tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Nov 11 05:10:32 2007

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Re: vIghro'vetlh

Agnieszka Solska ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']



mI'qey:

>"vay' Dalajqang pagh Dalajqangbe' 'e' vIloy 'e'
>vInIDDI', Qatlhqu' 'e' vItu'."

Doq:

>[...] You have three {'e'} conjunctions, [...]

It is easy to forget that {'e'} (and {net}) are not conjuctions 
corresponding to the English conjunction "that" but pronouns. As stated in 
TKD 6.2.5 (p. 65):

   Klingon has two special pronouns, {'e'} and {net,}
   which refer to the previous sentence as a whole.

mI'qey:

>[...] I don't think the complexity of my Klingon sentence [...] [...] But 
>even with the added complexity, my sentence was [...]

What makes your sentence grammatically non-simple is not the accumulation of 
constructions with 'e' but the use of the coordinating conjunction {pagh} 
and the presence of type 9 verb suffix {-DI'}. According to TKD 6.2.5 (pp. 
65-66), piling up 'e' constructions does not create one complex sentence but 
a series of sentences, each containing a pronoun {'e'} referring to the 
preceding sentence. Discussing the example:

    {qama'pu' DIHoH 'e' luSov}
    <They know (that) we kill prisoners.>

Okrand says (p. 66):

    This sentence is actually two:
    (1) {qama'pu' DIHoH} <We kill prisoners>
        ({qama'pu'} <prisoners,> {DIHoH} we <kill them>);
    (2) {'e' luSov} <They know that>
        ({'e'} <that,> {luSov} <they know it>).

In section 6.2.5 of the TKD more two-sentence constructions are presented or 
mentioned, namely:

- constructions involving {neH}:

    {jIQong vIneH} <I want to sleep.>
    ({jIQong} <I sleep,> {vIneH} <I want it>)

- constructions involving verbs of saying:

     {qaja'pu' HIqaghQo'}
     or {HIqaghQo' qaja'pu'}
     <I told you not to interrupt me.>

     This is literally <I told you, "Don't interrupt me!">
     or <"Don't interrupt me" I told you>
    ({qaja'pu'} <I told you,> {HIqaghQo'} <don't interrupt me!>).

- constructions with {rIntaH}:

    {luHoH rIntaH}
    Based on what we read on p. 41 this could be glossed as
    <They have killed him/her>, <It continues to be finished.>

With the exception of the last example, each of these constructions is 
typically rendered as a single complex English sentence.

Interestingly, in "Power Klingon" we find an line where the meaning handled 
by a single *simple* sentence in English is conveyed by two Klingon 
sentences:

    {'uSDaj chop. chev.}
    "Bite his leg off!"

whose standard Klingon version would be:

    {'uSDaj yIchop. yIchev.}
     Literally, <Bite his leg! Separate it!>

'ISqu'

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