tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 26 06:03:46 1997
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RE: paqghommey
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: paqghommey
- Date: Wed, 26 Mar 97 13:56:46 UT
jatlh voqHa'wI':
> jatlh maqlIy:
> >> DaH tlhIngan Hol neH vIghoj. chay' Qub ghotpu' 'e' vIghojmeH Holmey
vIHad.
> >> I am learning only Klingon now. I study languages in order to learn how
> >> people think. [Read Whorf at an impressionable age.]
>
> jatlh SuStel:
> > What we have here is a question-as-object. There is a lot of talk about
> > whether this sort of thing would be allowed in Klingon. I happen to
> believe it is not. Does this make any sense to you:
> >
> > I study languages in order that I learn that how do people think?
> >
> > That's essentially how it comes off in Klingon. [...]
>
> Well, if you read it off as two sentences you get
> How do people think?
> I study languages in order to learn that.
>
> which is very readable, and probably the way you'd be thinking if you didn't
> want to do a DIvI' Hol translation.
What it's saying in Klingon is that you study languages in order to learn <a
question>. Personally, I try to learn facts, and *ask* questions.
It is very readable to you and me, native speakers (I assume) of a language
which uses question-as-object. In *Klingon*, we have no rules for it, we see
no evidence for it, and the logic of the sentence isn't so hot. I am yet to
be convinced. Besides, one can always find another way to say it.
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97233.6