tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 16 13:12:38 1999
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RE:
- From: "Andeen, Eric" <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE:
- Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 13:13:30 -0700
jatlh Price:
> tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI'pu':
> ghItlhwIj vIghItlh cha'DIch.
maj. The grammar was better this time. The only problem is that <cha'DIch>
needs to follow <ghItlhwIj> instead of going after the verb.
Another comment which I didn't make last time - I rambled long enough
without it - is about your use of <ghItlh>, mostly as a verb but also as a
noun. The noun <ghItlh> means "manuscript", and unless Klingons think very
differently about computers (which they might), it can probably also refer
to a document stored in a computer. While this is a perfectly valid noun to
describe your message to the list, you will find a better one in the book
Klingon for the Galactic Traveler: <QIn>. <QIn> means "message", which is
perfect for describing postings to this list. It also, by the way, means
"spearhead". Another useful related word is <jabbI'ID> - "data
transmission".
<ghItlh> as a verb is defined in the dictionary as "write". Marc Okrand has
clarified this a bit in some comments on the startrek.klingon newsgroup.
This newsgroup is open to everyone on the news server news.startrek.com.
<ghItlh> refers to the physical act of making marks on a surface, which
probably includes pressing keys and making symbols show up on a computer
screen. It does not extend to the creative process that we call "writing" in
English.
There are a few Klingon words which convey this idea. One is <qon>, which
literally means "record", but is often used to mean something similar to
"compose". The implication is that the important part of the "creative
process" for Klingons is not actually creating new stories, songs, ideas,
etc.; but is instead the act of tracking them down in that mysterious place
where ideas roam freely, capturing them, and recording them so that others
can see them. Another word, which you will not find in any of the printed
resources, is <gher> which means "compile". It is used to describe the
process of gathering information that is already known and presenting it.
Writing a duty roster or a shopping list would probably translate as <gher>
in Klingon.
Another word that is useful in this context is <lab> - "transmit data (away
from a place)". It is a very good way to describe posting a message to the
list.
Taking all this into account, what you have written is still correct, but it
probably does not fully express what you wanted to say. You could say
instead:
QInwIj cha'DIch vIqon
QInwIj cha'DIch vIlab
> Qahraj SoH vItlho'.
Don't forget the <H>'s.
<QaHraj> is just sitting there in the sentence with no purpose. It's not the
object, since that is apparently <SoH>. It therefore has no real connection
to the rest of the sentence. To give it a role in the sentence, it needs a
type five suffix. The right one here is <-mo'> - "because of, due to".
You also need to be consistent with who you're talking to. You start out
with <QaHraj>, and <-raj> is the possessive suffix for "you" plural. You
then switch to <SoH>, which is "you" singular. This is one of the harder
things for English speakers to deal with because the second person pronoun
(you) is the same for both singular and plural. You probably want to switch
the pronoun to <tlhIH> - "you" plural.
Finally, you need to match the prefix to the object. For an object of
<tlhIH>, the prefix is <Sa->. And since pronouns are optional in Klignon,
you can rely on the verb prefix to indicate the object if you want to:
QaHrajmo' tlhIH Satlho'. -OR-
QaHrajmo' Satlho'.
> choQaHbej'a'?
qaQaHbejta' 'e' vItul.
I hope that I have certainly helped you.
pagh
Beginners' Grammarian
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