tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 04 19:01:21 1999
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Re: jubluH'a'?
>From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
>Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 10:44:29 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
>
>On 2 Nov 1999 14:42:59 -0000 "Mark E. Shoulson" <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>...
>> <***> I keep wishing for an "even" in Klingon (as in "even if...")
>
>X DaqellaH 'ach YtaH.
Feh. I don't like this. Something like "X 'ach Y" is okay for "even
though" but not "even if". "XlaH 'ach Y" is maybe okay, but still seems
weak, and what are you supposed to do with "even if you can/could kill me,
I won't/wouldn't join you"?
Actually, I thought of an interesting solution that I don't much like. But
it's interesting.
We have the conjunction/adverbial "vaj", right? (think about it for a bit;
adverbials and sentence-conjunctions are very similar grammatically in
Klingon: they go after one sentence and before another). It means "in that
case, thus, so." It's optional after a -chugh sentence, just to stress the
relationship better: if this happens, then in that case that happens.
We can also use "vaj" without a -chugh sentence. In that case, it still
indicates something of a link, but a weaker one. It's like a weaker form
of putting a -mo' on the first sentence. The "because" link isn't
*claimed*, but it's referenced. X, and thus Y; there's some weak causal
relationship between them.
We also have "'ach", which means "however, but." That is, X 'ach Y means
that X is true, and while you might think that makes Y false, despite that,
Y is true as well. It's sort of like the opposite of "vaj", indicating not
an "and" that would be expected due to an underlying semi-causal link, but
"and" that is unexpected due to being counter to an underlying link.
"'ach" thus works okay (if weakly) for "even though X, Y", but not "even
if".
What if we use 'ach after a -chugh sentence? "if X, then even so, Y" by
that logic. It works for "even if." Interesting, no?
I don't like it either. But it's interesting anyway. And at any rate,
it's still pretty weak.
~mark