[89552] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: mu'mey chu': jul
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robyn Stewart)
Fri Sep 9 16:21:01 2011
Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:12:52 -0700
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
From: Robyn Stewart <robyn@flyingstart.ca>
In-Reply-To: <4E6A6EB5.9080402@trimboli.name>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
I think it's the difference between indicating turn taking while
telling a story, and reporting speech in a well-formed sentence.
jang 'avwI'<lIchopbe'chugh ghewmey.>
translates to
"The guard answers <If the bugs don't bite you>".
You can really only say that in English if you're telling a story.
While
jatlh 'avwI' lIchopbe'chugh ghewmey.
translates to
"The guard said they could if the bugs didn't bite them."
English really has a phenomenally complex way of reporting speech. I
don't even know the name of the tense we have to move the verb to in
every case.
- Qov
At 12:53 09/09/2011, you wrote:
>On 9/9/2011 2:43 PM, ghunchu'wI' 'utlh wrote:
> > On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 12:36 PM, David
> Trimboli<david@trimboli.name> wrote:
> >> The third kind uses the two verbs of saying, {jatlh} and {ja'}...
> >> Notice that {jatlh} and {ja'} are the ONLY known
> >> verbs of saying!
> >
> > I accept that they are the only two verbs that are explicitly listed
> > as such. I do not accept the proposition that no other verbs may be
> > used along with quoted speech. The Great Hall joke from Power Klingon
> > clearly uses both {tlhob} and {jang} that way:
> >
> > lutlhob<naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq majaHlaH'a'?>
> > They ask him, "Can we get to the Great Hall from here?'
> > jang 'avwI'<lIchopbe'chugh ghewmey.>
> > The guard answers, "If the bugs do not bite you."
>
>That's true. However, I believe when Okrand explained this (a HolQeD
>article, I believe), he specifically said that {jang} could NOT be used
>as a verb of saying. (I don't remember what he said about {tlhob}.) I
>don't have my sources handy, and I don't completely remember the details
>of the explanation, but what it came down to was that {jatlh} and {ja'}
>were the only known verbs of saying, and the above joke was directly
>contradicted.
>
>Maybe there are rules beyond his explanation that allow such usage, or
>maybe it's an "error."
>
>--
>SuStel
>http://www.trimboli.name/
