tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 01 16:41:44 1997
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RE: KLBC: lIy Hale-Bopp
jatlh SuStel:
>jatlh HurghwI':
>> If being translated with "be" is the only requirement, couldn't we just add
>> <taH> to all these? <pumtaH 'oH> means "It is falling," so <pumtaH> could
>> be translated as "be falling." Perhaps one reason he put the "be" there is
>> to indicate intransitivity.
>
>{taH} the verb is certainly stative, though I don't know what it really
means!
>
>{pumtaH} means "it is falling." However, that's the present progressive in
>English, which is not the same thing as using "be" with a stative verb.
>{pumtaH} could just as accurately be translated as "it falls (continuously)."
>
>You cannot say *{ngup wew} for "the glowing cape" any more than you can say
>*{ghot pum} for "the falling person." They have to be {wewbogh ngup} and
>{pumbogh ghot}. Add {-taH} if you like, it doesn't change things. {-taH}
>simply means that whatever it is happens continuously.
My point was that since, as you say, Klingon has no "be," then Okrand, too
is merely forcing an English meaning onto the words. For example, <Quch>
could be translated "to outwardly display hapiness." I wasn't condoning
this as an actual solution, but trying to draw attention to the fact that
the translation ought not be the only criterion.
-HurghwI'