tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 17 00:10:30 1994

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Re: KLBC: Re: rI' nobmey nobw...



According to Niall Hosking:
> 
> WAHHH!
> 
> I'm still slightly lost.  If I wanted to say "I love you" and someone
> else replied "I love you too", would that be:
> 
> qa{love}tah
> 
> 'ej qa{love}taH
> 
> or have I missed the point completely?

I think what you suggest is quite acceptable. The problem with
your original suggestion was that it suggested a globalization
that would not hold. 

If I say {Holtej vIlegh}, and you also see Holtej, but because
of a better viewing angle, you see Krankor standing next to
him, if you then said, {'ej Qanqor vIlegh}, then I might very
well suspect that you were mistaking Holtej for Krankor. You
are not relating to my original sentence that I see Holtej, so
I would presume that you DIDN'T see Holtej.  I'd then probably
say something about weak vision in your ancestry, one of us
would pull out a disruptor and a very unfortunate episode might
ensue. This is bad communication.

If you said, {Qanqor vIlegh je}, I would assume that you saw
Holtej, and in addition to Holtej, you saw Krankor, so I might
look again, leaning over toward your perspective so *I* could
see Krankor, too. 

Similarly, if I said, {Holtej vIlegh} and you wished to
indicate that you also saw Holtej, if you said, {'ej Holtej
vIlegh} then I might look at you and say, {mu'meyvetlh
vIjatlhta'}, suspecting that you were mimicking me and again,
hands go to weapons and unfortunate errors in communication can
lead to unpleasant effects.

If instead, you said, {Holtej vIlegh je}, I would just smile.
The meaning is clear: "I, in addition to you, see Holtej." You
are reaffirming my statement. You increase your chances of
promotion through the ranks, special favors for your family and
generally increase your ability to both survive and prosper.
Good communication.

In YOUR example (using Krankor's perferred word for the generic
"love" word), if I say {qamuSHa'}, then if you add that YOU
love ME, you are changing both the subject and the object, so
it is not the same kind of simple addition of another item to
the subject list or the object list. In that specific instance,
the only answer is {'ej qamuSHa'}.

Of course, this is a strange sentiment to express verbally,
since Power Klingon describes the more traditional Klingon way
to express it non-verbally. Please heed the warnings about this
on that tape...

charghwI'



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