[tlhIngan Hol] {ghIq} {ngugh} and time adverbs with time stamps

[Alan Anderson]

>
>
> charghwI':
> > Okrand has clearly stated that in many cases one sentence
> > in English would be split up into two or more sentences in Klingon.
>

The example in the original post *was* two sentences. They were just mashed
together without punctuation.

On Sat, Oct 30, 2021 at 7:44 AM mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> I can understand that; I know that the way Klingon handles something which
> is difficult/complex is by breaking it down into smaller/easier sentences.
> And it's something I usually do too, since almost anything which goes into
> my website is pretty complex, which needs some serious recasting in order
> to be able to become a Klingon sentence.
>
> But there are cases, in which for a number of reasons, you can't rephrase..
>

I think there is only one true reason: style.


> It's easy to say "rephrase" whenever you're dealing with a single sentence
> one has written in a post inquiring about grammar. But assume you're
> writing a looong text.. Perhaps you've already written four sentences "of
> the same kind" in a row, and you want the next sentence to be different, so
> that the reader won't be bored/irritated by seeing let's say six sentences
> in a row, each going like:
>
> adverb - verbbogh 'ej verbbogh noun - verb - meH'ed noun
>

First: this is not valid grammar. Purpose clauses with {-meH} go *before*
the noun or verb they are modifying. They can't come at the end of a
sentence.
Second: There's absolutely nothing wrong with repeating the same structure
in a long series of sentences. You might think it is boring and irritating,
but the reader is likely to appreciate the clarity.


> There are times you just can't rephrase, and I think that in such cases,
> it is necessary for one to know every alternative valid option.
>

It might be more accurate to note that there are times *you* don't *want*
to rephrase. However, Klingon does not force you to mix up phrasing just to
keep things interesting. Indeed, repetition is a normal and expected part
of Klingon language. Your personal style might not match the predominant
style of the best-written Klingon, but that's not a reason to insist that
you're *unable* to write clearly understandable sentences.

(If you want a good example of intentionally obtuse and convoluted
phrasing, look at the speaking style of polonyuS in The Klingon Hamlet.
Shakespeare takes effort to read even in the best of times, but those lines
are especially difficult because they are so long and complicated.)

-- ghunchu'wI'
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