tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 16 00:20:54 1996
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Grammar and words in TKW
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Grammar and words in TKW
- Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 03:20:22 -0400
My apologies to everyone who has not yet bought TKW.
Everyone seems so concerned about the new vocabulary words in
_The_Klingon_Way_, but I also find some of the grammar interesting! Okrand
seems to have been listening a little bit, because he's solved a few things
for us!
Now, I think the book is terrific, both from the point of view of the
language, but also as a source of Klingon customs and sayings. We have often
complained that we knew too few proverbs for Klingons. Now we've got a whole
book full of them! {yIlop!}
I've catalogued all of the new stuff which I could find, but I decided not to
post it all to the list. There is quite a lot, and I'd like to go to sleep
soon. However, I'd like to mention some of the best stuff.
First, I love the fact that "Today is a good day to die" has been rendered as
{Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam}, which are essentially the same as the rejected
versions 5 and 12 in the "Today is a good day to die" file on the KLI FTP
site. Even better, though, is the fact that the very next page has {batlh
bIHeghjaj}, which, minus the time element, is exactly what has been commonly
accepted, even by me, as the notorius phrase, and is translated as "May you
die well." Good grief! pp. 69, 71
Okrand has been making Klingon a little more into an English look-alike, in
that we now have proof that one can join relative clauses by using the
sentence conjunctions, such as {'ej}. pp. 5, 59, 139
Of course, we now know exactly how to use {Hoch}. No longer can we put it
AFTER the noun! pp. 33, 51, 74, 136
Someone else has already mentioned the putting of {-vam} on the non-thing,
{vam}.
Slight explanation of using {-vIS} without {-taH}, although it only occurs in
proverbs, and we're not sure exactly when. p. 95
Also, we have proof that a verb can modify each noun in a law'/puS
construction. p. 95
We now know that {meQ} can be used intransitively (as in, {meQtaHbogh qach},
a "house which burns"}. We don't know if it can be used the other way
around, as in "I burn the paper." p. 111
There seems to be an interesting error, {pung ghap HoS}, whose abnormal
conjunction placement is not mentioned. p. 119
I just have to mention this one vocabulary item which I don't think anyone
mentioned before: {puq poH} = "generation." p. 155
My favorite: Okrand has given us a new canon word with {-ghach}:
{quvHa'ghach}. It supports my theory that {-ghach} can only be used on verbs
for which there is an identical noun concerning the same thing. This is not
proof yet, though. p. 155
We also get the transitivity of another favorite: {ghor}. It may be used as
in {tlhaqlIj vIghor} = "I break your chronometer". p. 185
We get "a few" = {puS}, as in "a few pipiusus" = {pIpyuS puS} p. 185
It is now confirmed that a Fek'lhr is a being capable of using language, as
the proverb calls tham {veqlarghlI'} and {veqlarghwI'}. p. 197
SuStel
Hovjaj 96291.0