tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 04 11:40:29 2001
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Re: Artificial languages (was RE: Enterprise)
Daniella:
> I am currently writing a paper about negation in different
> artificial languages
Jiri:
: And, probably, fair chunks of negation... TKD doesn't even bother to
: specify how words like "never" are used, beyond giving their glosses
: and noting they go at the beginning of the sentence.
{not} "never" in canon:
not vIleghpu'
I've never seen him/her before. TKD
not Soj QaQ Qaw' tlhInganpu'
Klingons never destroy good food. CK
not mev peghmey
Secrets never cease. PK
not Hub'eghrupHa' lo'wI'
the user is never caught at a disadvantage. SP2
not qoHpu''e' neH ghIjlu'
Only fools have no fear. TKW
not toj tlhInganpu'
Klingons never bluff ("Klingons never deceive"). TKW
not lay'Ha' tlhIngan
No Klingon ever breaks his word. TKW
'oy'naQ Dalo'be'chugh not nenghep lop puq
If you don't use the painstik, the child will never
celebrate his Age of Ascension. TKW
Okrand also discussed {not} and its emphatic alternative {paghlogh} in Klingon
for the Galactic Traveller (p.178):
"When {-logh} is attached to {pagh} (zero), the resulting form,
{paghlogh} (zero times) is used as an emphatic alternate for
{not} (never), as in {paghlogh jegh tlhIngan SuvwI'} (a Klingon
warrior surrenders zero times)... compare {not jegh tlhIngan
SuvwI'} (a Klingon warrior never surrenders)."
: One suspects that their usage was not particularly consciously designed.
: (I have perhaps the problem here that my two primary languages differ
: in this usage.)
Jiri, from your name I'm assuming one of them is Czech? If Czech works like
Russian, I can see the confusion. In Klingon and formal English, {not} "never"
negates the verb all by itself:
not vIlegh.
I never saw him.
while Russian requires that the verb be negated separately (i.e. a double
negative):
Ya ego nikogda ne videl.
("I him never not saw [impf.]")
Although colloquial English permits, and in some dialects requires, a double
negative for strong emphasis - e.g. "Don't give me none of your lip, boy!",
"Rules!? We don't need no stupid rules!", "I ain't never going back there
again!" - we've never seen a double negative in Klingon AFAIK.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons