tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Feb 27 20:58:25 1994
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Re: Word used by Marnen
- From: Will Martin <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Word used by Marnen
- Date: Mon, 28 Feb 94 09:56:33 EST
charghwI' responds to Guido:
...
> Remember, {not mu'tlhegh yInoH DalaDmeH tlhIngan mIn Dalo'pa'}.
> Never judge a mu'tlhegh before you read it with a Klingon eye, viz., don't
> worry so much about the EXACT DIvI' Hol translation, just ask yourself,
> does this make sense in tlhIngan Hol?
>
> Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos
Hmm. MY Klingon eye would have found this much easier to read had it
been stated as:
DalaDmeH tlhIngan mIn Dalo'pa' not mu'tlhegh yInoH
It is probably not a grammatical requirement, but I find it much easier
to read such complex sentences if the dependent clauses preceed the main
clause, unless they are grammatically linked to the subject (like a relative
clause attached to the subject). It more readily disambiguates whether a noun
is the subject of one clause or the object of another, and as I go left to
right, the verb suffixes let me know where all the pieces fit. I could read
your original sentence, but it took some unscrambling before I could do it.
If I had heard it instead of read it, I would not have the option of that
kind of unscrambling without a significant pause.
It is probably just a matter of style. Do others agree? Am I strange in
this preference?
charghwI'