On Tue, 9 Feb 2021 at 17:06, Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu> wrote:
*From:* SuStel
*Sent:* Tuesday, February 9, 2021 7:59 AM
It's a Maltz-said-so-special-phrase-so-shut-up-and-don't-generalize case. It is described in *The Klingon Way* as aberrant grammar.For those without a copy of *The Klingon Way* handy:
* QamvIS Hegh qaq law' torvIS yIn qaq puS*
Better to die on our feet than live on our knees. (ST6/TKW)
(TKW p.95): More literally, this is “Dying while standing is preferable to living while kneeling.” The grammatical construction is a bit aberrant; one would expect {*QamtaHvIS}* and {*tortaHvIS}*. In proverbs, grammatical shortcuts are not uncommon. Even the Federation Standard might be considered somewhat incomplete. One would expect “*It is* better to die on our feet than *to* live on our knees.”
I don't read it as saying it's a "Maltz-said-so-special-phrase-so-shut-up-and-don't-generalize case". The above implies that this is the grammatical and expected sentence: {QamtaHvIS Hegh qaq law' tortaHvIS yIn qaq puS}. The grammar of the KGT sentence is only "a bit aberrant". It doesn't sound to me like the corrected version is particularly extraordinary. In particular, I don't see why this parallel wouldn't be grammatical: {SuvtaHvIS batlh potlh law' yIntaHvIS tlhuH potlh puS} "Honour while fighting is more important than breath while living" or "It is more important to act honourably while we fight than to draw breath while we live." I wouldn't put a {-lu'} on the two {-taHvIS} clauses, if only because the KGT example doesn't either. -- De'vID