tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 21 18:14:31 2013
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[Tlhingan-hol] Story: ghuv = The Recruit - 3
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<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">We’re halfway through the second paragraph of the story</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> in which Torg leaves home to join the military. He</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">’s undergoing a</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> medical exam.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> </SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">DIrDaj'e' ghItlhqu'pu'bogh chach leghba' Qel. QIjmeH jatlh torgh, "loSpev yobwI'." bepbe' Qel. torgh juvDI' Qel, Qamqu' torgh. l</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">oS vI' jav 'uj neH 'aDmo' torgh pIj vaqlu' 'ach mI'mey qon neH Qel, pagh jatlhtaHvIS. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">First sentence: DIrDaj’e’ ghItlhqu’pu’bogh chach leghba’ Qel.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">DIr = skin<BR>
-Daj = I told you to remember</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> this one<BR>
-‘e’ = N5 topic marker (note that this is a completely different animal from the word ‘e’</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">)</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">.<BR>
ghItlh = write, mark<BR>
-qu’ = emphatic verb suffix<BR>
-pu’ = V7 perfective<BR>
-bogh = V9 relative clause marker<BR>
chach = emergency<BR>
legh = sees<BR>
-ba’ = V6, obviously<BR>
Qel = doctor – you had that one last time</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Start with the easy end: The subject is Qel and the main verb is legh. “The doctor obviously sees ...” and the whole remaining mess is the object of the sentence, what the doctor sees. Parse it by taking off –bogh and reading</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">what’s left</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> like a normal sentence:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">DIrDaj’e’ ghItlhqu’pu’ chach.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Object: His skin (made the topic by –‘e’)</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Verb: write-very much-perfective</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Subject: The emergency</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> </SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">That won’t make much sense yet if you are very new, but I want to give you a chance to see how your initial impression of unintelligibility can coalesce into sense. We know from Marc</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> Okrand</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> that “</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">To mark (upon)' something is</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Courier New">ghItlh</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">. This isn't just writing; it's any kind of marking.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">So “The emergency has severely marked his skin.”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">There’s no Klingon word for accident, but maybe it’s weird that English uses the same word to describe spilling orange juice on someone and getting your guts split open by a combine harvester. The one Torg experienced was an emergency.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Now put –bogh back on. DIrDaj’e’ ghItlhqu’pu’bogh chach = “his skin which the emergency has severely marked”.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">If the clause were DIrDaj ghItlhqu’pu’bogh chach’e’ it would be “the emergency which severely marked his skin” but the doctor didn’t see th</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">e emergency</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">. The doctor just sees the skin that has been so marked, i.e.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">“The doctor obviously sees the skin which the emergency has severely marked.”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">-pu’ is there because it’s the result of the marking process that is important, not the marking itself. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">-qu’ can be translated “very much” “a lot” “so” and here “badly” “gravely” “boldly” “extremely” all might be appropriate translations. Y</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">o</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">u may be able to guess from all this that we don't know a Klingon word for “scar.” A colloquial translation might be, “Obviously the doctor sees the accident scars.”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Next:</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">QIjmeH jatlh torgh, "loSpev yobwI'."</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">QIj = explain<BR>
-meH = V9 – purpose clause – time to remember this one for yourself<BR>
jatlh = say, speak<BR>
loSpev = quadrotriticale – a Star Trek supergrain<BR>
yob = harvest (v)<BR>
-wI’ = V9 - one who does, something that does (the action of the verb)</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">QIjmeH is a plain old purpose clause,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">so the</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> a null prefix</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> shows that</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">the subject and object are third person. “In order for him to explain” or “To explain it”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">jatlh torgh = Torg says – this is</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">a</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> normal way to attribute speech in Klingon</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">. It can go before or after the words they say.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">loSpev yobwI’ – quadrotriticale harvester</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">“In order to explain, Torg says, “Quadrotriticale harvester.” Maybe when the doctor “obviously saw” the marks he looked questioningly, or maybe Torg is just used to people asking. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Next: bepbe’ Qel.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">bep = complain<BR>
-be’ = negation suffix (definitely time to memorize this one)<BR>
Qel = doctor (remember this for the rest of this scene, and I’ll remind you again when there’s another doctor later)</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">You know that bep is not the noun “agony” because it has the verb suffix –be’ on it. So it’s a very simple sentence:</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">“The doctor does not complain.”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Next:</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">torgh juvDI' Qel, Qamqu' torgh.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">juv = measure<BR>
-DI’ = as soon as, when<BR>
Qam = stand<BR>
qu’ = verb emphasizing suffix</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">“When the doctor measures Torg, Torg stands very much.”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">In English you wouldn’t repeat the name, but the sentence structure in Klingon makes it less clear whether the doctor or Torg is doing the extreme standing. A smooth English translation might be “When the doctor measures him, Torg stands up tall.” Maybe I could have got away with <juvDI’ Qel, Qamqu’ torgh> but I learned from my previous story that the more specific I am with who is performing which action, the clearer it is to my readers, experts and intermediates alike.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">Last sentence:</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">loS vI' jav 'uj neH 'aDmo' torgh pIj vaqlu' 'ach mI'mey qon neH Qel, pagh jatlhtaHvIS.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> </SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">loS = four or waits<BR>
vI’ = decimal point, marksmanship</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> or accumulates<BR>
jav = six<BR>
neH = only<BR>
‘uj = unit of measurement, about 35 cm<BR>
‘aD = has a length of<BR>
-mo’ = V9 - because<BR>
pIj = often<BR>
vaq = mock<BR>
-lu’ = indicates an unspecified subject for the verb vaqlu’<BR>
<BR>
Probably as soon as you see the numbers and measurement words you discard the</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">“</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">marksmanship</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> and</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">“</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">accumulate</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> possibilities for vI’ and jump quickly to “four point six oodges” – which is 161 cm or a little over 5”3. That’s the object of the verb ‘aD and the subject is Torg. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">neH goes after a noun, and isn’t in the right position to be the verb want, so it means “only.”</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"><</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">loS vI' jav 'uj neH 'aD</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"></FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">torgh</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">> = “Torg measures only 4.6 ‘uj.” It’s not explicit, but I hope you’ll understand this as the vertical dimension. He’s not very tall. The –mo’ makes this into a subordinate clause, so </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">“Because Torg measures only five-foot-three he is often mocked, but ...”</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">mI’ = number, perform</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">calisthenics</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">, but</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">can only be “numbers” because of the noun suffix.<BR>
-mey = N2 plural (remember this)<BR>
qon = record, compose<BR>
neH = merely, want, only<BR>
pagh = nothing, no one, none<BR>
jatlh = speak, say<BR>
-taH = V7 continuous<BR>
-vIS = while</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> – so jatlhtaHvIS = while saying nothing</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><BR>
<BR>
<FONT FACE="Calibri">It could be read as “The doctor wants to record the numbers</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> while saying nothing</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">” or “The doctor merely records the numbers</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> while saying nothing</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">”. I think one of them obviously makes more sense</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">but</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri"> there’s nothing following to indicate that the doctor didn’t do what he wanted</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">, so if you read it that way you won</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">’t suffer too badly.</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN></P>
<P DIR=LTR><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><FONT FACE="Calibri">- </FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"> <FONT FACE="Calibri">Qov</FONT></SPAN><SPAN LANG="en-ca"><BR>
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