[tlhIngan Hol] Can we say {qarbe''a'} ?

Will Martin willmartin2 at mac.com
Wed May 8 13:08:20 PDT 2019


So, what I’m telling you is that if you write something to a Klingon speaker and use {qarbe’’a’}, odds are pretty good that person will be translating your Klingon into English, which heightens the odds that miscommunication will ensue.

Especially since you don’t really have a reason to use {qarbe’’a’} in any approximation to the way that {qarbe’} is commonly used in Klingon.

You have verb suffixes to describe your degree of certainty of any verb’s action. Why do you need to say something and then ask if what you said is not accurate?

No! Never mind. I keep forgetting!

Poetry.

charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan

rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.




> On May 8, 2019, at 3:47 PM, Jeffrey Clark <jmclark85 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> {qarbe’’a’} is only confusing if you code it into English — “isn’t that right”, which has become an idiomatic expression IN ENGLISH. 
> 
> The meaning of {qarbe’’a’} is clearly (when read in Klingon) closer to “Is it inaccurate” which is a clearly unambiguous question.
> 
> —jevreH
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On May 8, 2019, at 15:24, Will Martin <willmartin2 at mac.com <mailto:willmartin2 at mac.com>> wrote:
> 
>> If you like inviting someone to give you a wrong answer because you and they don’t agree on exactly what “Yes” means, in response to {qarbe’’a’}, then by all means, say {qarbe’’a’.}
>> 
>> charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan
>> 
>> rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On May 8, 2019, at 3:07 PM, Jeffrey Clark <jmclark85 at gmail.com <mailto:jmclark85 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On May 8, 2019, at 10:55, nIqolay Q <niqolay0 at gmail.com <mailto:niqolay0 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> You probably wouldn't have to start entirely from scratch. If someone says wagh vIghro'mey tIQ. qarbe''a'?, even though this isn't a usual tag question, I can deduce that qarbe''a' is probably supposed to refer to the previous statement. (Perhaps they originally said wagh vIghro'mey tIQ confidently, but then realized they weren't 100% sure, so they added qarbe''a', in the sense of "...am I wrong?") It might not have the same connotations of expecting a "yes" answer, but you're still asking about the accuracy of a statement.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> This was my original assumed usage, based on my lack of knowledge from qar’a’ being able to exist as a second verb in the same phrase (not having fully read the TKD addendum).
>>> 
>>> This is the usage that I figured would be grammatical, if “unexpected”. But using an unexpected phrasing is often a signalling device situationally desired for it’s altered connotations — as I’ve argued previously. 
>>> 
>>> —jevreH
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