tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Mar 15 14:20:19 1998

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Re: poH qelDI' tlhIngan Hol mu'tlheghmey

In a message dated 98-03-13 14:21:00 EST, Voragh writes:

<< For those stubborn few who still insist that {'ej} implies *only*
 synchronicity and never sequence, reversing the order of clauses in a
 sentence should have no effect whatsoever on the meaning.  But it often
 does.  For example:
 
      teplIj yIwoH 'ej pa'lIjDaq yIjaH!
      Pick up your baggage and go to your room! (CK) 
 
 implies an obvious sequence of events (at least to me), whereas
 
      pa'lIjDaq yIjaH 'ej teplIj yIwoH!
      Go to your room and pick up your baggage!
 
 makes no sense at all if you and your luggage are both in the lobby.  It
 would make sense, though, if you've left your baggage upstairs in your room,
 naively expecting someone will bring it down to the desk for you upon check
 out.  Or imagine a Klingon mother telling her rambunctious child that dinner
 is ready:
 
      yIba'choH 'ej qagh yISop!
      Sit down and eat your gagh!
 
 This is something quite different from
 
      qagh yISop 'ej yIba'choH!
      Eat your qagh and sit down!
 
 which may be more appropriate if you're advising someone to sit down as an
 aide to digestion after eating a rushed meal, say, while standing in a
 crowded {Do Qe'}.  In these cases, translating {'ej} by "and then" or simply
 "then" is quite acceptable.  But when you can successfully reverse the
 clauses with no loss in meaning, you cannot translate {'ej} "and then". For
 example, the statement
 
      tlhIngan jIH 'ej tera'ngan SoH.
      I'm a Klingon and you're a Terran.
 
 is obviously the same as  >>

nuquvmoH, Voragh.  jIQochbe'chu'.

Qapla'     peHruS

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