tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 30 21:37:27 1996
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RE: Syntax help...
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: Syntax help...
- Date: Tue, 31 Dec 96 05:33:57 UT
December 30, 1996 5:37 PM, jatlh R�my Villeneuve:
> I'm a beginner and I haven't got Okrand's dictionnary yet... But I do
> want to begin... I got a simple programm to translate most often used
> word, but unfortunately I don't have any reference for the syntax of
> thlingan-hol...
Hi! I'm SuStel, the list's Beginners' Grammarian. I'm here to help you and
other beginners learn about Klingon. To send a message for beginners to read,
and for me to correct your grammar, just put the letters "KLBC" in the
subject. KLBC means that the BG is the first person who can respond to the
grammar of a letter. I'll get to yours first, and please don't answer other
KLBC letters before I do (unless you're writing IN Klingon about the subject .
. .)
My first advice to you is: get The Klingon Dictionary! Programs are nice, but
they are woefully incomplete, and you need the dictionary to learn the
grammar. If a nearby bookstore doesn't have it, you can order it throught the
Klingon Language Institute. There's lots of other useful stuff there,
including the FAQ, so I recommend you visit this site (if you haven't
already):
http://www.kli.org
> Now, from what I've seen so far in reading the messages so far, the
> syntax is radically different in Klingon...
Quite right. I've been made to understand that Klingon's OBJECT-VERB-SUBJECT
order is not usual in Earth languages.
> HIja' paqvam vIqonta'
> (Yes) (book this) (I [S] it [O] record done) Word to word translation
> (Yes) (I) (did record) (this book) In order...
> As for the meaning of the sentence, I don't know the context.
The Klingon verb {qon} can also be used when describing composing something,
like a song. Apparently, Klingons don't "write" songs, they copy them down,
as if they were always there somewhere, and the composer just "recorded" them.
> So If I were to say... It is cold today... Would the translation be like
> this...
>
> Today our weather is cold.
> DaHjaj muDmaj bIr.
In the sentence "Our weather is cold," "weather" is not the object, it is the
subject. Note also that {muD} literally means "atmosphere," but is used when
describing weather phenomena.
DaHjaj bIr muDmaj.
Today the weather is cold.
> I didn't found the verb prefix to make be cold into is cold...
Since the subject of "be cold" is "weather," this goes in the category of
"it." The prefix chart tells us that "it" subject and no object uses no
prefix at all! Not adding the prefix makes the sentence correct. Since
Klingon doesn't really have infinitives, "be cold" is just a convenient way of
translating the general verb.
> Am I on the right track?
HIja'!
> P.S. What does KLBC mean in list's subjects ?
Aha! Already answered above!
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97000.0