tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 21 17:30:10 2002
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Re: Translating vs. Thinking
From: <[email protected]>
> > > mujatlh wa' jupwI': <<tlhIngan Hol vIHaD vIneH, 'ach poH vIghajbe'.>>
>
> Unless you consider yourself to be a language, a speech, an address or
some
> other unit of text or speech, that should be {muja' wa' jupwI'}. You could
be
> claiming to use the prefix shortcut to the indirect object, but the simple
> truth is, {ja'} is what you do to a person and {jatlh} is what you do to a
> language or a unit of speech.
Regarding /ja'/, we don't know for a fact that the object must be the person
spoken to. Every instance of /ja'/ in canon is either inconclusive or can
be explained away with the prefix trick. Okrand has never confirmed the
exact object of /ja'/, at least not in any published canon I can find.
I tend to believe that the thing told can also be a valid object of /ja'/.
The "report" part of its definition suggests to me the phrase /Dotlh yIja'/
"Report status!" which is used by Kruge on Start Trek III (in English; the
Klingon is my own).
Also, this phrase is perfectly valid and sensible using /jatlh/. Okrand
himself used the following phrases in a message ("Some quick questions...")
to the MSN boards on June 30, 1997:
qajatlh "I speak to you"
Sajatlh "I speak to you [plural]"
chojatlh "you speak to me"
tlhIngan Hol qajatlh "I speak Klingon to you"
(tlhIngan Hol "Klingon language," qajatlh "I speak it to you")
All of these sentences can be explained by the prefix trick, which was also
first introduced in that post.
SuStel
Stardate 2472.1