[tlhIngan Hol] Two negations

[Felix Malmenbeck]

I'm not sure. However, I do think it's worth noting that in Klingon, you usually don't negate whole words, but rather morphemes. A word may have both negated and non-negated components, so having a sort of "negative mood" that the rest of the sentence must conform to wouldn't make much sense.

Consider four soldiers trying to decide who should take the night watch and who should sleep:

1. DaHjaj ram jIQonglaH.
= "I'll be able to sleep tonight."

2. DaHjaj ram jIQonglaHbe'.
= "I won't be able to sleep tonight."

3. DaHjaj ram jIQongbe'laH.
= "I'll be able to not-sleep tonight."
(or perhaps "I can stay awake tonight.")

4. DaHjaj ram jIQongbe'laHbe'.
= "I won't be able to not-sleep tonight."
(or perhaps "I won't be able to stay awake tonight.")

Is #4 "more negative" than #2 and #3 because it has two negations, or do the negations cancel out and make it "less negative"?

Such considerations would make double negations in Klingon quite messy.

//loghaD
________________________________
From: tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces at lists.kli.org> on behalf of mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 1, 2018 8:33:49 PM
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: Re: [tlhIngan Hol] Two negations

True. But the english "I didn't do nothing", isn't used in formal speech. As I understand it, it is slang/informal.

Anyway, since klingon doesn't use "two negatives", I have no problem writing klingon the english way.

Although I do wonder..

Is klingon's not utilization of "two negatives" a conscious choice, or is it an unconscious carry-over from english ?

But I guess, we'll never know.

le'bogh DIS chu' botIvjaj..

~ nI'ghma

On Jan 1, 2018 21:00, "kechpaja" <kechpaja at comcast.net<mailto:kechpaja at comcast.net>> wrote:
DIvI' Hol wIlo'taHvIS rut neH teH 'oH. {I didn't do nothing} jatlh 'op
nuv. 'ach DIvI' Hol Segh Daghojbogh Dalo'taHvIS, teH 'oH.

 - SapIr

On Mon, Jan 01, 2018 at 02:46:02PM +0200, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
> I just realized something..
>
> In english you say "I didn't do anything"
> In greek we say "I didn't do nothing"
> In english you say "I don't know anything"
> In greek we say "I don't know nothing"
> In english you say "I don't go anywhere"
> In greek we say "I don't go nowhere"
>
> I'm certain that you, being native english speakers, find the above greek
> phrases strange/wrong.
>
> On the other hand, I, being greek, find the english phrases strange/wrong.
>
> maj.
>
> The question is, why should I -in klingon-, write {vay' vIqaSmoHbe'}
> instead of {pagh vIqaSmoHbe'} ? Why should I write {vay' vISovbe'} instead
> of {pagh vISovbe'} ? Why {vogh vIjaHbe'} instead of {pagh Daq vIjaHbe'} ?
>
> Why should I follow the english way of expressing the above, instead of the
> greek ?
>
> ~ nI'ghma

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