tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 23 14:03:14 2003

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Re: "Trust, but locate the doors."

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

Quvar wrote:

> >  yIvoq 'ach lojmItmey yISam
> >  Trust, but locate the doors. TKW
>
>okay, it's like this in TKW, but shouldn't this be {lojmItmey *tI*Sam}?

You're right; it should.  I don't have TKW with me, but that's what I have 
in my notes in several places.

Okrand does discuss "errors" with the imperative prefixes in KGT:

     Younger Klingons also tend to use the imperative prefix {yI-} in
   circumstances judged inappropriate by older Klingons. In standard
   Klingon, the prefix {yI-} is attached to a verb to form a command
   given to one person if there is either no object or a singular object,
   as in, for example, {yIjatlh!} ("Speak!") or {jagh yIHIv!} ("Attack
   the enemy!"). Also, it is used to form a command given to more than
   one person if the object is singular: {jagh yIHIv} ("[all of you]
   attack the enemy!") When the object is plural, however, the prefix
   {tI-} is used instead, whether the command is given to one or more
   than one: {jaghpu' tIHIv!} ("Attack the enemies!") Some younger
   Klingons are apt to use {yI-} rather than {tI-} when the object is
   plural, saying, for example, {jaghpu' yIHIv!} for "Attack the enemies!"
   This construction is heard with increasing regularity, though hardly
   a majority of the time. It leads to no misunderstanding as long as
   the object noun (jaghpu' ["enemies"] in the examples above) is marked
   for plural--that is, as long as it has a plural suffix (here, {-pu'})
   or is a word that is inherently plural (such as {cha} ["torpedoes"]).
   Since marking the plural is never required, however, {jagh} could mean
   "enemy" or "enemies." While in standard Klingon there is no ambiguity
   in these kinds of commands--{jagh tIHIv!} must mean "Attack the enemies!"
   because {tI-} is used specifically for plural objects--in the younger
   generation's way of speaking, {jagh yIHIv!} could be either "Attack the
   enemy!" or "Attack the enemies!", since {yI-} is used with both singular
   and plural objects and {jagh} could be either. On the other hand, this
   ambiguous use of {yI-} makes it possible to be vague on purpose. That is,
   in Klingon (and in Federation Standard also, for that matter), there is
   no easy way to say "Attack the enemy or enemies, however many there may
   be." The younger Klingons' {jagh yIHIv}, however, means exactly that.
   Despite this debatable advantage, and despite the slow but ongoing spread
   of the practice among younger speakers, most Klingons still consider the
   ambiguous use of {yI-} an error.  [pp.140-141]

All of which doesn't explain why the incorrect form shows up in an 
established {vIttlhegh}, unless (1) it's one that's especially quoted by 
young people, or (2) {lojmItmey yISam} is understood as "locate the doors, 
however many there may be", or - more likely - (3) "Maltz" made a mistake, 
or (4) it's a publisher's typo.

This is a case of warring proverbs.  Although Klingons believe that one should

   Duj tIvoqtaH
   Always trust your instincts. TKD

it doesn't hurt on occasion to

   yIvoq 'ach yI'ol
   Trust, but verify. TKW



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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