tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Aug 22 05:01:34 1998

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Re: Verbs of Saying



From: Robyn Stewart <[email protected]>


>---David Trimboli  wrote:
>> If {pong} were a verb of saying, the name would go either before or
>after
>> the *sentence*, not in the *middle* of the sentence between {'oHvaD}
>and
>> {ponglu'}.
>
>"Well," she says, explicitly removing the "Beginners' Grammarian" tag
>from her sig, "I'm one of those who happily reads and writes
>constructions like the following."
>
>'utlh qanvaD <qaHo'> jatlh Qugh, bIttaHvIS. <bItlheDpa' ...> loQ yev
>Qugh <... choghomqangqa'neS'a'?>
>
>I suppose I could write instead:
>
>'utlh qanvaD jatlh Qugh, bIttaHvIS, <qaHo'>.
><bIltheDpa' ..> jatlh Qugh.  loQ yev.
>taH.  jatlh <... choghomqangqa'neS'a'?>

The difference between "sentence" and "verbal clause" is not clear in
Klingon, and may not really exist.  I would also accept the first sentence
like this:

'utlh qanvaD jatlh Qugh <qaHo'>, bIttaHvIS.

In any case, it shouldn't split the Type 5'd noun from the verb.

Actually, I'm not fond of translating English adverbs directly into Klingon
{-vIS} clauses.  Nothing wrong with it, I just like this better.

bIttaH Qugh.  'utlh qanvaD jatlh <qaHo'>.

And I have no idea how Klingons use verbs of saying and their quotations in
longer speeches.  I'm sure they don't use {jatlh}, etc. for every utterance.
No need to use that big of a scoop.

SuStel
Stardate 98639.5





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