[tlhIngan Hol] alternate way of asking what is your favorite

[Steven Boozer]

Here’s an old post from Okrand you’ll find useful:

--Voragh


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From: MarcOkrand

Newsgroups: msn.onstage.startrek.expert.okrand

Date: December 12, 1996

Subject: What do you think?



[ … ]


(2) You suggested translating "What is your favorite month?" as:



    jarlIj qaq nuq?



This one's a little easier to deal with.  Your sentence literally means

"What is your preferable month?"  The basic syntax is correct.  Question

words (in this case, nuq "what?") function the same way pronouns do in

questions with "to be" in the English translations.  Thus, the question

yIH nuq? "What is a tribble?" is exactly parallel the statement yIH 'oH

"It is a tribble" (where yIH is "tribble" and 'oH is "it").  The answer to the question yIH nuq? ("What is a tribble?") would presumably be a

definition or description of a tribble.  This being the case, then, the

answer to the question jarlIj qaq nuq?  ("What is your preferable month?") would presumably be a definition of "your favorite month." But this is not what you want to find out by asking your question.  What you really mean to ask is something like "Of all the months, which one do you prefer?"



The first word in your sentence, jarlIj, means "your month"  (jar "month," -lIj "your").  But given that what you're really asking is "Which month do you prefer?" it's not really "your month" at all.  The "you" should go with the verb, not with "month."



Which brings us to the verb.  You use qaq, "be preferable,"  adjectivally

(jarlIj qaq is "your preferable month").  I think what you mean is better

expressed by using the verb maS "prefer" with "you" as the subject: jar

DamaS "you prefer the month."  If you want to highlight the notion of

"most prefer," you can use the emphatic suffix -qu': jar DamaSqu' "you

very much prefer the month."  (In this case, since "prefer" involves

making a choice, the one chosen is automatically the one that is "most"

preferred.)



So what about the "what" (or "which") of your original question

("What/which is your favorite month?")?  When asking someone a question of

this type, you are really asking him or her to make a choice.  So just be

a Klingon and order them to do so: "Identify the month that you very much prefer!":



    jar DamaSqu'bogh yIngu'



DamaSqu'bogh "that you very much prefer" (DamaSqu' "you very much prefer

it" plus -bogh "which," the relative-clause marker) modifies jar "month"

and the whole phrase jar DamaSqu'bogh "the month that you very much

prefer" is the object of the verb ngu' ("identify"), which is preceded by the imperative prefix yI- ("do something to it!").



[ … ]


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From: tlhIngan-Hol [mailto:tlhingan-hol-bounces at lists.kli.org] On Behalf Of mayqel qunenoS

I really can't think of a reason why this could be wrong..

It is sweet and simple; the answer goes right into the place of {nuq} and we're all happy..

~ nIghma'

On Oct 25, 2017 9:52 PM, "mayqel qunenoS" <mihkoun at gmail.com<mailto:mihkoun at gmail.com>> wrote:
We know that we can't say {nuq jar DamaS} for "which month you prefer ?".

But if we say:

{jar'e' nuq DamaS ?}
as for a month, which do you prefer ?

Would this be correct ?

~ nIghma'
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