tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 03 20:48:10 1997

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RE: jajlo'



jatlh mIqIraH:

> Oliver Stoll wrote:
> > 
> >         QovvaD wanI' vIja'pu'.
> > 
> > as in "I have told Qov about the event", or "I have reported the
> > event to Qov".

If we for the moment assume that the person to whom you are speaking must be 
the object of {ja'}, then all we have to do is change the verb:

QovvaD wanI' vIDelpu'.

> We have canon to show that this doesn't work...

Well, we don't have canon showing that, we have canon showing that something 
else *does* work.  Oliver Stoll's sentence is not proven wrong.

> qaja'pu' HIqaghQo'
> I told you, "Don't interrupt me!"
> 
> TKD, pg. 67
> 
> Based on this example, it is clear (to me at least) that verbs of saying
> do not seem to function in the way you describe.  They seem to always
> take a direct quotation, though you could also translate it as "I told
> you not to interrupt me," but that is SLIGHTLY inaccurate.

Actually, this *is* how Okrand translates this very sentence.

> I would
> assume all verbs of saying work this way.  The only reason {jatlh} can
> take a language as an object is because it has two definitions, a fact a
> lot of people seem to have overlooked:
> 
> jatlh: speak (v) [as in "I speak Klignon," or "Do you speak Spanish?"]
> jatlh: say (v) [no examples of {jatlh} used this way, but it is in the
> Addendum]
> 
> Marc Okrand clearly had a reason for putting this definition in, so I
> would hazard to guess that this is a typical verb of saying, like
> {ja'}.  Until we get some canon, I'd avoid using this in any far-out
> ways, though.

We have canon, from Power Klingon:

{'avwI'vaD jatlh qama' -- jI'oj}  (And a couple of similar examples from the 
same joke.)

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97423.7


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