<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">tlhIngan maH. taHjaj.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The first sentence obviously means “We are Klingons.” Given that “we” are plural, it’s obvious that the Klingons that we are — are also plural.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The second sentence? Since the subject is not first person plural, we’re not saying, “May we endure.” It’s third person. Singular? Plural? Given context, I’d say plural. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">So, what third person plural noun were we just given in context? “Klingons”.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">“May Klingons endure!”</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Our wish is not merely that WE endure, but that all Klingons endure.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It’s stylistically appropriate to omit the second instance of the noun {tlhIngan}, though it would not be in any way inappropriate to include it. It’s just a matter of personal style. TKD tells us that repeating a noun in a situation like this is not considered wrong, yet a lot of canon examples suggest that the omission is also not in any way wrong.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">So, “We are Klingons. May Klingons endure!”</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It’s got nothing to do with the pronoun {‘e’} or with any attempt at *Sentence As Subject*, which is not a legal grammatical construction in Klingon. We’re just saying two different things about Klingons:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">1. We are members of their race.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">2. We wish them to continue/endure.</div><br class=""><div class="">
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none;">charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan<br class=""><br class="">rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.</div>
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<div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 28, 2020, at 1:18 PM, SuStel <<a href="mailto:sustel@trimboli.name" class="">sustel@trimboli.name</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/28/2020 12:11 PM, Luis Chaparro
Caballero wrote:
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<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:trinity-61dddb4c-33fd-42d1-a577-b9b546879f4b-1601309501277@3c-app-webde-bap34" class=""><pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap=""><font color="#12c00e" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(18, 192, 14);" class="">...</span></font>But then I'm not sure if I understand the sentence in "Star Trek Discovery":
tlhIngan maH. taHjaj.
Isn't the subject of "taHjaj" the sentence "tlhIngan maH"? Something like: "It may endure, that we are Klingons", or "Our being Klingons may endure"? What is otherwise the subject of "taHjaj"? Shouldn't we use here some sort of noun, like in "paq Daje'pu'. QaQ wanI'vam." I'm probably missing something important, sorry!
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</blockquote><p class="">This sentence is not canonical Klingon — Okrand didn't write or
approve it — so I wouldn't worry too much about it. I've heard Qov
explain her thinking behind it, but I can't quite remember what
she said about it. I'm pretty sure she said it wasn't meant to be
interpreted as a sentence-as-subject. The sentence is also meant
to be a slogan, not formally grammatical Klingon. I don't think
it's even meant to be considered as two completely separate
sentences. We don't even know for sure what the elided subject
actually is. Is this Clipped Klingon? So many questions...<br class="">
</p><p class="">This was my speculation on it in that thread: <a href="http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/2018-February/007284.html" class="">http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/2018-February/007284.html</a></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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