tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 02 01:19:41 1994
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KLBC "Parrot"
- From: [email protected] (Mark E. Shoulson)
- Subject: KLBC "Parrot"
- Date: Wed, 2 Mar 1994 13:52:59 -0500
- In-Reply-To: mark's message of Wed, 02 Mar 94 11:57:35 EST <[email protected]>
>From: mark <[email protected]>
>Date: Wed, 02 Mar 94 11:57:35 EST
>qorvo':
>* * *
>----- When I parsed out that last sentence I got;
>jatlhlaHlaw'bogh : which is seemingly able to speak
>Ha'DIbaH : animal
>'oH : it (pronoun)
>Sajvam'e' : this Pet (Topic)
>I beleive this translates to "This pet is an animal which is seemingly
>able to speak." If I got that right, why is the pronoun 'oH needed here?
>Why not; jatlhlaHlaw' Ha'DIbah Sajvam'e'
>* * *
>Because of the way Klingon constructs copulative sentences.
>(Wipe that snicker off your face, and look it up in your Funk &
>Wagnall's!) See TKD 6.3, pp. 67-68.
Well, to spell it out a little more, Klingon needs to have a verb in the
sentence. "To be" is not a verb in Klingon, technically, but it is
expressed (when vitally necessary, nowhere near so often as it is in
English) by using the pronouns as verbs and the topic-marker "-'e'", as
described in the dictionary sections marqem mentioned. Just as in English
we need the "is" in "This pet *is* an animal", the Klingon uses a pronoun
("this pet, it is an animal"?) and the topic-marker at the end.
>OTOH, on the assumption that a Saj has to be a Ha'DIbaH, you
>could just say
>jatlhlaHlaw' Sajvam
>and be done with it.
There's always that...
>- marqem
~mark