[tlhIngan Hol] «jIH je» and variations

[Will Martin]

I think this falls into the pit of things we can’t be sure about.

Basically, we ask ourselves four questions:

1. Do we know that it’s right to use {jIH je} when we mean to add first person singular to the subject of what someone else just said? Answer: No.

2. Do we know that it’s wrong? Answer: No.

3. Would a human speaking Klingon with the language resources we now have understand you if you said this? Answer: Yes.

4. Would a Klingon in the Star Trek Universe think you were misspeaking if you said this? Answer: We have no idea.

If this happened in casual conversation among us, I think it’s forgivable. If you really care about what has been vetted as canon, this is probably not a good utterance. As pointed out, the joke canon suggests that, as is often the case, in Klingon, the verb is core to Klingon expression, and if you want to add “Me, too” to a verb other than “to be”, you probably need to repeat the verb that the speaker uttered.

pItlh

charghwI’ ‘utlh
(ghaH, ghaH, -Daj)




> On Nov 21, 2022, at 3:36 AM, De'vID via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On Sun, Nov 20, 2022 at 3:53 PM SuStel via tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org <mailto:tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org>> wrote:
>> On 11/20/2022 12:22 AM, zrajm via tlhIngan-Hol wrote:
>>> So, what do you think? Is «je jIH» better than «jIH je»? And what are you arguments for your belief? – Or should the phrase be avoided altogether and expressed some other way? How?
> {jIH je} strikes me as an Anglicism: an attempt to import a common English expression into Klingon by direct translation. 
> 
> It might happen to work in some situations, like:
> 
> Person 1: tlhIngan jIH.
> Person 2: [tlhIngan] jIH je.
>  
> I would see a response like the above as an elision of the word {tlhIngan} based on context. 
> 
> However, I don't think it works in a situation like this:
> 
> Person 1: jIDoy'.
> Person 2: jIH je.*
> 
> {je jIH} strikes me as just wrong.
>> In my opinion, the Klingon equivalent to me too is to repeat the verb in the first person and add a je. For example:
>> 
>> Klingon 1: romuluSnganpu' vImuS! I hate Romulans!
>> Klingon 2: vImuS je! Me too!
>> 
>> Klingon 1: SIbI' ruchbe'chugh chaH, jImej. If they don't get on with it right now, I'm leaving.
>> Klingon 2: jImej je! Me too!
>> 
> 
> That's also my perception. This is partly informed by the joke from Power Klingon:
> 
> 'avwI'vaD jatlh qama'; jIghung.
> jang 'avwI'; jIghung je.
> jatlh qama'; jI'oj.
> jang 'avwI'; jI'oj je.
> jatlh qama'; jIDoy'qu'.
> jatlh 'avwI'; jIDoy'be'.
> 
> -- 
> De'vID
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