[85748] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: Correct use of retlh
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Fri Jun 19 10:11:13 2009
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "'tlhingan-hol@kli.org'" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:07:57 -0500
In-Reply-To: <BCC00FF26B8E4D598015BFB97A2CDC0D@HPBrownPC>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
qe'San (Jon Brown):
>Ok so back to [retlh] and fixing my mistake of missing [-Daq] off. if I
>wanted to translate, "I'd like a window seat, please." and taking into
>account that a Klingon would be more direct and not say please I thought
>maybe [Qorwagh retlh quSDaq vIba' vIneH].
{ba'} "sit" is apparently intransitive, so don't use the object prefixes. E.g.:
KGT 124: {quSDaq bIba'} ("You sit in a chair"--that is, "What you said is quite obvious")..." (KGT 124)
Qorwagh retlh quSDaq jIba' vIneH
"I want to sit in a beside/next-to-the-window-chair."
>Although saying that with the sea shore [bIQ'a' HeH] instead of [bIQ'a'
>HeH retlh] example, I wonder if anyone thinks that the use of [retch]
>is also redundant here. Maybe [Qorwagh quSDaq vIba' vIneH] is good enough.
{Qorwagh quS} "window seat (chair)" is a little too close to English for my taste. How about:
Qorwagh retlhDaq jIba' vIneH.
I want to sit beside/next to the window.
though I agree {retlh} may not even be necessary:
QorwaghDaq jIba' vIneH.
I want to sit at the window.
keeping in mind that in other contexts {QorwaghDaq} could also mean "in the window" (e.g. the ledge of an open window on a spring day) or "on the window" (e.g. an uninstalled window unit on the floor at a construction site). Okrand writes:
TKD 27: This suffix [{-Daq}] indicates that something is happening (or has happened or will happen) in the vicinity of the noun to which it is attached. It is normally translated by an English preposition: "to", "in", "at", "on". The exact translation is determined by the meaning of the whole sentence.
The "area nouns" are used when you need to be more precise than simply "in the vicinity of": area above, below, inside, outside, next to, between, in front of, behind, etc.
--
Voragh
Canon Master of the Klingons
