On Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 3:05 PM, MorphemeAddict <lytlesw@gmail.com> wrote:
There's a logical distinction here, too, that English rarely makes outside of "Alice in Wonderland", namely that a person isn't his name. Lojban requires this distinction, but elsewhere it's rare. So saying "I am [name]" ([pong] jIH) is kind of odd, even if it's the normal way of saying what one's name is.
Early in my study of Klingon, I had the same objection. I preferred to interpret the verbal use of the pronoun {'oH} as "is a" or "is the", more of a categorizer than an indication of equality. I argued my point sincerely. I suggested that the correct way to identify oneself would be to say {pongwIj 'oH [pong]'e'}, and I fully intended to say it that way every time the opportunity occurred. And then I went to my first qep'a' and met other Klingonists. What was the VERY FIRST THING that came out of my mouth when I introduced myself? {ghunchu'wIy jIH}. [I hadn't quite had enough pronunciation practice.] It's just the natural way to do it, and it makes perfect sense if you consider that many people can have the same name. "I am a [name]." It works exactly like {tlhIngan jIH}. -- ghunchu'wI'