tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 11 23:04:22 1994

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affixes(was Re: KBLC- jIbeplaw)

>     For those groaning about all that memorization, recognize that this is
>massively less memorization than for languages with irregular declintions
>(declinsions?).

>charghwI'

It's "declensions". And, yes, that would be quite a chore if Klingon divided
it's words into them. But I think (I'm not certain, so I'm willing to be
corrected) that agglutinating languages that tack on several affixes at a
time wouldn't do things like that. It would just get too complicated.
Declensions are used in inflectional languages like Latin.

The fact that Klingon doesn't have these irregularities (aside from the
handful of cases where the root changes rather than adding the appropriate
type 2 suffix) makes me wonder if any of the affixes change their semantic
value depending on what word their tacked onto. Like in English, the
preposition "out" may have different meanings varying with its usage: "Take
*out* the trash," and "We are *out* of ketchup." The *out*s in these examples
have no related meanings whatsoever. I'm wondering if, and to what extent,
Klingon would do this. After all, you've pointed out {HeghmoH} is listed as
"be fatal." Even tho I don't agree with the advocators of its usage as an
adjectival, it may not be quite correct to think of it as a synonym of {HoH}.
Okrand also has {lo'laH} as "be valuable." This looks like he confused {-laH}
with the Esperanto {-ibl-}, equivalent to English "-able, -ible." {lo'laH}
shouldn't seem to mean "be use-able." Doing that would pick at the old "how
to use {-laH} with {-lu'}" question. And anyways, we have {lI'} for "be
useful."

Another annoying Okrandism is his {naDqa'} for "recommend" in the addendum
4.2.9. In this particular word, the "re-" does not mean the same thing as
{-qa'} anymore. It's meaning has become archaic, and survives quite
stubbornly in this one word. Plus, we have {chup} for "recommend, suggest."


Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos

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