tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Sep 27 05:50:58 1996

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Re: What prefix to use for "I--us" etc.?

Eskil Heyn Olsen writes:
>...In a group of people are discussing who
>should represent them, one might decide he was excellent for the job and
>state {maH 'oS jIH} or "I shall represent us", and it would make perfect
>sense for me.

Even in English, this statement comes close to being confusing.  Is the
person speaking really going to be fulfilling both the role of group
member and group representative?

>On the other hand, he might as well rephrase it to {ghomvam vI'oS} or "I
>shall represent this group" which would carry the same meaning, although
>it sounds a bit like the speaker is seperating himself from the group.

I think the speaker probably *does* separate himself from the group.  I'm
pretty sure that the grammatical hole in the prefix list indicates that
the Klingon way of thinking sets a leader apart from his soldiers, for
example, and a representative from the group he represents.

There *is* another way to translate the original phrase that doesn't have
a problem with an unrepresentable subject/object pair:

{maHvaD jI'oS}

Many of the recent "I--us" examples can be twisted to this pattern.  The
"I will kill us all" sentence breaks in the process, so it's obviously not
a universally applicable grammatical tool.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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