tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 04 20:19:07 1999

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RE: the scope of {-be'}





> >From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
> >Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 11:25:58 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
> >
> >If the rules become too flexible, then it becomes quite easy for 
> >a person to follow those rules in constructing a sentence and 
> >have the listener also follow the same rules in constructing the 
> >thought from the sentence, but they came up with a totally 
> >different thought.
> >
> >tugh tlhInganpu' DIpIHlI'. tlhInganpu' DaleghlaH'a'?
> >
> >wej tlhIngan vIlegh.
> 
> I keep thinking that slang Klingon has to have come up with another word
> for "three" that doesn't have this problem.
> 
> ~mark
> 
> 
One way of disambiguating {wej} that comes to my mind is to always use the
plural suffixes when referring to the number 3, and therefore leave off the
plural suffixes when using the "not yet" meaning.

ghobe'. wej tlhIngan vIlegh.
I don't see Klingon(s) yet.

HISlaH. wej tlhInganpu' vIlegh.
I see three Klingons.

In KGT, it seems that usually when there are two words/meanings that could
be mistaken for one another, disambiguation is accomplished by adding
additional clarifying information.
The examples starting on p. 18 ('uS qam & nach qab, etc.) and on p. 60
(meqleH matlh & betleH quv) all use additional, non-ambiguous vocabulary to
make it clear which meaning is intended. 
An extra word ({mI'} perhaps?) or sentence could be added, such as the
Krotmag dialect {mImoH. yIjotchoH} and {mImoH. 'oy' mInNu'wIj} as used on
p.20 of KGT.

It might not be as efficient as having a single slang word for "three" (the
only candidate that pops into my mind is {'egh}, the 3rd musical tone), but
it gets the job done:

wej tlhInganpu' vIlegh. chaH vIleghbej.

wej tlhIngan vIlegh. pagh vIleghbej.

Speaking of slang words for numbers (and vice versa), I do like the
"prisoner" meaning of {jav}. I remember watching Star Trek V on tape once,
and when one of the subtitles included the word 'prisoner', I listened for
the word {qama'} but didn't hear it. However, I did hear something that
sounded like {jab}, which now makes sense as a misheard {jav}.

-taD



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