tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 01 09:35:28 2001
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Re: onomatopeia
From: "Sean Healy" <[email protected]>
jIjatlh:
> >jatlh targh rrrrrrrrrrrrrrghghghghghghghghgh!
> >jatlh tlhIngan ha ha ha ha ha ha!
>
> A little clarification on jatlh, please. As I understand it, in the OVS
> structure, O is the person being spoken to, and what is actually being
said
> is placed after the OVS phrase, and usually surrounded with < >. It's
just
> that without anything in the O position, the above sentences jar me, and
> make me want to put the utterance into the O position, but my conscious
mind
> tells me the above sentences are correct as is.
In THE KLINGON DICTIONARY, quotations are briefly explained, and we've had
further clarification from Marc Okrand (which has been republished in
/HolQeD/).
When you've got a "verb of saying," the quotation is not part of the
sentence you find this verb in. Instead, the quotation is stuck before or
after the sentence with the verb of saying. It doesn't matter which side
you put it on.
qaja'pu' HIqaghQo'.
HIqaghQo' qaja'pu'.
"I've told you not to interrupt me."
Notice that these could be rewritten thus:
SoH qaja'pu' jIH HIqaghQo'.
HIqaghQo' SoH qaja'pu' jIH.
I do this merely to point out that the quotation (/HIqaghQo'/) is not the
subject or object of the sentence /SoH qaja'pu' jIH/.
Another example:
'avwI'vaD jatlh qama' jIghung.
jIghung 'avwI'vaD jatlh qama'.
"The prisoner said to the guard, 'I'm hungry.'"
Again, the quotation is NOT the object of the verb of saying (/jatlh/). In
this sentence, /jatlh/ has no object.
More recently, we've learned that the only two real verbs of saying are
/jatlh/ and /ja'/. So, while in English you can say something like:
The guard shouted "Go away!"
In Klingon you'd have to say something like:
jach 'avwI'; jatlh naDevvo' yIghoS!
Likewise for questions:
qama' ghel 'avwI'; jatlh nuqDaq 'oH lotlh waw''e'?
The guard asked the prisoner, "Where is the rebel base?"
The object of /ja'/ would seem to be the person or thing spoken to. The
object of /jatlh/ is the language spoken or a noun (or noun phrase)
indicating the speech or utterance (e.g., /SoQ/).
As for quoting things with <>, that's a convention some people use to
clarify their writing. It's handy when you've got something more complex
than the simple sentences I've used above. It is NOT any kind of "official"
policy.
In actual conversation, an English speaker might want to change the tone of
his voice, or pause, to indicate a quotation.
'avwI'vaD jatlh qama' . . . jIghung.
Notice also that Klingon uses "direct quotations" only. You can't exactly
translate "The prisoner told the guard that he is hungry." In Klingon, you
say "The prisoner told the guard, 'I am hungry.'"
SuStel
Stardate 1836.1