tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jul 31 04:50:59 1994

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Klingon math, et al



charghwI'vo'

I FINIALLY GOT MY COPY OF HolQeD YESTERDAY! Of course, I 
immediately ate it, right? So, as I digested it, I, of course, 
came up with my usual corrections and suggestions.

Between the two rows of asterisks below, please consider this 
to be an article for HolQeD. From others, I welcome comments.

*************************************************************

           latlhvo' tlhIngan mI'QeD nger
                   charghwI'vo'

David Barron's article in HolQeD v3 #2 caused me to think a lot 
about numbers. For that, I thank him. Now, I'd like to suggest 
a different approach to math.

First, for those who are concerned with such matters,
there is one typo: {wa'maH qa'vaD} should be {wa'maH wa'vaD}.

Meanwhile, I think it is far less awkward to use a clearly 
transitive verb, like {moj}, "become". Since math changes one 
number into a different number, it would be natural to say, 
"Two plus two becomes four." Continuing in this effort to 
express numbers in a less awkward manner, I will take his same 
examples and express them another way.

For addition, I see two easy ways to express 73 + 11 = 84:

wa'maH wa' chelchugh SochmaH wej vaj chorghmaH loS moj.
"If seventy three adds eleven, then it becomes eighty four."

chorghmaH loS moj wa'maH wa' chelbogh SochmaH wej'e'.

Initially, I did not think it would be important to 
indicate the head noun of the relative clause in this second 
example, but upon further reflection, I think it is clearer to 
say "Seventy three, which adds eleven, becomes eighty four," 
rather than "Eleven, which is added to seventy three, becomes 
eighty four." I think it all depends upon how the Klingon mind 
interprets the verb {chel}, and I think we lack the confirming 
information to presume it to be reflexive. Here, I thank 
Krankor for developing a standard Okrand found acceptable for 
indicating the head noun of a relative clause.

Notice that neither of these expressions involve the somewhat 
controversial use of {-vaD}. While TKD plainly states that 
grammatically, numbers are used in the same way as nouns, it 
never states that it is acceptable to use noun suffixes on 
numbers. This consideration might dissuade one from using 
{-vo'} with numbers, as well.

For subtraction, the exact same models apply:

javmaH Soch nge'chugh wa'vatlh vaj wejmaH wej moj.
"If one hundred takes away sixty seven, then it becomes thirty 
three."

wejmaH wej moj javmaH Soch nge'bogh wa'vatlh'e'.
"One hundred, which takes away sixty seven, becomes thirty 
three."

I wanted to offer a far simpler model of multiplication than 
the one previously offered. I could say 2 x 3 = 6 in English 
as "Twice three becomes six." Hence the following error:

SochmaH chorgh moj javlogh wa'maH wej. [note: this is WRONG.]
"Six times thirteen becomes seventy eight."

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. I hope my attempt to explain 
what I believe to be the grammatical issues in question will 
not substantially offend the professional linguists among 
HolQeD's readers. I posit that Adverbs in English can modify 
either verbs or adjectives, and, in English, numbers can act 
as adjectives, so the adverb "twice" can, in English, be 
applied to "three" because English so successfully hides words, 
and we can presume that three is an adjective modifying some 
unstated noun.

A number with the {-logh} suffix becomes an adverbial, and in 
Klingon, adverbials only apply to verbs and they preceed both 
the verb and any present object of that verb. So how can we 
accommodate this?

SochmaH chorgh moj javlogh chenbogh wa'maH wej.
"Thirteen, which takes form six times becomes seventy eight."

If that fails to suit you, you might try:

SochmaH chorgh moj javlogh wa'maH wej wavHa'lu'bogh.
"Thirteen, which is undivided six times, becomes seventy 
eight."

Consider that the Klingon mind often approaches a concept from 
a very different angle. Just as {par} is closer to a Klingon's 
heart and "like" is closer to a Human's heart, I suggest that 
division may be closer to a Klingon's consciousness than 
multiplication. Consider that the verb appears in the most 
ancient of Klingon sayings, {yIwav 'ej yIchargh}, which humans 
have mimicked in a less original version.

This gives a preview to my approach to division:

Soch moj wa'maH wejlogh HutmaH wa' wavlu'bogh.

"Ninety one, which is divided thirteen times, becomes 
seven."

If you have a problem with interpeting this, insisting that the 
word "divide" implies "dividing into half", you could become 
more specific and say:

chenmeH wa'maH wej ghommey nIb Soch ngaSbogh ghommey'e' ghaj 
HutmaH wa'.

"In order that thirteen identical groups form, ninety one 
has groups which contain seven." 

Thank you. While I cannot feed the world, I can, at times, 
inventively speak Klingon. It is a small badge of genius, 
but I wear it proudly.

Moving on to fractions, I would state "one seventh" as 
{Sochlogh wa' wavlu'bogh}. "One, which is divided seven times". 
For those who would insist that dividing something seven times 
might be interpreted as cutting it in half seven times, I 
attempt once again to be profoundly unambiguous:
[Drum roll]:

wavDI' wa' chenbogh Soch 'ay' nIbvo' wa'
"One from the seven identical sections that take form when one 
is divided"

[Tada! Applause. Subtle acknowledgement.]

For those wishing the details pointed out to them, the noun at 
the core of this clause is {wa'} or "one". We express "from the 
seven identical sections" as {Soch 'ay' nIbvo'} because type 5 
noun suffixes follow adjectival verbs applied to the noun {'ay} 
instead of to the noun itself, and because when you modify a 
noun with a number, a plural suffix is unnecessary. This saves 
me from having to distinguish between {-mey} if this is a 
section of a blood pie, or {-Du'} if this is a section of an 
unfortunate enemy.

My personal approach to the example "Send a quarter of your 
army to France," takes a somewhat different course:

"France"Daq loS 'ay' nIb ngaSbogh mangghomlIjvo' wa' 'ay' 
tIngeH.

"From your army, which has four identical sections, send one 
section to France."

So now you may choose which tools you wish to use for Klingon 
math. Which blade do you consider to be sharper?

***************************************************************

For general interest, here is my translation of the SkyBox 
trading card:

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Wait... It is next to the course which is followed in order 
that one roams to the universe's unknown reagion at the 
galaxie's edge. [This refers to the worm-hole.]

In order it is studied, in order that it is conspired [?], in 
order that a risk is taken, the Deep Space Nine space station
behaves like a door. [Does this mean no one listens next to it 
when it is open?]

[The question mark is because {QuS} REALLY doesn't seem like a 
very transitive verb, yet a {-lu} suffix ALWAYS implies an 
object. Similarly, {SuD} listed as "gamble, take a chance, take 
a risk" becomes "In order that one gambles it" or "in order 
that it is gambled". I transformed this "it" into the "risk"
that 
is "taken". Of the entire translation, {QuSlu'meH} seems the 
strangest choice of words.]

Thus, Humans can continue to roam in space. Space is the last 
boundary. [Probably as close to "frontier" as the vocabulary 
would support]

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I might also submit my slightly modified old mu'mey noy from 
the Addams Family motto:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

nucharghta' luneHpu'bogh chaH wISopmo' muQuchqu'

Original: "We gladly feast on those who would subdue us."

Literal: "We are very happy because we eat them who have wanted
that they had conquered us."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for the great insult contest, I submit:

...............................................................

tlhIngan Hol DajalthtaHDI' "Worf" QIch rur QIchlIj!

...............................................................

'IwlIj jachjaj.

charghwI'



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