[tlhIngan Hol] {'e'} of a sao and quotations
SuStel
sustel at trimboli.name
Fri Aug 20 06:16:42 PDT 2021
On 8/20/2021 7:53 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
> SuStel:
> > The rule is stated in TKD: "Similarly, with verbs of saying (say,
> tell, ask, etc.),
> > 'e' and net are not used. The two phrases simply follow one
> another, in either order."
>
> Ok, wait. Does that rule concern too cases, where the purpose of the
> speaker isn't to actually quote something?
I know where you're going with this, and you're on the wrong track.
> When we say "quotation" what do we actually mean? The way I understand
> it, if there's: {yaDDa yaDDa yaDDa, jIjatlhpu'}, then the quotation is
> *only* the {yaDDa yaDDa yaDDa}. The quotation isn't the {jIjatlhpu'}
> (which I don't know what it actually is..).
This is correct. A quotation is the exact words someone says. The
*jIjatlhpu'* is a "verb of saying."
> So, in the {< nucholpu' jaghpu' > jIjatlhpu' HoDvaD 'e' yIjatlh}, no
> rules are broken, because the object of the sao isn't the quotation,
> but only the {jIjatlhpu'}.
And here's the problem: all the evidence points to the fact that you
cannot describe the content of a quotation indirectly in Klingon. You're
trying to do this.
Okrand, for instance, has told us that the object of *jatlh* must be the
speech event. For instance, you can *jatlh* a *SoQ* or a *mu'.* A
description of the /contents/ of a speech event is not the same as a
word representing a speech event. That means you can't say things like
*bImoH 'e' vIjatlh* /I say that you are ugly/ because *bImoH* is a
representation of the contents of what I say, not a word that refers to
a type of speech event.
> Look at it another way..
>
> Q waved his hand and an officer was rendered unable to talk for a
> period of time; then Q's power wears off, and the officer starts
> speaking again. So, he says to another member of the crew:
>
> jIjatlhqa'pu' HoDvaD 'e' yIja'
> tell to the captain that I've spoken again
>
> There's no quotation here. There are no words to be repeated for the
> captain. Similarly, in the {< nucholpu' jaghpu' > jIjatlhpu' HoDvaD
> 'e' yIjatlh}, the object is the {jIjatlhpu'} and the < nucholpu'
> jaghpu' > is something which happily just happens to sit by, away from
> the {'e'}.
>
> So we're all happy, yes?
No. There is no evidence that you can use *'e'* on *ja'* by changing the
person of the quotation. You can't transform the quotation to make it a
not-quotation, then use it the way you were told not to use it. If
Klingon can do this, Okrand hasn't said so.
For your Q example, all you have to do is this: *jIjatlhqa'pu' HoD
yIja'*/Tell the captain I have spoken again./ (Alternatively, *HoD yIja'
jIjatlhqa'pu'.*)
See, for example, how Okrand handles quotations and non-quotations in
/paq'batlh/ (and remember that this explicitly given to us as an English
text translated into Klingon, not an original Klingon text):
/Kahless tells his brother and father
to go their separate ways,
And travel the lands./
*loDnI'Daj vavDaj je ja' qeylIS
nIteb peghoS
HatlhDaq peghoS*
Do you see how Okrand has particularly avoided using *'e'* and a
non-quotation here? He gave us Kahless's exact words, even though the
English original did not.
Whenever using a verb of saying to describe what is said, always use a
quotation, even if you're translating and your original does not have a
quotation. Otherwise you need to find another way of saying it.
--
SuStel
http://trimboli.name
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