[tlhIngan Hol] What is a sentence?

[qurgh lungqIj]

It seems that Okrand switches back and forth on this one. In TKD he clearly
defines them as two sentences and repeats that convention multiple times
throughout that section:

"Klingon has two special pronouns, 'e' and net, which refer to the *previous
sentence* as a whole"

"What is a single sentence in English is often* two sentences* in Klingon."

"This sentence is actually* two*:"

"The pronoun 'e' refers to the *previous sentence*, We kill prisoners."

"The* two sentences* here are:"

"The past tense of the translation (I saw...) comes from the verb in the*
first sentence*"

"When the verb of the *second sentence*"

"the* first sentence* here is qama'pu' DIHoH"

"The *second sentence* is net Sov"

"When the verb of the *second sentence* is neH"

Maybe it's a "complex sentence" made of "two sentences", so ultimately both
points of view would be true. I can try to remember to ask Okrand about
this at the qep'a'.

qurgh


On Fri, Jun 9, 2017 at 2:22 PM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:

> I was thinking back to a previous argument about whether a
> sentence-as-object construction can itself be considered a "sentence" for
> when a rule in Klingon works on sentences. I went through some old text by
> Okrand and found this message:
>
> (1) You suggested translating "Do you think it's possible for a Klingon to
> feel love for a Ferengi?" as:
> verenganvaD bang HotmeH tlhIngan qIt 'e' DaQub'a'?
> The end of the sentence is fine.  The correct way to say "Do you think
> that...?" is ... 'e' DaQub'a'? ('e' is "that," referring to something that
> precedes it in the sentence or in the discussion; DaQub'a' is "do you think
> it?").
>
> http://klingonska.org/canon/search/?file=1996-12-12b-news.txt&q=sentence
>
> *'e' DaQub'a'* is here referred to by Okrand as "the end of the
> sentence," and *'e'* refers to "something that precedes it in the
> sentence or in the discussion." We know *'e'* refers to the previous
> "sentence" of the construction, so the "sentence" that Okrand is referring
> to must be the entire construction. Okrand later refers to the entire
> construction as a sentence again.
>
> In another post, Okrand gave the sentence *tlhIngan Hol Dajatlh 'e' vISIv* *I
> wonder if you speak Klingon.* He goes on to say
>
> In English, this means something like "I'm surprised that you speak
> Klingon" or "I don't understand how it can be that you speak Klingon," but
> this is not what the Klingon sentence means.  The Klingon sentence means
> something more like "I am curious about whether you speak Klingon."
>
> http://klingonska.org/canon/search/?file=1997-07-01-news.txt&q=sentence
>
> Again, he has called the entire thing a sentence. He then refers to "such
> sentences": "One other verb that can be used in the V slot in such
> sentences is Hon 'doubt'" (the "V slot" is the second sentence). Then he
> goes whole hog and talks about sentences within sentences: "I'll return on
> another occasion to the question of whether the sentence preceding the 'e'
> in such sentences can be a question."
>
> I haven't done a complete search, but I feel pretty confident that we can
> think of SAOs as sentences. They are "complex sentences," as named in the
> parent section of SAOs in TKD. Exactly how complicated the second
> sub-sentence is supposed to be and the exact placement of adverbials and
> dependent clauses might still be imperfectly resolved, of course.
>
> --
> SuStelhttp://trimboli.name
>
>
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>
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