[987] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: verbs in compounds (was: Re: epithets (taHqeq))
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Jun 15 13:23:10 1993
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
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Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: mark <mark@dragonsys.com>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 93 11:43:36 EST
A.APPLEYARDvo':
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Then how <do> we translate bahuvrihis etc without long awkward periphrases?
With a relative clause, we are back to the ambiguity of which word is the
antecedent: e.g. `Doqbogh jIbDaj`?; inserting `'e'` would make FIVE syllables;
and, as I mentioned before, such a use of `'e'` is ambiguous between "this,
that" and ordinary emphasis and antecedent-marker.
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Awkwardness is culturally relative. A Klingon phrase that seems
awkward to you might seem simply normal to a Klingon... who might
wonder how English-speaking Terrans can tolerate such an awkward
monstrosity as "due to your apparent minor errors" (*jav* mu'!)
for a single straightforward word like "QaghHommeyHeylIjmo'"
(3.3.6, p.29). Syllable count is not the sole determinant of
length, as speakers perceive it. And context and common sense
(as well as possible grammatical features we don't know about) go
a long way in disambiguation. Klingon is *not* ;-) Lojban, is
*not* a language deliberately constructed for maximum
disambiguation or brevity. It is, so to speak, a natural
language, though in many ways different from familiar ones, and
it has many of the characteristics of natural languages that from
the point of view of abstract communication theory may look like
disadvantages. As do all languages.
- marqem
Mark A. Mandel
Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : mark@dragonsys.com
