tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jun 03 08:15:37 2004

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RE: mu' lo' QaQ 'oSbogh mu'tlheghmey

d'Armond Speers, Ph.D. ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

> I wasn't trying to give an example of every possible use of any of those
> words.  If {jeS} is used by an advanced speaker, then that usage could be
> included.  Whether a usage is included would be determined by the speaking
community.
> After all, does any good speaker avoid using a word simply because it has
> never been used in canon?  I doubt it.  We *do* have a gloss for all of
the
> words, after all.  The authority for how a word is used would be the
advanced
> speakers.  Almost all of accepted Klingon usage is non-canon.  That body
of usage
> should be available to beginners as well.  It should be marked as
non-canon,
> but being non-canon does not mean unacceptable.

I understand the hesitation.  Even simple words can have multiple meanings,
and without knowing which one we could use the word in the wrong way.  A
good example of this is {num} "promote."  I would have used it in the sense
of "my boss promotes me," {munum pInwI'}, or "I was promoted" {vInumlu'},
and so on.  But when the first Friends of Maltz were announced, the word
{num} was used on the FoM certificate in the sense of "promote the
language."  Two completely different meanings, and there's no reason to
think that this one Klingon word will map to both of those meanings, just
because one English word does.

Maybe the place to start is with words with known meanings/usages, a
collocation of words as used in canon.  Then move on to words where we think
their meanings are non-controversial, and open them up for discussion.  I
bet we'll find disagreement there, but in so doing we'll be furthering our
collective grasp on the lexicon, and identifying differences of opinion that
perhaps we didn't know existed before.

Where I would draw the line, however, is in setting the meanings of words
that are ambiguous, like {num} before it was used on the certificate.

> lay'tel SIvten

--Holtej

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