[tlhIngan Hol] 'entepray''a'?

[Felix Malmenbeck]

> * Using a dialect or slang where forming questions this way is allowed

> * Adding the verb suffix "-'a'" to a noun, after all

> * Some combination of some of the above possibilities

> * Something else


While it's difficult to say for sure, I'd say this is probably either slang or an example of mu'mey ru' - "words or phrases [...] coined for a specific occasion, intentionally violating grammatical rules in order to have an impact". As KGT mentions, "A common way to create these constructions is to bend the grammatical rules somewhat, violating the norm in a way that is so obvious that there is no question that it is being done intentionally."


Based on the dialogue in the rest of the film, Klaa speaks the same dialect that we're used to, and is no doubt aware that -'a' is a verb suffix. However, he's also young and brash; perhaps he relaxed his grammar in the heat of the moment, or perhaps his disregard for proper grammar conveys his irreverence for authority in general (kind of reading a lot into it, but it does fit his character).

It could also be an example of clipped Klingon, albeit of a variety we haven't seen elsewhere.


//loghaD


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From: tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces at lists.kli.org> on behalf of nIqolay Q <niqolay0 at gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2018 18:35
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Cc: tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org
Subject: Re: [tlhIngan Hol] 'entepray''a'?

On Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 12:13 AM Daniel Dadap <daniel at dadap.net<mailto:daniel at dadap.net>> wrote:
In Star Trek V, there's a scene where tlha'a HoD says "'entepray''a'?" and it's captioned in English as "Enterprise?" Surely, he wasn't adding the type nine verb suffix "-'a'" to a noun, so what was he doing?

* Using the type one noun suffix "-'a'" to mean something like "The great Enterprise?"
* Referring to the "Enterprise-A" with registry number NCC-1701-A
* Momentarily forgetting proper grammar for a moment because he was so excited
* Using a dialect or slang where forming questions this way is allowed
* Adding the verb suffix "-'a'" to a noun, after all
* Some combination of some of the above possibilities
* Something else

Are there other examples where the interrogative marker is added to a noun for a similar kind of sentence fragment as a question? Has Maltz ever commented on this?

Contextually, it seems like it's supposed to be a question. "The Enterprise? Really?" My guess is that it's a slang construction, adding the interrogative verb suffix to a noun to ask whether something really is that noun. Maltz has never commented on it, so I assume it's not a particularly common sort of slang.

Is MO at the qepHom going on? Maybe someone there can ask him real quick.



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