tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat May 13 22:35:43 2000

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Re: KLBC : Double negative



jatlh juDmoS:

> I was trying out a translation and I thought I'd ask the experts...
>
> In order to state that:
> 1. We dress up as and act in the manner of Klingons.
> 2. If you need me to explain for you why we do this, then
> there are subtle nuances about why that you will, in all
> likelihood, *never* fully understand.
>
> In DI'vI' Hol, a common phrasing is:
>
> We are Klingon. If I gotta explain, you wouldn't understand.
>
> In tlhIngan Hol, I come up with :
>
> tlhIngan maH 'e'  DayajmeH vIQIj 'e' DapoQchugh, vaj not DayajlaHchu'.
>
> Then I began to wonder about double negatives. IE, not DayajlaHchu'be'
(You
> can never not fully understand) vs. reH DayajlaHchu'be' (You will always
not
> perfectly understand), (the implication being that, while you may
understand
> parts of it, you will never fully understand). In English, purists
maintain
> that a double negative of this sort makes a positive...in Klingon, does
the
> -be' negation suffix contradict the not (never), thus making reH (always)
> proper? Also, I'm open to suggestions about a better way to say this...

Basically, yes. <not DayajlaHchu'be'> means "You will never not completely
understand", which is kind of an odd thing to say. The only way I can
interpret it is "You will always completely understand". In any case, the
way you first had it - <not DayajlaHchu'> is perfect.

For the rest of it, what you have is good, but I will make two comments.
First, a period after the <tlhIngan maH> would be good. <tlhIngan maH> is a
complete statement in the English, so it can be in the Klingon as well.
<'e'> is a pronoun representing the previous  sentence, and it can still do
that with a period before it.

Second, <... vIQIjnISchugh> would work and would be more concise. <... vIQIj
'e' DapoQchugh> is more precise, and if you're trying to be a little
condescending it might work better, but the shorter version is zippier.


pagh
Beginners' Grammarian



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