tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri May 18 16:34:15 2001

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Re: Holtejpu' maH



>From: "Library" <[email protected]>
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: [email protected]
>Subject: Holtejpu' maH
>Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 15:09:46 -0700
>
>HISlaH. vItIvqu'. vIbom vIneH.

yIruch :)

>
>The third and fourth lines don't quite scan for me, though.  The
>stress isn't the same as the rest, and <mu' wISovnISbogh
>wISovbe'> seems to lack a contextual connection.  Is there an
>editing or transcription error there?

Well, the original third line had <rut> at the beginning--"Sometimes we 
don't know a word that we need to know." The third and fourth lines were 
intended to describe some problems Holtejpu' have with the language; this 
line was supposed to describe the lack of some vocabulary. I dropped the 
<rut> so each line would have eight syllables, and hoped the meaning would 
still get across. Although, I should have changed the wI- prefixes to DI- 
too--"We don't know words that we need to know." Maybe I could use this 
instead as a third line:

rut mu' DIneHbogh DISovbe'

Now it's "Sometimes we don't know words that we want." It has eight 
syllables, and it makes sense. Plus, it keeps the original structure of the 
line.

>trying to work something out ...
>
>mu' lughHa'  wIcherghqangbe'
>'ach rut numISqu'laH pab De'

Well, <mIS> means "be confused," not "confuse." You'd need a -moH in there. 
And the new third line only has seven syllables.

As for the scanning, perhaps they could just sing the line with lots of 
spondees (when two consecutive syllables are accented.) It'll make the 
beat--iambic tetrameter, I think--a bit irregular, but a lot of the lines 
are like that.

'ej DaparHa'mo' jIQuch. :)
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