tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Oct 25 21:48:53 2001

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RE: Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?

This is too much to comment on except to say majQa' and suggest it probably
should have been a HolQeD article. I agree with you. I never did like
{yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'} and only forgive it as poetry, which can
always throw grammar to the tlhonmey.

charghwI'

> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Trimboli [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 7:01 PM
> To: tlhIngan-Hol Mailing List
> Subject: Conjunction Junction, What's Your Function?
>
>
> Though not stated in THE KLINGON DICTIONARY, the so-called "sentence
> conjunctions" can also join verbs.  This should not surprise us, as the
> difference between a verb and a sentence in Klingon is slight.
> /vISuvchoH/
> is a sentence: "I start to fight him."  It is also a verb.  These
> subordinate and relative verbs can take their adverbials and header nouns,
> something which TKD only talks about for sentences (yet I don't
> hear anybody
> complaining about).
>
> There is also much direct evidence that the sentence conjunctions can also
> join verbs
> that are NOT the main verbs of joined sentences.
>
> SuvmeH 'ej charghmeH bogh tlhInganpu'.
> "Klingons are born to fight and to conquer."  (THE KLINGON WAY 5)
> The two /-meH/ verbs here are not complete sentences by
> themselves, yet are
> joined by the sentence conjunction /'ej/.
>
> quv Hutlh HoHbogh tlhIngan 'ach qabDaj 'angbe'bogh.
> "The Klingon who kills without showing his face has no honor."  (TKW 59)
> The meaning of /'ach/ is almost the same as /'ej/.  The only difference is
> that it implies a change of direction of the concept.  Logically, it is an
> /'ej/.  This sentence shows two /-bogh/ verbs (not complete sentences)
> joined by /'ach/.
>
> Qu' buSHa'chugh SuvwI', batlhHa' vangchugh, qoj matlhHa'chugh, pagh ghaH
> SuvwI''e'.
> "If a warrior ignores duty, acts dishonorably, or is disloyal, he is
> nothing."  (TKW 139)
> This is the sentence where we learned how to join more than two
> sentences--that is, verbs--into one.  It works just like English.
> Suspiciously so.  But there you have it.  These are three /-chugh/
> subordinate clause verbs joined by /qoj/.
>
> SuDbogh Dargh 'ej wovbogh
> "The tea that is /SuD/ and light."  (KLINGON FOR THE GALACTIC TRAVELER 82)
> This is but a noun phrase.  Notice how Okrand also uses /SuD
> Dargh 'ej wov/
> as a verbal parallel, strongly suggesting that there is no difference in
> using /'ej/ between two verbs used as sentences and between two verbs used
> as relative clauses.
>
> romuluS Sambogh 'ej HoHbogh nejwI'
> "Romulan probe that seeks and kills"  (STAR TREK KLINGON Language Lab)
> This is the longer version of the /HoHwI'/, the "Romulan Hunter-Killer."
> This noun phrase is the one that violates the "subject on the first verb,
> elided on the second" possibility in TKD (pp. 61-62).  Still, the relative
> clauses are joined by /'ej/, and are relevant to this list.
>
> juHqo' Qo'noSvo' loghDaq lengtaHvIS tlhInganpu' 'ej qo'mey Sar
> charghtaHvIS
> chaH . . . .
> "During the aggressive expansion of the Klingon people from their
> homeworld
> of Kronos into space . . . ."  (SkyBox SP1, HolQeD Vol. 3, No. 4, p. 10)
> I've only included part of this sentence, because it's one of the longest
> and scariest Okrand has ever written.  This is merely the two subordinate
> clauses together with /'ej/.
>
> ngoch luchermeH 'ej wo' San luwuqmeH pa' ghom tlhIngan yejquv DevwI'pu'.
> "The leaders of the Klingon High meet [there] to determine policy
> and decide
> upon the fate of the Empire."  (SkyBox S25, HolQeD Vol. 5, No. 3, p. 15)
> Here are two purpose clauses joined by /'ej/.  'Nuff said.
>
> HeghDI' tlhIngan SuvwI' pagh tlhIngan SuvwI' HoHlu'DI' Heghtay lulop latlh
> tlhInganpu'.
> "When a Klingon warrior dies or is killed, other Klingons may
> [celebrate the
> Klingon death ritual].  (SkyBox S31, HolQeD Vol. 6, No. 2, p. 9)
> Here we have two subordinate clauses, whose verbs are /HeghDI'/ and
> /HoHlu'DI'/, and which are joined by the conjunction /pagh/.
> This is a case
> where the subjects or objects do not match, and so are restated.  However,
> each subordinate clause is just that: subordinate to the verb /lulop/.
>
> I don't think there are any in CONVERSATIONAL KLINGON or POWER
> KLINGON, but
> that's eight already.  I submit that it is well-established that any verbs
> can be joined by sentence conjunctions, even if they're not complete
> sentences by themselves.
>
> The point of all this: I stand by my statement that /yoHbogh SuvwI' 'ej
> matlhbogh Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw/ is a grammatically correct
> sentence, and if
> one were considering grammar only, would be preferable to the actual
> /yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI'/, whose grammaticality is shaky at
> best.  It is
> also the preferred way to write this sort of thing among
> Klingons, so far as
> we now know.
>
> SuStel
> Stardate 1798.7
>
> --
> Explore the world as it might have been.  Join the Parallel Earths sim!
> http://communities.msn.com/ParallelEarths
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