[tlhIngan Hol] Quvar, QISmaS cake Davutta''a'

Lieven levinius at gmx.de
Sat Dec 31 13:52:21 PST 2016


Am 31.12.2016 um 18:37 schrieb mayqel qunenoS:
> you're wrong. I never said that my english is the best, or the most

Don't get upset because of SuStel. He sometimes enjoys being... let's 
say "unusual"... in his wording. :-)

> how long do you study klingon ? 20-30 years ? I have been doing this for
> 14 months, and the lack of question marks doesn't confuse me.

That's not a valid argument. On the contrary: if one is used to using 
question marks during those 30 years, it is indeed confusing to suddenly 
see them missing.

> if you accept paq'batlh as valid, then you can't say to someone "use
> punctuation !".

Actually, the majority agrees that paq'batlh is not to be taken too 
seriously: It has some true mistakes, very contradictory rules and some 
really strange constructions. Their lack of punctuation is more a kind 
of artistic usage.
But indeed, TKD does not use punctuation at all, but TKW does, which is 
also canon. It seems like Okrand decided to add puntuation to that maybe 
for the same reason we are talking about. It makes it easier to read, 
especially when writing in the "transcription mode"

> from now on I will stop using any all kinds of punctuation.earlier I
> wrote that I was willing to use question marks; now I changed my mind.

As I wrote before, don't get upset because of SuStel.

> and because this way of writing is canon, it is my write to use it.

Sometimes, it's not only a question of canon. It's a matter of 
readability. It's your choice to write as you want, but it may make it 
more difficult for others to read. There is no rule for the use of 
punctuation, but it helps when using "our" (i.e. english) way of using 
it. And I think it's not a valid argument to say that the language is 
"alien" so it would be no problem to make it more "alien".

-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher



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