tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 26 15:38:05 2004
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: That's not canon
- From: "QeS lagh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: That's not canon
- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:30:42 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' voragh:
> In a way everyone was correct with this one. It rained a few times
> during the weekend, so we were put into the situation to discuss it.
> {SIS. SISqu'. SIStaH. SISchoH.} All correct. {SISlu'}, although
> grammatically correct, he didn't particularly like... You can also
> give it an object and say things like the clouds rained down cats
> and dogs... or something like that; you get the idea. But when Marc
> and I went outside and drops of water were falling on us, he looked
> up and simply said '{SIS}'.
This is the joy of null prefixes in Klingon, I have noticed. I don't know
whether Dr Okrand planned it this way, but there's no way to tell whether
the verb {SIS} has a subject agreement. It could be either {zero prefix-SIS}
(3rd person sg/pl-to rain) or just {SIS} (to rain).
If {SISlu'} is not great, maybe there's no explicit subject on {SIS}, like
in English: "It's clear to me that..." What is "It"? If you ask someone what
"It" means in "It's clear to me that...", they'll probably stand there with
a confused look for a while, then repeat their sentence.
So full marks to Dr Okrand for third-person null prefixes.
QeS lagh
_________________________________________________________________
Personalise your phone with chart ringtones and polyphonics. Go to
http://ringtones.com.au/ninemsn/control?page=/ninemsn/main.jsp