[tlhIngan Hol] law' puS with the -taHvIS and type-9 clauses preceding each element

[Steven Boozer]

For those without a copy of The Klingon Way handy:

  QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS
  Better to die on our feet than live on our knees. (ST6/TKW)

(TKW p.95):  More literally, this is “Dying while standing is preferable to living while kneeling.”  The grammatical construction is a bit aberrant; one would expect {QamtaHvIS} and {tortaHvIS}. In proverbs, grammatical shortcuts are not uncommon. Even the Federation Standard might be considered somewhat incomplete. One would expect “It is better to die on our feet than to live on our knees.”

--
Voragh

_________________________________________________________________
From: SuStel
Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 7:59 AM

On 2/9/2021 8:16 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
Based on the Ca'Non {QamvIS Hagh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS}, could I construct sentences as the above, or is the QamvIS Hegh.. some kind of "maltz-said-so-special-phrase-so-shut-up-and-don't-generalize" case?

It's a Maltz-said-so-special-phrase-so-shut-up-and-don't-generalize case. It is described in The Klingon Way as aberrant grammar.
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