[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: jeS

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Wed Jul 20 08:31:02 PDT 2016


Imperative prefixes never appear in the purpose clause itself, but only on the main verb of the sentence.  This makes sense as the function of a purpose clause is to describe or restrict the action of the main verb in some way – just like adverbials do.  I could only find 4 examples of imperative sentences containing a purpose clause:

  jagh DajeymeH nIteb yISuvrup
  To defeat the enemy, be ready to fight alone. PK

  yIn DayajmeH 'oy' yISIQ
  To understand life, endure pain. TKW

 HIq DaSammeH tach yI'el
  To find ale, go into a bar. TKW

  qa'vam yuQ Quv DaghojmeH Duyma'vaD yIjatlh.
  [To learn the Genesis Planet's coordinates, speak to
   our agent.] (ST3 DVD case, untranslated)

If you really want to put the {-meH}-ed verb into the imperative, you need to rewrite the sentence:  e.g.

  jagh yIjeymeH ‘ej nIteb yISuvrup!

 HIq yISammeH!  tach yI'el!


--
Voragh
tlhIngan ghantoH pIn'a'
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons


From: tlhIngan-Hol [mailto:tlhingan-hol-bounces at lists.kli.org] On Behalf Of André Müller
Sent: Wednesday, July 20, 2016 9:55 AM

{bIlopqu'meH} is not a finite clause, it's part of a larger sentence, which already contains the imperative prefix {yI-}. It hasn't been stated anywhere, according to my knowledge, but I think verbs in {-meH} cannot have imperative agreement prefixes on them. In other words: it's not "Come to Hilton so that: Celebrate the grand opening!", but "Come to Hilton so that you celebrate the grand opening!" - only one imperative is needed.
- André

2016-07-20 16:47 GMT+02:00 mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com<mailto:mihkoun at gmail.com>>:
> laS veghaS HIltonDaq <Hov leng: yIjeSchu'> qaSchoHmo',
> bIlopqu'meH HIlton yIghoS
> Come celebrate the grand opening of "Star Trek: The
> Experience" at the Las Vegas Hilton. STX

since the translation goes "come to celebrate *the* grand opening", I
would expect {yIlopqu'meH} instead of {bIlopqu'meH}.



On Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 5:36 PM, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu<mailto:sboozer at uchicago.edu>> wrote:
>> Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, July 20, 2016
>>
>> Klingon word: jeS
>> Part of speech: verb
>> Definition: participate
>
>   laS veghaS HIltonDaq <Hov leng: yIjeSchu'> qaSchoHmo',
>     bIlopqu'meH HIlton yIghoS
>   Come celebrate the grand opening of "Star Trek: The
>     Experience" at the Las Vegas Hilton. STX
>
>   tera' vatlh DIS poH cha'maH loS bIyIn jeSlaHpa' Hoch
>   Be the first to journey to the 24th century. STX
>
> SEE:
> muv             join (v)
> SaH             be present (not absent) (v)
> Dach            be absent (v)
>
> qep             meeting (n)
> qep'a'          conference (n)
> wanI'           event, occurrence (n)
>
> SEE ALSO:
>
>   qaStaHvIS wanI'vam yIDachQo'
>   Don't miss this event!  WSC
>
> And before anyone asks:
>
> STX = the ""Star Trek: The Experience" communique
> WSC = Washington Shakespeare Company's "By Any Other Name:
>       An Evening of Shakespeare in Klingon" (2010)
>


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