Re: "be'be'" - double negation

[Alan Anderson <aranders@netusa1.net>]

ja'pu' willm@cstone.net:
>...So far as we know, Klingon
>always adhere's to the logical string of negatives reversing each other
>rather than emphasizing each other.

ja' "Sean M. Burke" <sburke@cpan.org>:
>That inference seems specious.

It's not an inference.  It's an observation.  We actually had this spelled
out for us quite clearly in one of the audiotapes, with an exchange between
a visiting Terran and a guard on Qo'noS:

Do you know anyone here? - naDev vay' DaSov'a'
No. I don't know anyone here - ghobe'.  naDev vay' vISovbe'

Note that it wasn't {naDev pagh vISovbe'}.  Another line says {yIHmey
vIHIjbe'}, not {pagh yIHmey vIHIjbe'}.

The two most obvious points that indicate Klingon doesn't employ "emphatic
multiple negatives" are these:

* TKD says that the verb suffix {-be'} negates what it follows, without
mentioning anything about other words having to agree with the negation.

* TKD was written for nonlinguists who speak English, and if a grammatical
feature isn't pointed out as being unlike colloquial English, it's
reasonable to assume that it is not unlike colloquial English.

-- ghunchu'wI'