[tlhIngan Hol] Three questions about the *paq'batlh*

[De'vID]

On Mon, Jul 31, 2023 at 5:18 PM SuStel via tlhIngan-Hol <
tlhingan-hol at lists.kli.org> wrote:

> On 7/28/2023 10:33 AM, luis.chaparro--- via tlhIngan-Hol wrote:
>
> Let me illustrate the ambiguity. *vaS'a'Daq vIjaH.* This is actually
> ambiguous. Does it mean that *vaS'a'Daq* is the object, or does it mean *vaS'a'Daq
> 'oH vIjaH,* where the pronoun had been elided?
>
I had a chat with Dr. Okrand about this some years ago. This isn't actually
ambiguous, because when the prefix can indicate an object, and there's a
noun marked with {-Daq}, then (usually, generally, etc. - the usual
qualifications) it is the object unless there's another noun or a pronoun.
This is actually implied by the examples in TKD but not explained clearly.

{DujDaq ghoStaH} "It is approaching toward the ship."
{pa'Daq yIjaH} "Go to the room!"

These cannot mean "It is approaching something on the ship" and "Go to it
in the room!" If you wanted to say those sentences, you'd have to
explicitly add an {'oH} or something.

3.
>
> ghe’tor lojmIt
> lughoS Heghpu’bogh nuvpu’ qa’pu’
> chen wej tlheghmey
>
> (paq'raD 1, 25-27)
>
> Does *wej tlheghmey* mean *lines of three* (like the English text says), *three lines* or both (so that the phrase is ambiguous)?
>
> It means *three lines.* I'm guessing this is another sloppy translation.
> UNLESS the English is referring to lines three across and the Klingon is
> referring to three columns, which would amount to the same thing.
>
Yes, that was the idea. The English and Klingon are different ways of
describing the same thing. There are a number of places where the English
and Klingon describe the same thing differently, because translating things
more literally would've violated metrical or space or alignment constraints
or something. We considered switching {tlhegh} for {lanSoy} here, but
didn't because it wasn't necessary as it would've still had the same
meaning.

-- 
De'vID
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/attachments/20230801/5f4b93c2/attachment.htm>