tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Feb 15 15:18:18 2007
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Re: Dilbert Comic in Klingon for February 9, 2007
pm5:
>>> > 'aSoq: {wa' nem malja'vaD ngoQmeywIj vIqonpu'.}
>>> > Asok: "I wrote out my goals for the coming year."
Voragh:
>Using {cha'vatlh ben HIq} and {loSmaH ben jIH} as models for a noun-noun
>phrase, I would suggest a slight change:
>
> wa' nem ngoQmeywIj vIqonpu'.
> I wrote out my goals for the coming year.
> ("I have composed my one-year-from-now goals.")
>
>I realize that this sentence is ambiguous and might also be understood as
>
> One year from now, I will have composed my goals.
> I'll have composed my goals a year from now.
>
>I imagine the difference would be in the phrasing: {wa'-nem-ngoQmeywIj
>[without pause as it were one word] vIqonpu'} vs. {wa'-nem [slight pause]
>ngoQmeywIj vIqonpu'}.
Doq:
> >> DaH wa'nemvaD ngoQmeywIj vIgherta'.
A minor point: {wa' nem} is probably written as two words. All our
examples of a number plus {ben} - which I provided in my previous post in
this thread - are written as two words. {ben}/{nem}, {ret/pIq}, etc. are
separate nouns not number-forming elements like {maH}, {vatlh}, etc.
DloraH:
> > Yes, you CAN put -vaD on nem, but in this sentence, nem is not the
> > recipient of gher. You want a
> > noun-noun construction. "my {one-year-from-now}'s goals", "my
> > goals of one-year-from-now".
I agree with DloraH on this. In fact, he beat me to the punch in replying
to you.
Doq replied:
>"Now, for the benefit of next year, I have accomplished gathering my
>goals." The year does not have to be the recipient in order to be the
>benefactor.
{-vaD} "for, intended for, to"
This suffix indicates that the noun to which it is attached is in
some way the beneficiary of the action, the person or thing for whom
or for which the activity occurs. (TKD 28f.)
So how exactly does the year *benefit* from the action?
Off the top of my head, I don't believe we've ever seen a time word used
with {-vaD}; only people and things. Can you think of one?
For Doq, try adding one more element to the mix:
I wrote out my goals for the coming year FOR MY BOSS.
The only way I can think of doing its (or at least the simplest) is:
pInwI'vaD wa' nem ngoQmeywIj vIgherpu'.
"I have compiled/listed my one-year-from-now goals for-my-boss."
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons