[tlhIngan Hol] If pIqaD became Ca'Non..

[SuStel]

On 4/29/2020 8:59 AM, David Holt wrote:
> Even if we are never shown any other punctuation on screen, I think 
> the wording of your statement is misleading. The marks are not 
> actually a comma and a period. I would say that pIqaD has two 
> punctuation marks: One for separating sentences and one for separating 
> ideas within a sentence.

I tend to agree with this, however the ones that use the triangles end 
with a triangle, so the punctuation marks are clearly terminators, not 
separators. The cards are inconsistent as to which triangle ends 
sentences, and of course none of the cards have Klingon writing that is 
actually readable (at least, not that matches the Klingon text). It 
astounds me that this somehow became "real" Klingon punctuation in 
people's minds.

If I were given the task of inventing meanings for the two types of 
triangles as punctuation, I would probably do this: the up-turned 
triangle is an IDEA SEPARATOR. Sometimes Klingon is happy to smush two 
sentences together to form a single idea, as in *'uSDaj chop; chev*/Bite 
his leg off!/, and these would not be separated. Conjunctions would not 
have their components separated. The down-turned triangle would separate 
dependent clauses from other clauses in an idea wherever they appeared.

For example (I hope the triangles survive the sending of this message):

*juHwIj 'el HejwI' ▲ vIleghDI' ▼ qovIjwIjvaD jIjatlh 'uSDaj chop chev 
**▲ Haw'meH HejwI' **▼ pay' Qorwagh vegh **▲ ghaH vIHIv jIH'e' **▼ 
vIleghqa'chugh
*

But this is just my aesthetic preference, supposing I had to use 
triangles at all (they don't suit the usual typeface). It doesn't match 
what anyone else has been doing with them. (For instance, in my mind, 
triangles resting on their sides are stable and are more suitable for 
ending thoughts, where you can gather yourself for the next idea, while 
triangles standing on their points are unstable, meaning you have to 
move on to the next thing quickly.)
****

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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