tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 04 17:02:12 2001

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Re: QQ23



ghaHbe'wI' wrote:
>
> muHonmoH mu'tlhegh veb: <<juHDaq paw>>.
> naDev lugh'a' <<-Daq>> mojaqvetlh.  vISovbe'.
>  
> nuq ja' Okrand:
> HQ v7n4p9: "{Duj vIpaw} means "I arrive at the ship"; {DujDaq jIpaw} means 
> "I arrive on the ship", that is, I arrive via the ship or something like 
> that. And it would probably be okay to say {DujDaq vIpaw} for "I arrive at 
> the ship".  But {Duj jIpaw} strikes me as odd."


That being said, we do have Okrand saying in "Power Klingon":

  Qo'noSDaq paw cha' DIvI' beq.
  Two Federation crewmen arrive on Kronos. 

Translating this hyper-literally as "Two Federation crewmen arrive *via*
Kronos" - i.e. using the planet Kronos as some sort of vehicle - in accordance
with Okrand's above-stated rule would obviously be wrong.  This may well be a
stylistic or colloquial variation of the more grammatical (stylistically
elevated?) form:

  Qo'noS lupaw cha' DIvI' beq.

when {paw} and other verbs of motion are used with geographical names or other
place nouns, like {juH} "home, house".  

For a descriptive linguist - like Okrand - grammatical rules are not
absolutes.  They describe how the majority of Klingons speak, but there is
always some variation WRT the speaker's personal style, education, level of
speech (formal, informal, slang, etc.) or place of origin.



-- 
Voragh                       
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons


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