contemporary 
speech.  In fact, "whom" - and, likely, {lutu'lu'} - is only used today by 
hyper-correct or pedantic speakers.  ("Whom" is more accepted in writing, 
however.)

But getting back to Klingon, Okrand ends the section on "Common Errors: The 
Case of {lu-}" with:

   Klingon grammarians refer to the rule that governs the use of
   pronominal prefixes as the rule of {rom} (literally, "accord").
   Grammarians of Federation Standard and many Earth languages call
   the phenomenon "agreement."  Thus, in the case of Klingon, the
   prefix used must "agree" with the noun to which it refers; if
   the object noun is plural, for example, the prefix must be one
   that is  used with plural objects.

His next sentence, though, is something those of us who like to nit-pick 
should always keep in mind:

   Agreeing is not a trait typically associated with Klingon nature,
   however, and apparently, at least under certain circumstances,
   this may extend to grammar as well.                 [KGT 172]



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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