tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 10 13:17:09 2000
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Re: yIH? vIghro'?
pIl'o':
: question: how would you say, "You all talk about food."?
: *SojmeH boja'chuq* cannot be correct.
Indeed not, for two reasons: 1) You can't put a verb suffix {-meH} on a noun
{Soj}, and 2) {ja'chuq} "discuss, confer" is a tricky verb whose usage is not
entirely clear, as you yourself realized. You will no doubt hear several
opinions on how it works; here's mine.
{ja'chuq} has been used in canon three times:
ja'chuqmeH rojHom neH jaghla'.
The enemy commander wishes a truce (in order) to confer. TKD
maja'chuqjaj?
Can we talk? [lit. "May we talk?"] PK
'uQ wISoppu'DI' maja'chuq.
We will talk after dinner. PK
(lit. "After we have eaten supper, we will confer.")
Okrand has written about {ja'chuq} that,
"The verb is made up of {ja'} 'tell', {-chuq} 'each other';
thus, confer is 'tell each other'." (TKD p65)
As I understand all this: Since the object of {ja'} "tell" is "each other" - in
fact, the object of {ja'} in canon is always the person being told - it appears
we can't add another object referring to the topic of discussion. (Verbs with
the Type 1 suffixes {-'egh} and {-chuq} do not take additional objects in
Klingon.) It seems you use {ja'chuq} when you want to refer to the act of
discussion itself - like "confer" in English in fact - not the topic being
discussed. For that we generally use {qel} "take into account, consider" here
on the mailing list.
So you could say:
Suja'chuqtaHvIs Soj boqel.
You all talk about food.
("While you all are conferring, you all consider food.")
Or
Suja'chuq; Soj boqel.
("You all are conferring; you all consider food.")
Or even just {Soj boqel} for short, relying on context. Note that this usage
may not be strictly kosher, but it does get the meaning across.
: Sojmo'?
{Sojmo' Suja'chuq} "Because of the food, you all are conferring" - the food is
the reason for the discussion. This might work.
It's probably best to think of {ja'chuq} as meaning "have a discussion". We
really need more information from Maltz to pin it down.
Hmm... Another question which hasn't gotten a lot of consideration: Based on
the canon, {ja'chuq} may only refer to vocal discussions - i.e. oral speech -
and not written correspondence at all, such as an exchange of letters as on a
mailing list.
(BTW, there was a recent thread on {ja'} vs. {jatlh} you may want to look up in
the archives which may be helpful.)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons