tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 23 09:39:35 1996
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: misc
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 20:02:32 -0700
>From: [email protected]
>qaSDI' 96-07-22 16:51:43 EDT, jatlh ~mark:
>> Klingon doesn't use "'e'" with verbs of saying, or indirect quotes:
>>
>> "*matlh* vIHoHrup" jatlh *Kirk*, 'ach nep.
>That's a bit I've been having trouble believing: that one cannot express
>indirect quotes. Kirk did not say "*matlh* vIHoHrup." He didn't even say "I
>am ready to kill Maltz." His exact quote was "Help us or die."
>Just a theory, which I am *not* espousing the use of, is that {'e'} can be
>used with verbs of saying which utilize indirect quotes. Either that, or
>perhaps one can use indirect quotes, with the vagueness of not knowing
>whether these are the person's exact words.
It might be nice to have some way to do indirect quotes (and maybe there is
one), but here's a possible way to look at it such that direct quotes still
work (I'm not saying this is necessarily "right", but it's something to
consider). Maybe "jatlh" (or perhaps another verb) doesn't necessarily
mean "said these words" but rather "expressed the following statement in
some fashion." So it would be accurate to say "<<*matlh* vIHoHrup>> jatlh
*Kirk*" even though he didn't use those words. In fact, he needn't have
actually uttered ANY words, but only expressed it in his body language or
facial expression. For you Lojbanists out there, think of this as trying
to find a Klingon analogue to "cusku", which is similar. So I could say of
someone who was smiling, "<<jIQuch>> jatlh"/he's expressing the fact that
he's happy. The deixis, changing the pronouns to match, are just the way
Klingon chooses to handle such indirectness. This is actually a fairly fun
way to do things, tho I think I'd wish for another verb for this broader
sense of "expressing".
~mark
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface
iQB1AwUBMfUAP8ppGeTJXWZ9AQE9HAMAoX/bpdeUatd0I6AmtYNoaBMLfRt4+sqE
TpLgAgfU1ihn0n/v8G6rKbVGEQ8aYiHRk6KqZ704sof2z0wjS5IFmk3aOgYazkII
PcouuuXtYFwBb8PeI0qqghiyd5sU8MyO
=zgZl
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----