tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 06 11:51:29 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: }} <vang>
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: }} <vang>
- Date: Wed, 6 Sep 1995 11:51:29 -0400 (EDT)
According to [email protected]:
>
> charghwI'vo':
> >>>>>>>>
> [...] recognize that {vang} is a verb that suggests
> drawn weapons or other high-adrenalin states. It doesn't just mean "you
> will act honorably". It means "You will take action honorably." See?
> <<<<<<<
> Interesting and useful distinction, but where do you get it? From the TKD
> gloss "act, take action"? I wouldn't trust that for the nuance: it looks at
> least equally likely to be a synonym/distinguisher, to clarify the sense of
> "act" here as opposed to the sense of "act" as similar to "behave" or
> "pretend": <Da> "behave as, act in the manner of".
I tend to see most definitions in TKD which have a word, then a
comma, then a phrase to be examples of what Okrand describes in
the last paragraph in the introductory remarks (mostly page
79). To paraphrase, the first word is just there to help you
look up the word. It is not really a definition. The stuff
following the comma is the more accurate definition. Hence, my
interpretation of {vIH} as intransitive [move, be in motion]
and such. Krankor in particular prefers to use {vIH} as either
transitive or intransitive so that "move" is as much a
definition as "be in motion", while I tend to lean towards it
being like {peng} being "secret, keep a secret", where "secret"
is not a verb at all and only there to help you look it up.
Unfortunately, Okrand does not distinguish with any notation
the difference between instances of this (where the first word
is just there to help you look up the word and what follows is
the real definition) and instances of simple synonyms in the
definitions. At first, I looked for differences between
definitions in the English-Klingon side and the Klingon-English
side. Evidence here supports Krankor's interpretation of {vIH},
since the word move appears on both sides, while the lone word
"secret" disappears on the Klingon-English side of TKD.
Meanwhile, when you type out the entire dictionary, like I
have, and compare the E-K and K-E sides, you soon see so many
discrepancies of synonyms popping up or dropping out of
definitions that you quickly see this as, next to omitting
anything about transitivity, the one area where Okrand and his
editors could be defendably criticized as sloppy.
Until Okrand gives us better definitions, I'll tend to favor
the multi-word definition following a comma rather than the
single word before one.
> - tlhIngan veQbeq la'Hom marqem
> Heghbej ghIHmoHwI'pu'!
>
> Mark A. Mandel
> Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
> 320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : [email protected]
>
charghwI'
--
\___
o_/ \
<\__,\
"> | Get a grip.
` |