tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 02 11:05:50 1998

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Pro & {qon} (Was Re: KLBC - pach puqloD)

: From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
: >I've got to agree with Qov here.  It's the *idea* that's being recorded in
: >words here.  {qonchu'} says to me that the idea was rendered accurately.
: 
: But I believe we're told that {qon} is used when composing songs, not every
: time one might use the word "compose" in English.  We know nothing
: particular about how Klingons think of "composing," say, e-mail.  And I
: agreed that {qon} would be appropriate if the usage were about a song.
: 
: It *might* refer to any act which we call "composing" in English, but I
: don't see why this must be.
: 
: SuStel

Okrand on {qon}:

"Actually, this is the word translated in TKD as the verb 'record', meaning
to make a record of something (whether this record be written or a digital
recording or an old-fashioned wax cylinder or anything). Apparently Klingon
songs are not composed by anybody--they're just out there, waiting to be
hunted down, trapped, and logged (that is, written down and/or taught to
others)." (HolQeD 2.4) 

"It does not matter whether this recording is visual, digital, scratches in
stone, or marks on paper." (TKW p.179) 

Does this imply that Klingon music - especially opera (ghe'naQ) which is in
{no' Hol} after all - is viewed as primarily traditional and not an original
creation by the composer, who simply uses pre-existing themes and other
cultural elements? 

Note that Okrand does NOT say that {qon} is used ONLY for songs. His HolQeD
article was addressing musical terms, which simply provided him the
opportunity to comment on the word. I would think one could also {qon}
legends/myths (wIch), folk stories (lut), traditions (lurDech), teachings
(paQDI'norgh) of Kahless, etc. All of this oral literature already exists
out there among the masses, it is merely being "recorded" on paper (or
whatever) for posterity. In theory one is capturing and preserving them, not
editing and changing them. I imagine that dictionaries are also "recorded",
since the words are, as Okrand said in HolQeD, "not composed by
anybody--they're just out there, waiting to be hunted down, trapped, and
logged..."  

Note that history is "recorded" as well:

    qun qon charghwI'pu''e'. 
    History is written by the victors. TKW

This may reflect the popular view that history is a true record of what
actually happened - albeit told from a certain point of view - and not a
matter for argument, interpretation and analysis by professional historians.
History as official chronicle, not sociology or philosophy.

I think it's safe to use {qon} in somewhat wider contexts than SuStel's
belief of recording only songs, but as to Alan's (and others') view of
"recording" utterly original compositions (novels, poems, diaries, letters,
treaties, contracts, etc.) - the evidence isn't clear.

Let's hope that Maltz will drop by qep'a' vaghDIch..

Voragh

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