[87611] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: qoSwIj
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mark J. Reed)
Wed Jan 6 12:47:03 2010
In-Reply-To: <C305E6BD33E2654DAE1F8F403247B6A60113A1A565F8@EVS02.ad.uchicago.edu>
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 12:44:28 -0500
From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@gmail.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
But in each case, regardless of the tangibility or concreteness of the
antecedent noun, there is one: something you can identify as the noun
that 'it' is standing for. In a sentence like "Today, it is my
birthday", there is not really a noun that fits where the "it" is.
"Today, the day is my birthday"? "Today, the date is my birthday"?
Instead, the "it" is just a place holder, because "Today, my birthday
is." doesn't work as an English sentence (unless it's Yoda-speak for
"My birthday is today." - but there, "today" is a noun instead of an
adverb).
-marqoS
On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 12:04 PM, Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu> wrote:
> Mark J. Reed:
>>> I would tend to question the translation {DaHjaj qoSwIj 'oH}. "Today
>>> it is my birthday" is fine in English, but it's one of those weird
>>> idiomatic uses of "it" that lacks an antecedent (like "It's hot out",
>>> "It's seven o'clock"). Do we have evidence that Klingon does
>>> something similar?
>
> {'oH} almost always refers to an actual, tangible object but I did find four exceptions:
>
> an abstract idea (revenge, honor):
>
> bortaS nIvqu' 'oH bortaS'e'
> Revenge is the best revenge. (TKW)
>
> SajlIj 'oHbe' quvwIj'e'
> My honor is not your play-thing.
> (lit. "My honor is not your pet.") (STConst p.259)
>
> an intangible place (space):
>
> veH Qav 'oH logh'e'
> space--the final frontier (S99)
>
> and a geometric figure (i.e. the shape, not the thing it's drawn on):
>
> meyrI'Daq 'oHtaH gho'e'
> The circle is in the square. (qep'a' 2005)
>
> While the last two might be considered virtual/imaginary objects or places, the first two can't be (however important the concepts are to Klingons).
>
>
> --
> Voragh
> Canon Master of the Klingons
>
>
>
>
>
--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@gmail.com>
