tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 11 06:59:41 2014
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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Rant about verbs of motion
SuStel:
> Qov needs to strongly remind her students what Okrand says in the
> introduction to TKD:
>
> It should be remembered that even though the rules say "always" and
> "never," when Klingon is actually spoken these rules are sometimes
> broken. What the rules represent, in other words, is what Klingon
> grammarians agree on as the "best" Klingon.
>
> There's really nothing else for it. I suspect that Okrand realizes he's
> contradicted himself from time to time, and is okay with that on this
> basis.
Two more Okrand quotations:
The grammatical sketch is intended to be an outline of Klingon grammar,
not a complete description. Nevertheless, it should allow the reader
to put Klingon words together in an acceptable manner... It is not
possible, in a brief guide such as this, to describe the grammar of
Klingon completely. What follows is only a sketch or outline of Klingon
grammar. Although a good many of the fine points are not covered, the
sketch will allow the student of Klingon to figure out what a Klingon
is saying and to respond in an intelligible, though somewhat brutish,
manner. Most Klingons will never know the difference.
— Marc Okrand, The Klingon Dictionary (intro)
...the course to follow for a student probably falls somewhere between.
You don't want to go too fast and loose or too far afield because then
nobody will understand what you are doing. You won't have any rules at
all. You don't want to be too rigorous, either. It's not math. One of
the things that I think about when I read what people have to say about
Klingon sometimes is when someone argues that things have to be one way,
I think, "No, it shouldn't always be like that." It should be like that
in maybe 75% or 80% of the cases, but not 100%. Languages don't work
that way.
— Interview with Marc Okrand (HolQeD 7.4)
Or in other words:
Any fool can make a rule. And every fool will mind it.
— Henry David Thoreau
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
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