[2592] in tlhIngan-Hol
SaQumqa'
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Mon Jan 17 17:50:13 1994
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: shoulson@ctr.columbia.edu (Mark E. Shoulson)
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 1994 17:46:34 -0500
In-Reply-To: dls9@aol.com's message of Mon, 17 Jan 94 00:18:45 EST <9401170018.
tn56059@aol.com>
>From: dls9@aol.com
>Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 00:18:45 EST
>2) What exactly do {chay'} and {qatlh} mean. What exactly are the answers to
>these question words? With {nuq} and {'Iv} it's easier because they're simply
>substitutions for unknown nouns. With {chay'} and {qatlh}, it's a bit more
>vague. No, it's a lot more vague. Does one answer {qatlh} with a {-mo'}
>phrase or a {-meH} phrase? I haven't a clue as to the answer to {chay'}. If a
>Klingon asks {chay' Haw'pu' yaS}, does he want to know by what method of
>transportation the officer fled, or in what manner he fled (quickly,
>carefully). What I'm really looking for is some specific construction that
>answers these question words, or some specific meanings attached to these
>words which are more specific than the English synonyms "how" and "why" which
>convey a broad range of meanings even in English.
Maybe they (by some astonishing linguistic co-incidence) *do* cover roughly
the same broad range of meanings as "why" and "how" in English. OK, we
can't be sure, since many languages divide those words up im many ways, but
so far, we have very little evidence.
Let's see. Offhand, I can think of two Okrandian sentences, one with
{chay'} and one with {qatlh}.
chay' jura'? How do you command us?
The "answer" to this one (beyond a simple command) is presumably a "-meH"
phrase: "In order that we do what? you command us". So we have evidence
of "-meH" phrases asked with "chay'".
qatlh QeH? Why is he angry?
Less definite, but very probably the answer to this is a "-mo'" phrase.
"Because of what is he angry?" (in which case, nuqmo' could be a
paraphrase of qatlh? We discussed this once already. I'd say probably, at
least in some situations, but it would probably sound long-winded).
Well, there's what I know offhand...
>***jabbI'ID pItlh***
>Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos
>{mulIjneSQo' 'IwbIQtIq Dop latlhDaq bIpawDI'}
"HIlIjneSQo'" more what you were looking for? Otherwise I don't fully
understand it.
~mark
