tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 01 12:53:53 2009

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RE: Doctoral project on the Klingon language

Thorwald Peeters ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

<citaat van="Steven Boozer">
> Thorwald Peeters writes:
>>> QaHlaHlu', QaHlu' (I think... "when one can help, one helps")
>
> lay'tel SIvten:
>>pagh: QaHlaHlu'mo' QaHlu'
>
> Unfortunately {-laH} and {-lu'} are both Type 5 suffixes and can't be used
> together.  There are, of course, the "totally artificial, made-up
> suffixes" {-luH} or {-la'} (described in TKD p.181) but, as Okrand warns:
>
>   No one accepts such constructions as grammatical; their
>   inappropriateness, the way they grate on the Klingon ear,
>   is exactly what gives them elocutionary clout. A visitor
>   may hear one of these odd suffixes occasionally, but, as
>   with other intentionally ungrammatical forms, it is best
>   to avoid using them until one is extremely comfortable
>   with the nuances of Klingon style.          [TKD 181]
>
> When translating phrases with the indefinite subject "one" I almost always
> use {bI-} or {Da-}, both of which are commonly seen in Klingon
> {vIttlheghmey}:
>
>   bI'IQchugh yIvang.
>   If you are sad, act! TKW
>
>   bISutlhnISchugh jaghlI' mInDu' tIbej.
>   If you must negotiate, watch your enemy's eyes. TKW

[...extensive sampling removed...]

> In fact, every one of these could easily have been translated "if one
> [does X]" with no loss in meaning.  And so:

>   bIQaHchugh, yIQaH!
>   bIQaHmo', yIQaH!

>   vay' DaQaHchugh, yIQaH!
>   vay' DaQaHmo', yIQaH!

> When one can help, one helps.  <g>

qatlho'.
jIghojjaj...

> --
> Voragh
> Canon Master of the Klingons

-- 
Thorwald Peeters

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