[tlhIngan Hol] Sylvester the cat in klingon

[Jeffrey Clark]

In spoken English (and many of its close relatives) appositions tend to be separated in proximity from the noun they clarify, and tend to be given equal (or near-equal) stress.

So:
“Martok’s father” tends to naturally emphasis one of those two words over the other, and they flow together naturally.

Whereas:
“Martok, Father” tends to give more space between them, and give them equal weight.

In Klingon, I think these same sort of parenthetical comments would (by necessity) work along similar lines.

{martaq vav…} looks like “Father of Martok”, however if I wrote {martaq, vav, …} there is more visual space and separation that clearly sets off vav from martaq; this is similar to what we have to do in lists (the Klingon “oxford comma”) to clarify noun-noun vs listed items; and — by necessity — is reflected in our speech.

{vIghro’, SIveSter pongbogh, vIghaj} seems like a perfectly plausible sentence in conversation — because of how conversations naturally evolve. The speaker states a statement “I have a cat”, but realises after the first word that they need to clarify the cat’s name (for whatever reason), and inserts the clarifying phrase. It happens all the time in natural languages due to how sentences are cognitively formed.

Or it might be:

{SIveSter, vIghro’wIj, vItu’be’} where the clarification came in the moment in response to an inquisitive look that the listener gave the speaker because the listener didn’t know the cat’s name.

However, I’m on shaky ground based on Canon and rules as revealed. I’ll admit that. 

—jevreH

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 19, 2019, at 10:45, Lieven L. Litaer <levinius at gmx.de> wrote:
> 
>> Am 19.03.2019 um 15:28 schrieb mayqel qunen'oS:
>> In english we say "sylvester the cat".
>> 
>> Is it possible to say this in a similar short phrase in klingon ? I
>> mean, without writing something as "the name of the cat is sylvester".
> 
> That's not a new topic: The problem is called apposition. Read the
> Klingon Wiki for details:
> http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/Apposition
> 
> --
> Lieven L. Litaer
> aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany"
> http://www.klingonisch.de
> 
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