tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 15 14:50:20 1996

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RE: Dr. Okarnd Speaks -- lengthy

jatlh Marc Okrand 'ej lab Kenneth Traft (on MSN, he used boldface for his 
Klingon, which I'll mark with {}s) :

> We do know that there is a Klingon word for
> "love," meaning something like what we mean by the word.
> It is {parmaq}. We heard this word for the first time in a
> recent episode of Deep Space Nine where Dax says that
> {parmaq} is "the Klingon word for 'love,' but with more
> aggressive overtones."  She accuses Worf of having a "bad
> case" of {parmaq}, which suggests it's a noun.  (The episode
> is called "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places";
> there may be a good historical reason for the Federation
> choosing the spelling "par'Mach," but, regardless, the
> pronunciation of the word is {parmaq}.)  Unfortunately, so
> far, that's about all we know about the Klingon word for
> "love."  I'll have to do some additional research to find
> out how the word is used correctly in a sentence.  Since
> it's Klingon love we're talking about here, I wouldn't be
> surprised to learn that it doesn't work in at all the same
> way as the Federation Standard word "love."  I'll get back
> to you on this in the future.  Whether it's appropriate to
> express "for a Ferengi" by using the noun suffix {-vaD} "for" 
> awaits further research as well, since it depends on how
> the verb used for "feel love" works.

I don't believe it!

> (2) You suggested translating "What is your favorite
> month?" as:
> 
> {jarlIj qaq nuq}?
> 
> This one's a little easier to deal with.  Your sentence
> literally means "What is your preferable month?"  The basic
> syntax is correct.  Question words (in this case, {nuq}
> "what?") function the same way pronouns do in questions
> with "to be" in the English translations.  Thus, the
> question {yIH nuq?} "What is a tribble?" is exactly parallel
> the statement {yIH 'oH} "It is a tribble" (where {yIH} is
> "tribble" and {'oH} is "it").

[mouth drops open]

[mouth stays open]

[mouth hasn't closed yet]

Ladies and gentlemen, the dynamics of {tlhIngan Hol} have just changed 
radically.

At least the CK sentence {Dochvam nuq?} isn't a mistake.

> So what about the "what" (or "which") of your original
> question ("What/which is your favorite month?")?  When
> asking someone a question of this type, you are really
> asking him or her to make a choice.  So just be a Klingon
> and order them to do so: "Identify the month that you very
> much prefer!":
> 
> {jar DamaSqu'bogh yIngu'}

Hoo hoo!!!  Yes!!!!

(hmmm . . . potlhbogh pagh vIjatlhpu'.  jIQoS.  jImer.  jIyay'.)

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96958.1

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