tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 20 19:43:29 1995
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Re: locatives (was KLBC: Win 95 "Klingon-ized")
- From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
- Subject: Re: locatives (was KLBC: Win 95 "Klingon-ized")
- Date: Wed, 20 Dec 1995 22:44:16 -0500
I had quoted HolQeD Volume 4, Number 2:
>..."I just shot an
>elephant in my pajamas... and how he got in my pajamas I'll never
>know." ...There's not many jokes you can get to translate into Klingon,
>but that one would work.
charghwI' writes:
>[...]
>nIvnavwIjDaq Qambogh *elephant* vIbach. chay nIvnavwIjDaq ghoSta'
>*elephant* 'e' vISovbe'.
>
>This can mean either I shot the elephant which was standing in my pajamas,
>or that I, shooting in my pajamas, shot an elephant which was standing. The
>locative must preceed the verb it modifies, but there is no guarantee there
>won't be an interceding verb as well, so it is sometimes ambiguous which
>verb is described by the locative.
>
>If there is context here that you did not include, please help out. I don't
>have my HolQeDs with me.
In the paragraph before the one I quoted, Okrand referred to the ambiguity
of the Klingon sentence {DujDaq puq DaqIppu'bogh vIlegh} and how it is
ambiguous in the same way as "I see the child who you hit on the ship" is.
It would seem that you had the right idea; your elephant translation has
the same form as the sentence that reminded him of the Groucho Marx joke.
-- ghunchu'wI' batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj