tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 16 09:00:39 1999
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Re: Klingon WOTD: baj (v)
>From: Carleton Copeland <[email protected]>
>Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:55:13 +-300
>Encoding: 20 TEXT
>
>> Canon:
>> TWK p. 125
>> yInlu'taH 'e' bajnISlu'
>> Survival must be earned.
>
>
>motlhbe' mu'tlheghvam pab 'e' vIparHa'qu' 'ach cha'logh jImIS:
>
>1) qen muja' charghwI': "the use of {-lu'} on the second verb of a
>Sentence-As-Object construction is HIGHLY controversial. The pronoun {net}
>is preferred here." qar'a'?
"HIGHLY controversial" is a little strong for me. I'd certainly say that
{net} is preferable, mainly because it's there and that's the only thing it
means. If you're going to use {'e' Xlu'}, then {net} shouldn't be in the
language at all, and we know it is.
That said, the quoted phrase IS canon. So it must be the case that {'e'
Xlu'} does occur in Klingon, though perhaps not so commonly as {net}. Note
also that this is from TKW, a collection of proverbs. Proverbs in any
language often reflect specialized poetic/archaic grammar and are frozen in
their forms. Maybe this is an example of this (there are clearer ones in
TKW, like {*torvIS} instead of {tortaHvIS}, and even stronger ones).
>2) *yIntaHghach* I could deal with, but *yInlu'taH*?! Would charghwI' or
>any of the other sensei-pu' do a *pab poj* on this one?
Seems pretty reasonable to me, and more verb-centric than {yIntaHghach} (or
the simpler {yIn}, which is also a noun). Stop trying to translate the
English, translate the Klingon:
yInlu'taH : something continues to live
'e' bajnISlu' : something must earn that (previous sentence)
That is, something-indefinite must EARN the achievment of the sentence
(something-indefinite lives). There has to be earning for there to be
living, but we're not concerned with precisely who's doing the living or
the earning. Just that the one requires the other. (And don't go saying
this proves that the -lu' has to refer to the "same" indefinite subject in
both clauses, that's asking for confusion. There IS NO particular subject
in either, let alone the same one.)
~mark