tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 05 16:16:18 2001
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Re: proverb
Since this isn't marked KLBC, I'm going to respond to grammar. That
should be interesting.
>DuH lajQo'bogh Suvwl ghaHbe Suvwl''e'
I'm assuming you meant to say, "A warrior who won't accept possibilities
is no warrior at all."
Probably the most obvious problem is that {Suvwl} (ends with an ell) is
not a valid Klingon word. I'm sure you meant {SuvwI'} (ends with an eye
plus glottal stop). You also seem to have dropped a couple necessary
glottal stops in this sentence. The third and fourth words should be
{SuvwI'} and {ghaHbe'}, respectively; you forgot the glottal stops on
both. Remember that in Klingon, a glottal stop is just as important as
any other consonant.
Also, I would recommend marking the head noun in the {-bogh} clause. (I
don't think it's required, but it's usually a good idea.) For example,
right now your sentence could be misinterpreted as something like "A
warrior is not a possibility that a warrior won't accept." Though it is
doubtful that anyone would be confused by this particular sentence
(especially considering that {ghaH} acts as the verb), marking head
nouns is not a bad practice to get into. In this case, your {-bogh}
clause would become {DuH lajQo'bogh SuvwI'}.
Finally, a stylistic consideration, which others may disagree with. I
might switch the order of subject and object around so that the sentence
becomes:
SuvwI''e' ghaHbe' DuH lajQo'bogh SuvwI''e'.
Considering the Klingon OVS order, this would seem to match the English
better. OTOH, that should not be our first concern, and it can be
argued that in a sentence where the verb is "to be," subject and object
do not matter. (This is the case in, for example, German, where both
the "subject" and "object" of a sentence with "to be" are nominative.)
You will have to decide for yourself which is better. (Perhaps a
grammarian could give his advice.)
BTW, you may even want to throw some noun suffixes in the proverb for
effect. For example, I might say,
SuvwI'na''e' ghaHbe' DuH lajQo'bogh SuvwI'qoq'e'.
Keep up the good work!
DujHoD
[email protected]