tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue May 22 18:09:48 2001
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Re: Klingon WOTD: qay'be' (excl)
>>Klingon word: qay'be'
>>Part of Speech: exclamation
>>Definition: No problem!
ja' Voragh:
>I don't have TKD with me. Is it in the appended List of Useful Expressions?
Yes, it is.
>I have it glossed as "It's not a problem" as well as "No problem!" in my
>notes.
"No problem!" might be considered an exclamation in English, but my point
is that {qay'be'} is a straightforward verb with a straightforward suffix
in Klingon.
>Why can't a complete, grammatical thought (i.e. verb plus prefix) be an
>exclamation -- particularly if it is frequently by itself, like {Do'Ha'} or
>{buy' ngop!}? Where does Okrand say that *only* nouns, expletives and
>adverbials can be used as exclamations in Klingon?
TKD 5.4. Adverbials (p.57): "Adverbials sometimes occur alone, functioning
more or less as exclamations (section 5.5)."
TKD 5.5. Exclamations (p.57): "These expressions stand as sentences in
their own right."
TKD 7.1. Commands (p.73): "When the object noun is critical, and what is to
be done with that noun is obvious (or should be obvious) to the listener,
that noun itself may serve as the command."
Exclamations are expressions without verbs which act as complete sentences.
Adverbials may be used in an exclamatory sense. Nouns as commands are used
when circumstances permit the intended action, and thus the verb, to be
understood without being spoken. Verbs are *already* fully functional
sentences, and I'm convinced they don't need any special "exclamation" or
"command" status in order to be used as a sentence.
-- ghunchu'wI' 'utlh