tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 17 09:24:32 1996
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RE: subject-object combos
>We have elected me as president.
>Where we represents "the wacky folks club", and me represents "Floyd
>Ernest" Much better to recast it and make either the group (we) or the
>individual (me) or both an explicit third person. We have elected Floyd
>Ernest as president -OR- The Wacky Folks Club has elected me as president.
But suppose you can't? I know you can recast a lot of things, but it
seems odd to me that such combinations are to my knowledge IMPOSSIBLE.
Some things translate clunkily, but considering that Klingon has such an
advanced verb prefix system, I don't see why it can't easily express such
combinations.
Consider some examples:
We chose me as leader (my rendition of "we elected me president")
DevwI'vaD jIH wIwIv (???)
I might use this in a speech after an election victory. Changing to
third person makes no sense. I suppose one might say {DevwI'vaD tuwIv}
"You (pl) chose as leader" but it's just not as personal.
Did you (all) see you?
SoH bolegh'a'? (???)
I might use the above if I were a judge, and I was questioning a bunch of
witnesses, and I wanted to ask if anyone saw a particular suspect. Thus,
the question is directed at BOTH the individual AND the group. I might
say to the person {nIlegh'a'?} "Did they see you?" and to the group
{bolegh'a'?} "Did you see him/her?" but I wanted a quicker more efficient
way to say it. (If I were a Klingon judge who was pissed off... :) )
I took us to the store.
"mechDaq" maH vItlhej (???)
Let's say I'm a father and I came home with my kids, and my wife asks me,
"So, where were you (all)?" I might answer {"mechDaq" chaH vItlhej} "I
took them to the store", but since the question is directed at "you
(all)", I think that I would answer with "we, us", IF that is possible.
Do you represent you (all)?
tlhIH Da'oS'a'? (???)
I might say this if I meet a new species, and one steps forward to talk
to me. Or I might say, {DevwI' SoH'a'} "Are you the leader?" Well, I
can't think of a better example at the moment.
So my question remains: It is POSSIBLE to express {we-me}, {you(pl)-you},
{I-us}, {you-you(pl)} in Klingon?
dave yeung