On 2/18/2019 10:08 AM, Lieven L. Litaer wrote:
Am 18.02.2019 um 15:58 schrieb SuStel: Yes, this is a murky area of Klingon grammar :-)
Except we know that sometimes when Okrand says /sentence/ he means the verbal clause under consideration.
Yes, of course.
You would not, for instance, translate /I ask why I was chosen/ as *qatlh jIjatlh vIwIvlu'pu'?* A sentence-as-object is still a sentence, but you'd put the *qatlh* with the piece it belongs with: *jIjatlh qatlh vIwIvlu'pu'; qatlh vIwIvlu'pu' jIjatlh.*
I agree with that example, but I think it's different from what mayqel asked.
I am choosing examples that are deliberately different, to try to illustrate the issues involved.
And using jatlh gets us a lot more into trouble. First, {jatlh} is such a special situation, and next, you are using the word "why" not as a question word, but in a way that it changes a question to a statement.
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." *qaja'pu' HIqaghQo' *or *HIqaghQo' qaja'pu**'* /I told you not to interrupt me. /(TKD)/ / Here, Okrand is in no way interested in maintaining any difference between /I told you not to interrupt me/ and /I told you, "Don't interrupt me!" / I didn't have to use *jatlh* to make an example, though. *nuq ta'pu' 'ej qatlh ta'pu'*/What did he do and why did he do it?/ Compound sentences are sentences, and if we were to follow the rules too closely, we would be considering *qatlh nuq ta'pu' 'ej ta'pu',* which is obviously wrong. -- SuStel http://trimboli.name