tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 12 11:27:08 2002
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Re: Vaj'Hom
From: "Sangqar (Sean Healy)" <[email protected]>
> Okrand's wording in TKD combined with his explanations of
> {bo'DaghHom/bo'Dagh'a' lo'} in KGT, which offer no reason for assuming
that
> the difference is anything *but* size, indicate that the difference *can*
be
> just size.
I agree with you. I'm sure the difference CAN be just size, but it depends
on the particular noun in question. There is no way, for example, that
/loDHom/ can be interpreted as "small man." A /loDHom/ is not a man, it's a
boy.
Now, there's an alternative idea. What if Klingons see /bo'DaghHom/,
/bo'Dagh/, and /bo'Dagh'a'/ as different things, the way we see "town" and
"city" as different things? In some circles, the idea of using a serving
spoon to eat your ice-cream would be unthinkable, yet one is just a bigger
version of another, isn't it? Maybe there really is more than just a size
difference between these words.
Without native Klingons to tell us, we're just guessing.
> But that's just my interpretation. Knowing how the list interprets them,
> I'm not going to use them for a simple difference in size.
> As Will recently pointed out, current usage is a more reliable guide than
> arbitrary rules, so I'll stick with accepted list usage.
No no no!!! List usage is NOT an appropriate guide for understanding
Klingon! The way Klingons use the language is to be our guide, not how WE
use it. An anthropologist worth his salt wouldn't base his research on a
culture on how his own culture interprets it! To try to piece together how
Klingon works, we must analyze Okrandian canon, because as the fiction goes,
all of it came from Klingon informants.
SuStel
Stardate 2446.8