On 2/18/2019 10:36 AM, Lieven L. Litaer wrote:
Am 18.02.2019 um 16:22 schrieb SuStel:
There's a difference between "I ask why I was chosen." and "I ask: why was I chosen?"
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."
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".
What you're describing is in English performed with a relative pronoun. That's not what happens when you say *jIjatlh qatlh vIwIvlu'pu'.* It means /I ask why I was chosen,/ not /I say why I was chosen./ The latter would require a relative pronoun, which Klingon doesn't have. The former is simply reported speech: /I say, "Why was I chosen?"/ It means exactly the same as /I ask why I was chosen./ In Klingon both of those sentences are translated into *jIjatlh qatlh vIwIvlu'pu'.* (You might add a *jIghel* somewhere nearby to make clear that a question is asked, but it's pretty clear from the reported speech.)
So you would agree if I say things like
{qatlh HoD HoH 'e' vISov} "I know why he killed the captain"
No, this is a relative pronoun in English and cannot be translated this way in Klingon.
or avoiding the QAO-Problem:
{qatlh HoD HoH jIja'} "I tell why he killed the captain."
No. You didn't /tell/ anything here; you asked a question. If you had said *qatlh HoD HoHpu' jIjatlh,* I'd understand this as /I ask why he killed the captain./ It's no different in meaning from /I say, "Why did he kill the captain?"/ (Notice that the perfective is required, because the killing is completed.)
{chay' Duj chenmoHlu' 'e' vISov} "I know how the ship is constructed."
No. This is a relative pronoun in English, and cannot be translated this way in Klingon.
PS: I'm really just talking about an interesting topic. No offense intended.
None taken; I also think it's interesting. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name