[2481] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Meaning of nuqneH
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri Jan 7 21:48:58 1994
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: nsn@vis.mu.OZ.AU (Nick NICHOLAS)
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 94 13:46:04 EDT
In-Reply-To: <199401071517.AA24814@cad.gatech.edu>; from "Mark Reed" at Jan 7,
94 10:19 am
A brief note that, language being the silly putty that it is, it is quite
reasonable for nuqneH to have originally been used where we would use
whaddayawant, and later to have been generalised into an all-round greeting.
Human language doesn't always seek out the literal interpretation; the
customary one, which plugs in the holes of phatic communication (the kind
that merely keeps your mouth moving, as in "Hello. How are you?" --- which
is not a question unless you're out to make trouble), tends to be much more
pervasive. Not to invalidate what anyone else here has said on nuqneH;
Klingons probably *wouldn't* be big on phatic communication.
This is also to let you all know that I've *finally* got a working modem,
so I'll be uploading three scenes of Much Ado shortly.
--
== == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == == ==
Nick Nicholas, Breather {le'o ko na rivbi fi'inai palci je tolvri danlu}
nsn@krang.vis.mu.oz.au -- Miguel Cervantes tr. Jorge LLambias
