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As some people here may be aware, I've been a student of the Klingon language for some considerable time. I'm a huge fan of Star Trek, and my love of languages spilled over into the realm of Trek fandom with the publication of The Klingon Dictionary (TKD) and the associated books. As you do.
Some of you may be aware, further, that groups of Klingonists exist and correspond regularly, exchanging anecdotes and insights with one another. Often, it feels like trying to make sense of a bag of cats, admittedly, though, I must admit: nonetheless, I acknowledge that these guys are trying to make sense of tlhIngan Hol as much as I am.
I'll have to mention something here. TKD contains a little in joke dating back to Star Trek III. Towards the end of the film, a Klingon called Maltz (played by some US comedy actor called John Larroquette) was captured by Kirk. ("You said you would kill me!" "I lied!") The joke is that Maltz is responsible for the creation of TKD, since on being turned over to the Vulcans he gave the Federation everything he knew about Klingon, and Marc Okrand merely wrote it all down.
This past week, we have been speculating on Klingon terms, mainly nouns, that Marc Okrand, the author of TKD, kind of left out of the book. I proposed some hypothetical adverbials - like adverbs, these are words that modify the action of the verb in a sentence, such as slowly or frequently.
As a consequence of this conversation, I found myself getting into some choppy ontological waters ...
Me: Other apocrypha I was thinking of, mostly adverbials, are:- <a whole batch of Klingon stuff, all snipt>
Correspondent: <quoting HQ 4.4> Whether this {-Ha'} can be added to all adverbials is not clear. The notes taken while working with Maltz indicate that he balked at {vajHa'} ("not thus?") but accepted {Do'Ha'} "unfortunately". Information on other adverbials has not yet been uncovered, though it is probably in the notes somewhere.
Me: <more Klingon stuff, sticking to the topic and NOT mentioning Maltz>
C: When Maltz balks at something, my impression is that he considers it "not the way a Klingon would say it," not that it doesn't make sense to him. /We/ completely lack any way to reason along these lines.
Me: <thinking "Eh?"> It's okay to just say that it's M. Okrand balking at the construction, and deciding that *vajHa' doesn't sit right with him.
C: But how do you know that's what is happening? I don't believe it is. Okrand likes to include lots of little "'cause that's the way they say it" rules in the language, having nothing to do with whether it "sits right" with him. When he says Maltz balks, he means Maltz balks, not that he balks.
Me: <WTF?>
Edit: I just read out the above conversation with Dad. His reply: "Yup. That all sounds like balks to me."
Some of you may be aware, further, that groups of Klingonists exist and correspond regularly, exchanging anecdotes and insights with one another. Often, it feels like trying to make sense of a bag of cats, admittedly, though, I must admit: nonetheless, I acknowledge that these guys are trying to make sense of tlhIngan Hol as much as I am.
I'll have to mention something here. TKD contains a little in joke dating back to Star Trek III. Towards the end of the film, a Klingon called Maltz (played by some US comedy actor called John Larroquette) was captured by Kirk. ("You said you would kill me!" "I lied!") The joke is that Maltz is responsible for the creation of TKD, since on being turned over to the Vulcans he gave the Federation everything he knew about Klingon, and Marc Okrand merely wrote it all down.
This past week, we have been speculating on Klingon terms, mainly nouns, that Marc Okrand, the author of TKD, kind of left out of the book. I proposed some hypothetical adverbials - like adverbs, these are words that modify the action of the verb in a sentence, such as slowly or frequently.
As a consequence of this conversation, I found myself getting into some choppy ontological waters ...
Me: Other apocrypha I was thinking of, mostly adverbials, are:- <a whole batch of Klingon stuff, all snipt>
Correspondent: <quoting HQ 4.4> Whether this {-Ha'} can be added to all adverbials is not clear. The notes taken while working with Maltz indicate that he balked at {vajHa'} ("not thus?") but accepted {Do'Ha'} "unfortunately". Information on other adverbials has not yet been uncovered, though it is probably in the notes somewhere.
Me: <more Klingon stuff, sticking to the topic and NOT mentioning Maltz>
C: When Maltz balks at something, my impression is that he considers it "not the way a Klingon would say it," not that it doesn't make sense to him. /We/ completely lack any way to reason along these lines.
Me: <thinking "Eh?"> It's okay to just say that it's M. Okrand balking at the construction, and deciding that *vajHa' doesn't sit right with him.
C: But how do you know that's what is happening? I don't believe it is. Okrand likes to include lots of little "'cause that's the way they say it" rules in the language, having nothing to do with whether it "sits right" with him. When he says Maltz balks, he means Maltz balks, not that he balks.
Me: <WTF?>
Edit: I just read out the above conversation with Dad. His reply: "Yup. That all sounds like balks to me."
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