tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 13 07:24:46 1995
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Re: Revision of help!
>Date: Sat, 11 Nov 1995 13:36:14 -0800
>From: "R.B Franklin" <[email protected]>
>Fri, 10 Nov 1995, ghItlh Qogh:
>> I have rewritten my original sentance as follows:
>>
>> ghaHDaq Qampu' SuvwI''a'pu' law'. ghaHDaq Qampu'mo' Qaw'lu'.
>Many great warriors have stood on him/her. Because they have stood on
>him/her, it destroys him.
>For example, {SuvwI''a'pu'} means "great warriors", that is, warriors who
>are more than just typical warriors, it could refer to "mighty warriors" or
>"champions" or an inherently large _type_ of warrior.
>E.g. SuvwI''a' 'oHba' qeylIS'e' (Kahless is obviously a great warrior.)
Ahem. "==>ghaH<==ba'". Kahless is reknowned for his speeches and
teachings. That *would* imply that he's capable of using language.
I've seen this error quite a bit, often from people who really know better
(and even from myself). It's an easy trap to fall into. In the sense that
you can consider the pronoun-copula as a "verb", it's the one irregular
verb in Klingon. So it's easy to forget its irregularity and think of it
like any other verb. Just like all other verbs don't distinguish in 3rd
person between sentient and non-sentient (and in many cases not between
singular and plural), the overwhelmingly common "'oH" tends to oust "ghaH"
(and "bIH" and "chaH") from our minds in this construction. We must be
wary.
~mark