tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 22 09:55:17 2003
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Re: KLBC: tlhingan Hol vIghojmeH Sajatlh
Jens Schicke:
> >lIjatlh chu'wI' }}:-)
> >Hi here is a new one speaking :)
Quvar:
>Yes, grammatically correct. But if I remember correctly, the object of
>{jatlh} can only be a language: {tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?} I might be
>wrong, though. Please someone enlighten me!
>
>It *definitely* cannot be the thing being said:
> {bIghoj jIjatlh} "I say, 'you learn' "
>
>About people, I found no canon example.
>We do have some in TKD with {ja'} "tell, report":
> {qaja'pu'} "I told you"
Okrand explained {jatlh} on startrek.klingon (June 1997):
"The object of {jatlh} 'speak' is that which is spoken. Thus, it's OK to
say 'speak a language', for example {tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh} 'you speak
Klingon'. But it's also OK to say 'speak an address', 'speak a lecture',
for example {SoQ Dajatlh} 'you speak an address' or, more colloquially,
'you deliver an address' or 'you make a speech'. To say simply {jatlh}
'he/she speaks' implies 'he/she speaks it', where 'it' is a language or
a lecture or whatever. The indirect object of {jatlh}, when expressed,
is the hearer/listener. Thus qama'pu'vaD tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh} 'you
speak Klingon to the prisoners', {qama'pu'vaD SoQ Dajatlh} 'you make a
speech to the prisoners'. .... Since the object of {jatlh} is that which
is spoken, and since 'you' or 'I' or we cannot be spoken (and therefore
cannot be the object of the verb), if the verb is used with a pronominal
prefix indicating a first- or second-person object, that first or second
person is the indirect object. Which is a not very elegant way of saying
that {qajatlh} means 'I speak to you' or, more literally, perhaps 'I
speak it to you', where it is a language or a speech or whatever:
qajatlh I speak to you
Sajatlh I speak to you [plural]
chojatlh you speak to me
tlhIngan Hol qajatlh I speak Klingon to you
There's another wrinkle to this. The verb {jatlh} can also be used when
giving direct quotations:
tlhIngan jIH jatlh he/she says, 'I am a Klingon'
jatlh tlhIngan jIH he/she says, 'I am a Klingon'.
(With verbs of saying, such as {jatlh}, the phrase that is being said or
cited may come before or after the verb.) If the speaker is first or second
person, the pronominal prefix indicating 'no object' is used:
tlhIngan jIH jIjatlh I say, 'I am a Klingon'
tlhIngan jIH bIjatlh you say, 'I am a Klingon'.
There are instances where the pronominal prefix marks a big distinction in
meaning:
tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh you speak Klingon
tlhIngan Hol bIjatlh you say, 'Klingon language'
[that is 'you say the phrase "Klingon language" ']."
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons