tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Sep 27 14:45:54 2004

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Re: KLBC: (?) interrogative suffix on imperatives?

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

qIno'rIq:
>I wondered, wether the following constructions would work, maybe even in the
>way suggested beneath each example:
>
>   ?*HurDaq targh yItlhap'a'?
>    Bring the targ out, will you? / Will you bring the targ out?

"Will you bring the targ out?" is not grammatically an imperative but a 
future tense question which English speakers use as a sort of 
polite/indirect imperative to avoid being too abrupt and giving 
offense.  This can, of course, be translated literally:

   HurDaq targh bItlhap'a'?

A Klingon would probably regard this as a simple yes/no question and not as 
an instruction to do so now.  Okrand tells us that Klingons don't bother 
with this type of useless indirection:

   When a Federation citizen on Earth says "It's rather chilly in this
   room," he or she may really mean "I am uncomfortably cold and want
   somebody to close the window." The Klingon sentence {pa'vamDaq jIbIr}
   means "I am cold in this room" - nothing more, nothing less. If it is
   desirable to close the window, the Klingon will simply say, {Qorwagh
   yISoQmoH} ("Close the window!").  (KGT 105)

>   ?*HurDaq targh yItlhap qar'a'?
>   Bring the targ out, okay?

{qar'a'} doesn't meant "okay", but "Isn't it? Isn't that so? Right?" and is 
a question as to the accuracy of the statement:

   Tag questions (ending a statement with a question such as "right? or
   isn't that so?") are formed by using the verb {qar} "be accurate"
   plus the suffix {-'a'} "interrogative". This word either follows the
   verb or else comes at the end of the sentence. (TKD 179)

   One good illustration of this involves the tag question--that is, the
   construction in which a statement is followed by a question such as
   "right?" In Klingon, a tag question is formed by adding {qar'a'}
   (literally, "Is it accurate?") either after the verb or at the end
   of the sentence: {qarDaSnganpu' HIvpu' tlhInganpu' qar'a'?} or
   {qarDaSnganpu' HIvpu' qar'a' tlhInganpu'?} ("The Klingons have attacked
   the Cardassians, right?"). The tag question is found in the speech of
   all Klingons to one degree or another, but it is found quite a bit
   more frequently in the speech of younger Klingons. Indeed, some
   members of the older generation have accused teenage Klingons of
   adding {qar'a'} to the end of virtually every sentence they utter.
   (KGT 34-35)

AFAIK {qar'a'} is the only tag question we know of in Klingon.  If this is 
so, it may well have a much broader meaning than we know of and you may 
*possibly* be able to get away with translating it more colloquially as 
"okay?" - particularly WRT the above comment about teenage Klingon 
speech.  We need more information.

>I know that normally {HurDaq targh yItlhap!} is absolutely sufficient, but
>imagine a stressed {SoSoy} and an obnoxious, lazy {puqloDHom}. Would she
>maybe have other possibilities to give the utterance more emphasis (excpting
>extra {'e'} constructions)?  And I don't mean stuff like:
>
>   DaH HurDaq targh DatlhapqangHa'chugh, ghe''orDaq DaghoSbej 'e' bIHeghDI'!
>
>But the point I really out on is: Can the type-9 interrogative {'a'} be used
>on any imperative constructions?

ghunchu'wI':
>>"Do you will take the targ outside?"
>>
>>Dapna'.  Qapbe'.

ghunchu'wI' is right.  Logically it makes no sense.  A sentence is either a 
statement, a question or an order (imperative).  Also, just to be sure that 
we're not letting our anglophone prejudices get in our way, I checked 
canon; no imperative prefix is used with the interrogative suffix {-'a'}.

>Ferociously wild speculations are as welcome as canonic answers. ;)

All that being said, we do have evidence of an encouraging particle:  {Ha'} 
"Let's go! Come on! etc."

   lu', Ha'!
   Okay, let's go! CK

   Ha', DaH matlhutlh!
   Let us go get a drink (now)! PK

   Ha'!
   Come along then. RT

   Ha'!
   [Torg motions boarding party to follow him] ST3

   Ha'!
   [guard grabs Kirk in Okrona's transporter room] ST5

So you *might* be able to say:

   HurDaq targh yItlhap, Ha'!
   Take the targ out now!  Okay?

   Ha'!  HurDaq targh yItlhap!
   Hey, take the targ out now!

One caveat:  {Ha'!} may imply joint movement/action and was, in fact, 
defined on the infamous KLI Klingon Linguistic Studies board (though not by 
Okrand) as:

   "Expression, indicating that one desires to leave along with the
    individual(s) being addressed."

If {Ha'} isn't appropriate, a firm and menacing {DaH} is always effective:

   DaH HurDaq targh yItlhap!
   Take the targ out now!

   HurDaq targh yItlhap.  DaH!
   Take out the targ.  Now!

{tugh} "hurry" would be even better and has been used with an imperative:

   tugh!
   Hurry up! PK

   tugh.
   Be quick about it. RT

   tugh, tugh!
   [Hurry up! (untranslated)] ST6

   tugh, yIyIt!
   [Walk faster! (untranslated)] ST6

So, we've got:

   tugh, HurDaq targh yItlhap!
   Hurry up and take out the targ!

Then, of course, there's always {jay'}:

   HurDaq targh yItlhap jay'!
   Take out the ##$%@ targ!

... or clipping the verb - as if talking to a pet.  E.g.:

   naDev Dochvetlh qem!
   Bring that here! PK

Hmmm... I wonder.  If a Klingon parent starts clipping his or her verbs 
when dealing with the children, does that imply a dangerous level of 
exasperation?

   naDev Dochvetlh qemqu'!
   I really mean it this time! Bring that here! PK

Aha!  After all this I think simply adding the suffix {-qu'} is the best, 
simplest and most Klingon way to translate "will you?":

   HurDaq targh yItlhapqu'!
   Go take out the targ!
   Do take the targ out!
   Take out the targ, will you?!

Using {-qu'} "emphatic" to an action verb is a frequently overlooked 
solution to many translation problems.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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