tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 12 13:33:30 2010
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RE: Hypothetical (reconstructed) vocabulary?
Voragh:
>>>> Over the weekend I began compiling a list of hypothetical
>>>> (reconstructed) vocabulary, chiefly from compound nouns.
Michael Everson:
>>> Not that I am in a position to propose anything, but I've always
>>> though that "lIl" would be an excellent word for "difficult to
>>> discern; illegible".
Voragh:
>> majha'! vIparha'qu'!!
Michael Everson:
>I'm afraid I can't parse this. What do you mean by "ha'"?
> Good ha'! I dislike it a lot ha'!
>I thought it might be -Ha' 'undo', thus:
> Ungood! I undislike it a lot!
>But that doesn't make sense to me.
Ack! Never post to this list without proof-reading - especially if you're late for a meeting!
This should of course be: {majQa'! vIparHa'qu'!!} ("Well done! I like it a lot!!")
FYI: regarding {parHa'} "like" and other "negative default" verbs, Okrand wrote on st.klingon (3/02/1998):
Learning about Klingon character or mindset by way of studying what
Qermaq terms "defaults" in vocabulary will probably lead to
interesting insights. I think both Qermaq and SuStel are on the
right track. {par} "dislike", for example, is probably the more
neutral or expected reaction of a Klingon to someone else; {parHa'}
"like" (or, more revealingly, "not dislike" or "undislike" or "mis-
dislike" or even "disdislike" [?!], since it's made up of {par}
"dislike" plus {-Ha'}, the negative suffix implying that something
is undone or done wrongly) is a modification (an undoing?) of this
expected reaction.
It may be that not everything has a default. Note, for example,
{QuchHa'} "be unhappy" and {'IQ} "be sad." These two words don't
mean quite the same thing: {QuchHa'} is made up of {Quch} "be happy"
plus the negative suffix {-Ha'}, suggesting a change from being happy
to not being happy. {'IQ} does not have this connotation, nor does
{Quchbe'} "be not happy" (or, if you prefer, "not be happy"). Never-
theless, is the default in this pair {Quch} "be happy" or is it
{'IQ} "be sad"?
On the other hand, when the only way to express a certain idea is by
modifying a word (for example, by adding a suffix) rather than using
an entirely different word, perhaps one can argue that the nonmodified
word is the default. Thus, the only (known) way to express the opposite
of {par} "dislike" is by adding a negative suffix to {par}. Unlike
{QuchHa'} "be unhappy" and {'IQ} "be sad", there's no choice when it
comes to "like"; you've got to use a word based on {par}: {parHa'}.
It appears that the only kind of like there is is the "undoing" or
"misapplication" of dislike. (Of course, you could also say {parbe'}
"like" or, more literally, "not dislike", using the negative suffix
{-be'} "not"; but {parbe'} is also based on {par}. {parHa'} is heard
more frequently than {parbe'}, however, and this may be a hint at the
usual way a Klingon looks at things.)
Interestingly (and bolstering the idea that dislike is a default),
there's also the word {muS} "hate" (which is presumably stronger
somehow than {par} "dislike"). It also has no known opposite
except for the suffixed forms: {muSHa'} "dis-hate" or "unhate";
{muSbe'} "not hate".
--
Voragh
Canon Master of the Klingons