tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat May 18 19:31:52 1996

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Re: KLBC Greetings

Brian Murphy writes:
>As this is my first posting to this list, I would like to introduce
>myself.  My
>name is Brian (Klingon name not yet chosen) hailing from Central Illinois
>(qurgh!).

I almost didn't recognize the word!  Congratulations, Brian; I think you're
the first person to *use* {qurgh} on the mailing list.  (You obviously know
who I am and what I do here....)

>Although I have been marginally interested in studying tlhIngan Hol
>for many years, I have never given it too much attention due a distinct
>lack of
>available instruction/correction.  Internet access and the KLI have solved
>that
>problem for me.

Prepare to be instructed and corrected beyond your wildest dreams!  :-)

>I would like to humbly submit my answering machine message from a couple of
>years ago.  It will be nice to get some knowlegable feedback on my grammar.

As you wish.

>nuqneH!  mI cha' wej vagh wej chorgh pagh vagh Dararta'
>juHmajDaq maHlaw'taHbe'
>ghoghqonwI' yIjatlh

"Whaddyawant?!  You have connected number 235-3805.
 We aren't seeming to be in our home.  Speak the voice-recorder."

Forgiving the missing {'} on {mI'}, this is very nice.  There are a
couple of unusual things here, though.  The placement of the suffix
{-be'} on {maHlaw'taHbe'} is a bit strange; it is negating {-taH},
so it appears to be saying "non-continuously".  I expect you wanted
to negate the root verb itself: {maHbe'law'taH}.  I'd probably say
either {maSaHbe'law'} or {maDachlaw'} for this meaning.

{ghoghqonwI'} has an obvious meaning; I like it a lot, but it would
probably work just as well if it were two separate words.

Using {jatlh} to mean "speak to" is a bit shaky.  I would use the
suffix {-vaD} here: {ghogh qonwI'vaD yIjatlh} "Speak for the benefit
of the voice-recorder."

>I suspect that the verb "rar" should be taken more literally than I did, but I
>was at a loss for a substitute.

Without further examples to guide our usage of {rar}, this is hard to
decide one way or the other.  The same problem occurs with {SIch}, the
other word that suggests itself to me.

majQa'!  You got the basic word order exactly right (that's important),
and you used appropriate verb prefixes (including an imperative).  Keep
it up!

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj

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