[tlhIngan Hol] XQeD -> Xtej

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Fri Jul 26 08:55:22 PDT 2019


On 7/26/2019 11:34 AM, De'vID wrote:
> At the 2014 Saarbrücken {qepHom'a'} (and possibly on other occasions), 
> Okrand made a remark along the lines that, generally, if there's a 
> {QeD}, there's a corresponding {tej}. Sometimes he explicitly reveals 
> a {tej} for a {QeD}, but sometimes he doesn't.
>
> Do people who maintain lexicons for themselves generally add the 
> corresponding {tej} when a {QeD} is revealed, for consistency and 
> convenience? I'm in the unusual position* that I maintain a lexicon 
> (the {boQwI'} database) which is used mostly by other people, so if I 
> have an entry for "quantum physicist" (because Okrand revealed 
> {'otlhQeD} and {'otlhtej} together), and an entry for {HapQeD} 
> "physics" but *not* a corresponding entry for {Haptej} "physicist", it 
> looks inconsistent.

Don't worry how it looks. You're not in the business of filling in gaps 
in the given vocabulary, just reporting the given vocabulary.

We don't /know/ that every *QeD* has a corresponding *tej;* just that 
they /generally/ do. So if someone wants to coin *roSqa'tej* 
/archaeologist /on the assumption that we know *roSqa'QeD* is 
/archaeology,/ well, they've got a pretty strong reason to do so, and I 
for one wouldn't complain. But we don't /know/ that that's right, so it 
shouldn't be added to a dictionary that's trying to be accurate.

In other words, it's okay to leave out some stuff that we might think 
"well, obviously" when there's no actual proof of the obvious. You might 
even make a point in the *roSqa'QeD* entry that most sciences have a 
*tej* counterpart, and that *roSqa'tej* would be the obvious choice for 
/archaeologist,/ but that this word has not been observed or confirmed.

This reasoning goes for your other questions.

Besides, since Okrand has been so accommodating in recent years, maybe 
someone can just ask him about *roSqa'* and *roSqa'tej* (and 
*roSHa'moH,* while they're at it).

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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