tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 22 08:42:25 1999

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RE: KLBC: {-ghach} (was Re: qama')

jatlh quljIb:

> Okay, I understand that, as a people, Klingons are very action 
> and goal oriented, and that there language reflects that fact. 
> Thus, I understand - at least in part - the hesitaion felt by 
> others to nominalize Klingon verbs. But are not brevity and 
> directness also halmarks of {tlhIngan Hol}? Why would a Klingon say:

> {jIHvaD bel nobtaH wam}-or-
> {bel munobtaH wam} "To hunt gives me pleasure"
> {mubeltaH wam} "To hunt pleases me /It pleases me to hunt"

As you seem to know very well for yourself, <wam> is a verb, and cannot be
used as a noun. Neither of these make any sense as a result. Also, the
notion that something like hunting can "give pleasure" is rather odd. The
English "give" is used very broadly in phrases like "give pleasure", "give a
speech", and "give my loyalty". The Klingon <nob> is probably more
restricted.

> {jIwam(taH)meH jIbel} "Because I hunt (am hunting), I am pleased"

That would be <jIwammo' jIbel>. If you want to use <-meH>, you could say
<jIbelmeH jIwam> - "I hunt in order to be pleased."

> {mubelmoH chon} "The hunt pleases me"
majQa'. This is (to me, anyway) the ideal translation.

> {jIHvaD bel nob chon}-or-
> {bel munob chon} "The hunt gives me pleasure"  

Same comments as above about <nob>.

> When what he means is

> {mubelmoH wamtaHghach} "Hunting pleases me"
> {bel munob wamtaHghach} "Hunting give me pleasure"

I very much doubt a Klingon would just say <mubelmoH wamtaHghach>. <-ghach>,
even with an intervening suffix, is awkward. It even sounds awkward. A
Klingon would say <jIwam 'e' vItIv> or <mubelmoH chon> or <Ha'DIbaHmey vIHoH
vIneHqu'> or <Ha'. mawam. jIghung> or all sorts other natural sounding
things.

Also, the purpose of <-ghach> is to turn a verb into a noun, but it is
certainly *NOT* the only tool that can be used to do that. If the noun is
intended as the object of a sentence, then <'e'> (or <net>) can be used to
basically turn the whole sentence into a noun. There are also a lot of
things that can be done with <-meH> clauses.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian

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