tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 27 04:26:31 1994

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Re: more on stylistics

>I agree that {Qub} means to me more like "cerebrate", "ruminate", "think
>about", than the idiomatic English use of it for "believe", but I wouldn't
>come down on not using "-law'" so hard.  "-law'" is definitely a good,
>concise way of getting the concept across, but I'd agree with nick that
>"'e' vIHar" also works well.  Sometimes the weighiness of a longer
>construction gets points across better, sometimes you just feel like it.

Yes, I know flowering out your speech does make for a better effect at times,
but in ordinary conversation, {-law'} is preferable. Also, I didn't mention
it, but {...'e' vIHar} is indeed quite a useful rendition of "I think
that..."

>>{DaHjaj SISjaj}  "I hope it rains today."

>Here I'm less in agreement with you.  Maybe I think of "-jaj" still as too
>formalistic a construction, for use in toasts and prayers and well-wishing,
>but I still like "'e' vItul" in a lot of places.  Note that "-jaj" really
>only works well when it's the speaker's hope.  "The captain hoped the enemy
>would die" really has to be "Hegh jagh 'e' tul HoD".  Somehow it seems a
>little weird to demand that this construction totally change just if the
>captain happens to be the speaker.

If the hoper is the third or second person, then I would gladly accept and
advocate the use of {...'e' tul}. But normally in the first person, {-jaj} is
more economical. As far as saying that {-jaj} carries connotations of
formality, I disagree strongly. The use of "May..." in English constructions
as an optative is archaic sounding and used in formal or poetic language, but
that is no reason for considering Klingon {-jaj} equally formal and archaic.
The main reason you consider it as such is because Okrand said merely that
English sentences beginning with "May..." are translatable by {-jaj}. Notice:
he did not say that {-jaj} *means* the same as "May..."

>~mark


Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos

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