[tlhIngan Hol] {jatlh} vs. {ja'}

[Daniel Dadap]

Can {ja'} be used to mean “read aloud”, e.g., to describe the functionality of TTS software, or is it more proper to use {jatlh} for this? In other words, are the following two options equally acceptable, or is either one considered more correct than the other, to express something like “say it to me” to a computer?

a) {HIja'}
b) {jIHvaD yIjatlh}

Background behind the question; you don’t need to read this to answer, but it might help explain why I’m asking: the iOS port of {boQwI'} has been rejected from App Store review, with the claim that it doesn’t provide any functionality beyond what a mobile optimized website (including websites that take advantage of HTML5 offline storage) could provide. While this is technically true, this could also be said of the overwhelming majority of apps on my phone, and likely the majority of apps on the App Store in general, so I don’t know why {boQwI'} fails this review criterion while other apps that seemingly provide less functionality than {boQwI'} pass it.

I am in the process of appealing the rejection, but in case the appeal fails I am planning to add additional functionality so that the app can pass this review criterion. After considering some of the possible options, I have decided that the path of least resistance would be to add TTS functionality similar to what the original {boQwI'} app provides when the optional Klingon TTS engine is installed. It is, of course, possible to provide TTS functionality in a mobile website, but to preemptively address this concern, the TTS feature will be exposed via an iOS action extension, so that you can access it from another app by selecting text and sending it to the action extension. I will then plumb the action extension through to {boQwI'} so that it can use a feature that would not otherwise be available to a mobile website.

I am hoping that I can call the TTS app and the extension it exposes {HIja'}, as a pun meaning “tell me” and also “yes”, but I don’t know whether the semantics of {ja'} allow for this, or whether {HIja'} can only mean “tell me” in the sense of “report a piece of information to me” and not “say something to me”.

On a somewhat related note, does anybody know whether the fact that {HIja'} means “tell me” in addition to meaning “yes” is intentional?