tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 24 14:30:34 2009

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Re: The topic marker -'e'

Tracy Canfield ([email protected])



Whether or not you were, I think it's true: I think I've been
respectful, in my first post I said I hoped my project was something I
could give back to the community, and that has earned me all kinds of
attacks.

Nobody is making me get the Klingon grammar right in my machine
translation project - it's not like anyone in the linguistics
department will notice if I handwave past some point or make something
up because it's easier than checking, they don't know any Klingon -
but I care about getting it right, and I want my work to reflect the
grammar as accurately as possible.  I came to this list in the hopes
of finding other people that cared who could fill in the gaps in what
I knew.

And those people are here, but for every time I've gotten a helpful
answer, I've had someone tear into me for no particular reason.

So when other linguists hear I'm doing Klingon and ask me about it -
they know I'm not an expert, but they know I have a conlang background
- I try to give them all the facts, but yeah, I tell them how the KLI
mailing list treats me.  Jaws drop.  And I don't have to give details,
I can just send them a link to the archives where the whole world can
see it.

2009/11/24 Terrence Donnelly <[email protected]>:
> I wasn't referring to you.
>
> -- ter'eS
>
> --- On Tue, 11/24/09, Tracy Canfield <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> From: Tracy Canfield <[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: The topic marker -'e'
>> To: [email protected]
>> Date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 3:57 PM
>> You know, I feel like I did my
>> homework before I came onto this list,
>> was careful to establish that I'd read the book and the FAQ
>> and had a
>> genuine reason to ask what I did, and I was greeted with a
>> torrent of
>> abuse directed at linguistics in general, my linguistic
>> specialty in
>> particular, and me personally.  If y'all aren't
>> getting along with the
>> linguists who come by, maybe that has something to do with
>> it.
>>
>> 2009/11/24 Terrence Donnelly <[email protected]>:
>>
>> > Maybe if the linguists didn't usually act so arrogant,
>> we wouldn't. Linguists in general should probably take a
>> look at Arika Okrent and her book, for an example of how a
>> linguist can actually make her presence in Klindom a
>> mutually-enjoyable event.
>> >
>> > -- ter'eS
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>






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