tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 02 15:45:00 2009

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Re: Cogito ergo sum (was RE: Numbers with pronouns)

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']



Christopher Doty wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 15:08, David Trimboli <[email protected]> wrote:
>> These aren't complete sentences; they're not-yet-used examples.
>>
>> I'm home now, so I can find a good one in KGT:
>>
>>    Hoch nuH qel ("consider every weapon")
>>
>>    This is an idiom cloaked in the terminology of the military that has
>>    a wider application. It is used to mean "Consider every possibility"
>>    or "Consider every option," with the word {nuH} ("weapon") standing
>>    metaphorically for "possibility." ({Hoch} means "all, every" and
>>    {qel} is "consider, take into account.") It is not a set phrase, so
>>    it is heard in various forms, such as a command ({Hoch nuH
>>    yIqel!}—literally, "Consider every weapon!" but meaning "Consider
>>    every possibility!"), question ({Hoch nuH Daqel'a'?} ["Did you
>>    consider every weapon?"]), or statement ({Hoch nuH wIqelpu'} ["We've
>>    considered every weapon"]), and it can be negated ({Hoch nuH qelbe'}
>>    ["He/she does not consider every weapon"]). The regular word for
>>    "possibility" is {DuH}, and, grammatically, there is no reason it
>>    could not occur instead of {nuH} in these sentences ({Hoch DuH yIqel}
>>    ["Consider every possibility!"] is a perfectly well formed sentence),
>>    but this is simply not the normal way to express the advice. The use
>>    of {nuH} "weapon" for {DuH} ("possibility") may have been influenced
>>    by the Krotmag dialect pronunciation of {DuH} as something very close
>>    to {nuH}...
>>
>> You can't use these phrases in sentences, but it shows how Okrand (and
>> maybe Klingons) think of these phrases without regard to person or mood.
> 
> This looks very much like clipped Klingon to me, with the imperative
> prefix left off, similar to what we are talking about below,
> perhaps...

Clipped? No, I don't think so. If it were clipped it would still 
"resolve" to just one meaning. The examples like this are meant to be 
changed into any allowed form, not used as they are.

Instead of infinitive, this could be called a "stem form." The verbs are 
only stems, not inflected, just like the word-list entries in TKD. I 
don't know if there is a linguistic term for phrases and sentences in 
this form.

-- 
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush







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