Re: -lu' and -be', small aside on Paul Simon

[Steven Boozer <sboozer@midway.uchicago.edu>]

tulwI' (Stephan) wrote:

>>   'u' SepmeyDaq Sovbe'lu'bogh lenglu'meH He ghoSlu'bogh retlhDaq 'oHtaH
>>   It waits...on the edge of the galaxy, beside a passage to unknown 
>> regions of
>>    the universe... (SkyBox DS99)
>
>could anyone help me to parse this sentence?
>
>'u' SepmeyDaq Sovbe'lu'bogh lenglu'meH => in order that one travels to the 
>regions of the universe that one doesn't know

You have it right:

'u' Sepmey Sovbe'lu'bogh = the universe's unknown regions ("regions which 
one doesn't know")

SepmeyDaq lunglu'meH = in order to travel to (the) regions

>He ghoSlu'bogh = a route that one approaches
>retlhDaq 'oHtaH = it "waits" in the area beside
>
>it's not a sentence. what's wrong?

It is a sentence, but you've broken it up in the wrong place:

   ... He ghoSlu'bogh retlhDaq 'oHtaH.
   It is (located) next to ["at the area beside"] the route which proceeds...

The basic sentence is

   He retlhDaq 'oHtaH
   It is (located) next to the route

Note that the actual subject of the verbs {loS} "it waits" and {'oHtaH} "it 
is (located)" is only stated at the very end of the next sentence: {logh 
Hop Hut tengchaH} "space station Deep Space Nine".

Here is the complete text of SkyBox's DEEP SPACE NINE, 1993 SERIES: CARD 99 
(Published in HolQeD 3.2:9):

                                      Qu'
                                 The Mission

    loS...qIb HeHDaq, 'u' SepmeyDaq Sovbe'lu'bogh lenglu'meH He ghoSlu'bogh
    retlhDaq 'oHtaH.  HaDlu'meH, QuSlu'meH, SuDlu'meH lojmIt Da logh Hop Hut
    tengchaH.  vaj loghDaq lenglaHtaH Humanpu'.  veH Qav oH logh'e'.

   "It waits...on the edge of the galaxy, beside a passage to unknown regions
    of the universe, space station Deep Space Nine is the gateway for the
    exploration, intrigue and enterprise that mark the continuation of the
    human adventure into space--the final frontier."  (card 01)

Note that Okrand translated one fairly complex English sentence (provided 
to him by the people at SkyBox) by four shorter Klingon sentences - 
including the famous opening words of the original Star Trek series.

The SkyBox cards are the only examples of what we might call advanced or 
formal, literary Klingon.  Unfortunately, these texts are all rather short 
- only two to four sentences - and far too rare.

>>The only example of {-lu'be'} I can find is:
>>
>>   SuvwI'pu' qan tu'lu'be'
>>   There are no old warriors. TKW
>>
>>Note that {tu'lu'} "there is, there are" is a bit irregular.  The above 
>>TKW example is the only example we have of a negated {tu'lu'}.
>
>why "irregular"?

Because {tu'lu'} "there are, there is" itself is a bit irregular, at east 
in the way it's actually used.  Take, for example, the example {naDev 
tlhInganpu' tu'lu'} "There are Klingons around here."  According to TKD's 
explanation of how the object prefixes work with {-lu'} (p.39), one would 
expect {lutu'lu'}, i.e. {naDev tlhInganpu' lutu'lu'}.

Looking at examples of {tu'lu'} in canon, many people have noticed that 
Klingons apparently drop {lu-} colloquially.  Qov has called this "the 
Klingon version of 'whom'."  In (North American) English, most people use 
the word "who" as the direct object of a verb when formally they should be 
using "whom", much like most Klingons say {tu'lu'} when they should be 
saying {lutu'lu'}.  BTW, this usage was confirmed by Okrand at qep'a' 
loSDIch, who was quite taken with her idea.  He later expanded and 
explained it in some detail in KGT in the section called "Common Errors: 
The Case of {lu-}" (pp. 168-172).



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons