tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 20 08:57:57 2003

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Re: Re: SIv

> >From: "Sangqar (Sean Healy)" <[email protected]>
> >Subject: Re: SIv
> >       tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' vISIv "I wonder if you speak Klingon"
> >       (vISIv "I wonder it")
>
> >The fourth example is weird from an English translation point of view,
>but
> >it falls right in line in Klingon.
> >In English, this means something like "I'm surprised that you
> >speak Klingon" or "I don't understand how it can be that you speak
> >Klingon," but this is not what the Klingon sentence means.  The Klingon
> >sentence means something more like "I am curious about whether you
>speak
> >Klingon."  The clumsiness here is the English, not the Klingon.
>
>I always thought that the "I wonder if" construction in english is
>perfectly correct. Or did I misunderstand something?
>(I know that this construction would make no sense in german, if
>literally translated, but for english, it seems alright to me.)
>Actually, to me the english sentence makes more sense than the klingon
>one. Shouldn t it mean that the speaker is surprised that the other one
>can klingon?

The 'wonder if' construction is perfectly fine (speaking as a 21st-century 
American), although an extreme purist might tell you that 'wonder whether' 
is the correct way to say it.

It seems as though (despite its gloss) {SIv} really means something like 
'wonder whether'.  Compare:

tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' vIHon.
You speak Klingon.  I doubt that.  (I doubt you do.)
tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' vISIv.
You speak Klingon.  I wonder about that.  (I wonder whether you do.)

Sangqar

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