[2532] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: naDev jIchu'
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Jan 13 09:10:20 1994
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: Al Goodnis <al@concord.com>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 09:00:27 EST
> From: nsn@vis.mu.OZ.AU (Nick NICHOLAS)
> Date: Thu, 13 Jan 94 12:04:53 EDT
> Subject: Re: naDev jIchu'
> Maybe, maybe. I typically punctuate (either by full stop or carriage return)
> such sentences as one sentence; when the link between them is not quite
> conventional, though, as in Al's example, I'd punctuate them as two. But
> they are two sentences, as Krankor has explained. (Not that I need invoke
> his authority ;) ).
For me english punctuation has never 'felt' right on tlhIngan sentences
,
but what else can you do to delimit one sentence from the next? As a beginner
it helps to know where I should stop translating. I have enough trouble when
trying to translate never mind worrying about when to stop.
So this leaves another issue for you guru's, since the TKD has no
punctuation rules, and since none are implied, how do you construct sentences
without them and still retain readability?
> As I say repeatedly, I don't care what Klingons may do. We're not native
> speakers. We don't have access to their subtle intonational cues and
> conventions of phrasing. Anything we can do to make reading Klingon text
> easier, we should --- which is why I use such a plethora of commas, though
> this too has been reduced.
Make it easier for who? In a sense you could be saying, well French
has too few commas and since I am not a native speaker I'm going to add as many
as I want... That would not be correct. As a speaker you should do your best
to follow whatever grammer and punctuation rules there are, even if it means
none.
I know that my statements sound like a contradiction, and I admit
that they are. It seems there is a problem to be resolved. For beginners
we need help, so the punctuation although invalid may be good. For you guru's
perhaps its time to figure out how we can tell one sentence from another
without the punctuation, and then once that is in place, teach us small
timers.
-qor
