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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/18/2019 10:36 AM, Lieven L. Litaer
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:bd843c89-2e17-21c4-b317-b3d48eb7c124@gmx.de">Am
18.02.2019 um 16:22 schrieb SuStel:
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">There's a difference between "I ask why
I was chosen." and "I ask: why was I chosen?"
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Not in Klingon. Much has been made of "direct quotations" by
certain people, but Klingon happily uses so-called direct
quotations where English will use so-called "indirect
quotations."
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
What I mean is when I write "I tell you why I ate the pie" it
means that I am going to tell you the reason for eating the pie.
If I write "I tell you 'why I ate the pie'" it only means that I'm
going to speak the words "why I ate the pie".
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>What you're describing is in English performed with a relative
pronoun. That's not what happens when you say <b>jIjatlh qatlh
vIwIvlu'pu'.</b> It means <i>I ask why I was chosen,</i> not <i>I
say why I was chosen.</i> The latter would require a relative
pronoun, which Klingon doesn't have. The former is simply reported
speech: <i>I say, "Why was I chosen?"</i> It means exactly the
same as <i>I ask why I was chosen.</i> In Klingon both of those
sentences are translated into <b>jIjatlh qatlh vIwIvlu'pu'.</b>
(You might add a <b>jIghel</b> somewhere nearby to make clear
that a question is asked, but it's pretty clear from the reported
speech.)</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:bd843c89-2e17-21c4-b317-b3d48eb7c124@gmx.de">
So you would agree if I say things like
<br>
<br>
{qatlh HoD HoH 'e' vISov}
<br>
"I know why he killed the captain"
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>No, this is a relative pronoun in English and cannot be
translated this way in Klingon.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:bd843c89-2e17-21c4-b317-b3d48eb7c124@gmx.de">
or avoiding the QAO-Problem:
<br>
<br>
{qatlh HoD HoH jIja'}
<br>
"I tell why he killed the captain."
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>No. You didn't <i>tell</i> anything here; you asked a question.
If you had said <b>qatlh HoD HoHpu' jIjatlh,</b> I'd understand
this as <i>I ask why he killed the captain.</i> It's no different
in meaning from <i>I say, "Why did he kill the captain?"</i>
(Notice that the perfective is required, because the killing is
completed.)<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:bd843c89-2e17-21c4-b317-b3d48eb7c124@gmx.de">
{chay' Duj chenmoHlu' 'e' vISov}
<br>
"I know how the ship is constructed."
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>No. This is a relative pronoun in English, and cannot be
translated this way in Klingon.<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:bd843c89-2e17-21c4-b317-b3d48eb7c124@gmx.de">PS: I'm
really just talking about an interesting topic. No offense
intended.
<br>
</blockquote>
<p>None taken; I also think it's interesting.</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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