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Ring A: 17/20: Klingon |
Philip Newton | ||
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| << Rokbeigalmki | Nesheti >> |
Klingon
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Smooth Translation
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Translation from Rokbeigalmki
- "This is Ito". Second Song.
- The human sings the following optimistically:
- "A power speaks during sunset.
- During sunset, the power understands everyone.
- The power awakens the souls of the forest,
- and you cannot stop her.
- The power fights against the darkness,
- and you make bright her undersides with your lifeforce,
- and the power passes through our hair.
- The power guards the forest against foreigners;
- the power gives to youths their strength;
- the power gives love to everyone and everything;
- Íto is a friendly child who's approaching maturity;
- Íto is a gift.
- So shall this be forever!"
Grammar
- Klingon uses OVS word order.
- Noun-noun combinations are head-final; {X Y} is "the X's Y" or "the Y of the X". (Combinations of more than one noun can branch in any way: {X Y Z} can by {(X Y) Z} or {X (Y Z)}, etc. Use context to disambiguate.)
- There are no articles, definite or indefinite; a noun such as {Sor} can mean "tree", "a tree", or "the tree". (Or even "trees" or "the trees", since plural-marking is optional.)
- Klingon is agglutinative; nouns can have up to five suffixes, while verbs can have a prefix and up to nine or ten suffixes. (In practice, though, it's rare to see more than two or three suffixes on a word.)
- Klingon uses stative verbs where English would use adjectives. "Adjectives" follow the noun they modify.
- Verbs (including adjective-like stative verbs) can be turned into nouns through certain verb endings. The only such ending in this text is {-wI'} which makes a noun meaning "person or thing which does [verb]; person or thing which is [adjective]". Such a noun can then take normal noun endings.
- Relative clauses do not use a special particle but merely add the verbal suffix {-bogh} to the verb of the relative clause. The verb itself stands in the ordinary position -- that is, before its subject and after its object (if any). If the verb has both a subject and an object, the head of the clause may be optionally marked; however, this relay text uses {-bogh} only on intransitive verbs, where the head must be the subject of the relative clause.
- Adverbs always occur at the beginning of a clause, as do benefactive expressions with {-vaD}. (Benefactive is also used in some cases where other languages might use dative, e.g. with verbs of speaking or giving.)
- The verb suffix {-moH} is causative and increases the valency; that is, it turns intransitive verbs into transitive ones. Compare {vIH Sor} "the tree is moving; the tree is in motion" with {Sor vIHmoH SuvwI'} "the warrior makes the tree move; the warrior moves the tree" ({Sor} "tree", {vIH} "move, be in motion", {SuvwI'} "warrior"). The subject of the intransitive verb becomes the object of the transitive, causative verb.
- Certain syntactical verb suffixes introduce subordinate clauses, including {-vIS} (which always occurs in conjunction with a preceding {-taH}), {-DI'} and {-mo'}. These subordinate clauses can occur either before or after the main clause. For example, {pawDI' SuvwI' SISchoH} "When the warrior arrived, it began to rain" or {SISchoH pawDI' SuvwI'} "It began to rain when the warrior arrived" ({SIS} "rain", {-choH} "(inchoative)", {paw} "arrive", {-DI'} "when, as soon as", {SuvwI'} "warrior").
- Verbs with {-meH} are purpose clauses; they state for what purpose or to what end something is done. However, Klingon sometimes uses clauses where the main verb has the suffix {-meH} as titles; a literal translation is probably not appropriate there. Consider, for example, the English titles "_Saving_ Private Ryan", "_To Kill_ a Mockingbird", and "_The Taming of_ the Shrew", all of which might have {-meH} on the main verb in Klingon but various constructions in English. Other possible circumlocutions might include "Here's how ...", "The Story of ...", or "The day when ...". You get the idea; be creative and adapt the title to the conventions of your language.
- It may be easiest to identify the main verb in a sentence first, then any adverbials that may be present; the remainder, in a simple sentence, will be object (before the verb) and/or subject (after the verb). Note that an intransitive verb following a noun is probably an adjective, as described below, since a subject must come after its verb.
- Klingon is pro-drop; that is, pronouns for subject or object can be omitted. Usually, a verb prefix indicates both the subject and the object; however, for third-person subjects and no object or a third-person object, the prefix is zero (i.e. no visible prefix). Nevertheless, the pronoun(s) may be dropped; {legh} could mean both "he sees" or "he sees it", for example.
- Imperatives are formed using special verb prefixes that mark not only a second-person subject but also indicate that the verb is imperative. Different prefixes depend on the subject (singular or plural) and object.
- Verbs are not marked for tense, but are optionally marked for aspect. The two aspect markers used in this text should not be confused with tense markers; {leghtaH} (with continuous {-taH}) could be "he is seeing" but also "he was seeing" or "he will be seeing", and {Soppu'} (with perfective {-pu'}) could be "he has eaten" but also "he will have eaten".
- Klingon has no copula. However, pronouns can also function as verbs; for example, {SuvWI' jIH} "I am a warrior" ({SuvwI'} "warrior"; {jIH} "I (am)"); {Qel ghaH} "He is a doctor" ({Qel} "doctor", {ghaH} "he/she (is)"). If a noun is to be the "subject", it is marked as a topic instead: {Qel ghaH vavwI''e'} "My father is a doctor" ({vavwI'} "my father", {-'e'} topic marker; literally, "as for my father: he is a doctor").
Vocabulary
For convenience, this lexicon is arranged in (English) alphabetical order, ignoring hyphens, apostrophes (though they're a separate letter in Klingon, usually sorting at the end of the alphabet), and case (though {Q} and {q} are separate letters in Klingon).
Verb and noun suffixes are sorted in with the remainder of the entries.
| -be' | (v.suff.) negative marker; not |
| -bogh | (v.suff.) relative clause marker; see grammar |
| bom | (v.) to sing; (n.) song |
| bot | (v.) prevent, block, prohibit |
| cha' | (num.) two |
| -chaj | (n.suff.) their (3pl. possessor) |
| -choH | (v.suff.) inchoative prefix: begin to (do/be), start to (do/be); see also {nen}. |
| Da- | (n.pref.) subject = 2sg., object = 3 (sg./pl.) |
| Del | (v.) describe |
| -DI' | (v.suff.) as soon as; when |
| -DIch | forms ordinal numbers, e.g. {wej} "three", {wejDIch} "third" |
| Du- | (n.pref.) subject = 3sg., object = 2sg. |
| -'e' | (n.suff.) topic marker; see grammar |
| 'ej | (conj.) and (joins sentences) |
| 'el | (v.) enter, go in |
| ghaH | (pron.) 3sg. animate pronoun: he, she, him, her |
| ghob | (v.) fight, battle, do battle, wage war |
| ghu' | (n.) situation |
| Hoch | (pron.) everyone, everything, all |
| HoS | (adj.v.) be strong; (n.) strength, energy, power |
| HoSghaj | (v.) be powerful |
| Hov | (n.) star |
| Hurgh | (adj.v.) be dark |
| 'Iyto' | (proper n.) Eeto/Ito (a name - with no analysable meaning, and of no obvious gender) |
| -jaj | (v.suff.) may, let (expresses a desire or wish on the part of the speaker that something take place in the future) |
| jatlh | (v.) say, tell, speak |
| jup | (n.) friend |
| -laH | (v.suff.) be able, can |
| -lI' | (n.suff.) your (2sg. possessor, animate possession) |
| lo' | (v.) use; (n.) use |
| loD | (n.) male, man |
| -meH | (v.suff.) purpose-clause marker; see grammar |
| -mey | (n.suff.) plural marker for inanimate nouns |
| -mo' | (v.suff.) because of; (n.suff.) due to, because of |
| -moH | (v.suff.) causative marker; see grammar |
| mu' | (n.) word |
| nargh | (v.) appear; escape |
| nen | (v.) be mature, grown-up, adult |
| nenchoH | (v.) mature, grow up |
| ngem | (n.) forest, woods |
| nob | (v.) give; (n.) gift |
| nov | (adj.v.) be foreign, alien; (n.) alien, foreigner, outsider |
| parmaq | (n.) romance, love |
| -pu' | (v.suff.) perfective marker; (n.suff.) plural marker for animate nouns |
| puq | (n.) child, offspring |
| qa' | (n.) spirit (considered animate) |
| Qan | (v.) protect |
| qaS | (v.) occur, happen |
| Qup | (adj.v.) be young |
| rach | (v.) invigorate, fortify, strengthen |
| ram | (v.) be trivial, trifling, unimportant, insignificant; (n.) night |
| reH | (adv.) always |
| -taHvIS | (v.suff.) while (actually two separate suffixes: {-taH} "continuous aspect" + {-vIS} "while", but {-vIS} always occurs together with {-taH}, and {-taH} doesn't occur by itself in this text) |
| tI- | (n.pref.) imperative: subject = 2 (sg./pl.), object = 3pl. |
| tul | (v.) hope |
| -vaD | (n.suff.) benefactive case marker: for |
| -vam | (n.suff.) this |
| -wI' | (n.suff.) my (1sg. possessor, animate possession); (v.suff.) agentive marker: one who (is/does); thing which (is/does) |
| wov | (adj.v.) be light, bright |
| yaj | (v.) understand |
| yI- | (v.pref.) imperative: subject = 2 (sg./pl.), object = 3sg. or subject = 2sg., no object. |
Abbreviations
| 2 | second person |
| 3 | third person |
| adj.v. | intransitive verb which can also be used like an adjective (in which case, it follows the noun it modifies) |
| adv. | adverb |
| conj. | conjunction |
| n. | noun |
| n.suff. | suffix for nouns |
| num. | numeral |
| OSV | object-verb-subject |
| pl. | plural |
| pron. | pronoun |
| sg. | singular |
| v. | verb |
| v.pref. | prefix for verbs |
| v.suff. | suffix for verbs |
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