On Wed, Nov 6, 2019 at 10:23 AM mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote:
Suppose I write:
{raS retlhDaq Qot voDleH; pa' Qotbogh je nuvpu'vaD jatlh..}
for:
"the emperor was reclining next to the table; he said for the people who were reclining there too.."
Would the klingon sentence be grammatically correct ? I'm troubled by the {je} following a {-bogh} clause,
Why? The sentence would be fine if it weren't in a *-bogh* clause: *pa' Qot je nuvpu'* "people reclined there also", "people and others (i.e. the emperor) reclined there". Should be fine to use it in a *-bogh* clause. and I don't know whether the {pa'} can refer *only* to the {Qotbogh}.
It's more likely that people will interpret it as applying to the relative clause, not the whole sentence with *jatlh*, since it's closer to the relative clause. If someone interprets it as applying to *jatlh*, then you just get "he said there, to the people also reclining..." It's not quite the same, but if the people are within earshot, then they're probably in the same basic location the emperor is, so the intended meaning will still probably get across. I'm not sure the suggested *latlh* is wholly necessary -- if the emperor is talking to them, the reader will probably be able to conclude that they are different people from the emperor.