tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 28 21:36:05 1996

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RE: KLBC: interrogative punctuation

November 27, 1996 11:01 PM, jatlh Andrew 'Ska' Netherton:

> jIneH,

"I want"?  What do you mean by that?

> 	Realizing that punctuation of tlhIngan Hol is (at best) barely
> understood, I still must ask if it is acceptable to use a question mark
> (?) to show that a sentance is a question, or is there a good way to do it
> contextually (with what, when, etc.)?

I take it that you've read the FAQ?  (Oh, by the way: I've been mis-quoting 
its location.  It's at http://www.thomtech.com/~dspeers/klingon/faq.html

> 	SuStel chojang.  Qapla'...

This should be a command.  {SuStel, HIjang!} or {HIjang, SuStel!}

Concerning punctuation: understand that the Romanized transcription system we 
use is >>>***NOT***<<< used by Klingons!  It is simply used to represent the 
SOUNDS of Klingon.  Without knowing much (if anything) about the ways that 
Klingons inflect their sentences, we can use any punctuation we like to 
express the sounds.  For example, in the command above, I added a comma 
because I hear a pause there.  It's not two words run together into one 
phrase.  It could also be punctuated understandably as {SuStel!  HIjang!}.

Use punctuation to clarify what you mean when you write in Klingon.  Since 
this writing system is not the real one anyway, what difference does it make?

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 96912.0

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