[1698] in tlhIngan-Hol
Question words
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri Oct 15 02:19:59 1993
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.east.sun.com>
From: DSTRADER@delphi.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.east.sun.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1993 02:16:08 -0400 (EDT)
X-Vms-To: IN%"tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.east.sun.com"
I've noticed something peculiar about Klingon question words:
First of all, we do know that 'Iv and nuq act very much like nouns,
or maybe once in a while like pronouns as in {Dochvam nuq}. At any rate, we kno
w only a noun or pronoun can
answer a question with nuq or 'Iv in it. Similarly, only a time element
(certain adverbs, or some nouns functioning adverbially) may answer
a ghorgh question.
But Okrand gave zero info on how qatlh or chay' are to be answered.
Most of what I've seen from other tlhInganpu' shows that they consider
qatlh just as they do the English "why," in which case it would answer
EITHER with a -mo' phrase or -meH phrase:
qatlh Haw'pu' yaS ?
wIbuQpu'mo' Haw'pu'
yIntaHmeH Haw'pu'
In English, the two words answered by "in order to" and "because" have
merged into "why". German, with which English has a common ancestry,
has seperate words for these: warum -- (answers "in order to") and
wieso -- (answers "because"). Anyone may correct me; my knowledge of
German is still somwewhat shallow.
Two rather colloquial forms of "why" which distinguish are "what for"
and "how come."
What did the officer flee for? - So he could go on living.
How come the officer fleed? - Because we threatened him.
Furthermore, I have no idea what chay' is really supposed to
answer. In English, it answers "to what extent, in what way, by what
method."
chay' Haw'pu' yaS
nom Haw'pu'
Haw'pu'meH Duj tIj
I don't think chay' answers "to what extent," since we have very little
words that portray this concpet. Maybe -qu' and loQ will get by on the
basics.
I have come up with an idea of my own which is by no means to be taken
entirely seriously. It's just my way of dealing with this question word
issue until more concrete info is available.
chay' X
X-meH _____
qatlh X
_____-meH X
nuqmo' X
_____-mo' X
In case it's not totally obvious, _____ is the space for the answer.
I won't consider this solution anything significant; I'll still be
waiting for an Okrandian solution.
So, any other ideas?
!@#$%^&*(Guido1)*&^%$#@!
