Conlang Relay 12/Klingon

This page contains details on the Klingon portion of Conlang Relay 12.

Text

yIbej! jatlh vay'!

loDnal

Qapla'! yIyoH!

ghojmoq

yIyuvtaH, chaj, yIyuvtaH!

ghojmoq

ghu nach vIleghlaH, chaj. tlhoS Data'pu'. yIyuvqa', chaj, yIyuvtaH!

loDnal

Qapla'! yIyoH!

ghojmoq

narghbejpu' nach.

ghu

toH. Daqvam vIlegh not 'e' vIQub.

ghojmoq

ghuy'cha'!

be'nal

qaS nuq?

ghojmoq

yIqImHa'! yIyuvqa', chaj, yIyuvtaH!

loDnal

Qapla'! yIyoH!

ghu

jIHvaD Sut yItuQmoH! roD Sut Doj wItuQ.

be'nal

jatlhtaH 'Iv?

ghu

HI'Ij, SoS. puqloDlI' jIH. pong "qonnor" vIpar. 'Iq pongvam lughajbogh ghot'e'.

be'nal

wItojlu'law'. chay' jatlh loDHom?

ghojmoq

DaH SoS ghu je rarbogh tlhegh'e' vIpe'ta'.

ghu

Heghpu'bogh SuvwI' vISov. "petroS" 'oH pongDaj'e'. QaQ pongvam. jIHvaD "petroS" yIpong!

ghu

jI'oj, 'ach rolIjDaq jItlhutlhQo'.

ghojmoq

yIvIHQo', petroS.

ghu

Hut wen, 'Iw HIq vItlhutlh.

loDnal

Qapla'! yIyoH!

jaj veb, ghItlh ja'wI', jatlh: "boghpu' jatlhlaHbogh ghu! Suto'vo'qor Del."

Smooth translation

Look! Someone is talking!

Husband

Success! Be brave!

Nurse

Push, dear, push!

Nurse

I can see the baby's head, dear. You have nearly accomplished it. Push again, dear, push!

Husband

Success! Be brave!

Nurse

The head has definitely appeared.

Baby

Well. I never thought I would see this place.

Nurse

*@$%!

Wife

What's happening?

Nurse

Pay no attention! Push again, dear, push!

Husband

Success! Be brave!

Baby

Put clothes on me! I used to wear impressive clothing.

Wife

Who's talking?

Baby

Listen to me, mother! I'm your son. I dislike the name "Kon'nor". There are too many people who have that name.

Wife

Somebody seems to be tricking us. How does the boy speak?

Nurse

I have now successfully cut through the cord which connects the mother and the child.

Baby

I know a dead warrior; his name was "Pet'rosh". That name is good. Call me "Pet'rosh"!

Baby

I am thirsty, but I refuse to drink at your torso.

Nurse

Don't move, Pet'rosh.

Baby

Nine months ago, I drank bloodwine.

Husband

Success! Be brave!

The next day, a reporter wrote, saying: "A baby that could speak was born! It described Sto-vo-kor."

Lexicon

Suffixes

-'e'

(nsuff) topic. Also marks the head noun in relative clauses and in "to be" constructions.

-Daj

(nsuff) his/her/its (3rd singular possessive)

-Daq

(nsuff) locative: in/at/on/by

-Qo'

(vsuff) with imperatives: "don't (verb)"; otherwise: "(subject) refuses to (verb)"

-bej

(vsuff) certainly, undoubtedly

-bogh

(vsuff) relative clause marker

-lI'

(nsuff) thy (2nd singular possessive, animate possession)

-lIj

(nsuff) thy (2nd singular possessive, inanimate possession)

-laH

(vsuff) be able to, can

-law'

(vsuff) apparently; it seems that ...

-lu'

(vsuff) indefinite subject/pseudo-passive. See grammar sketch.

-pu'

(vsuff) marks perfective aspect

-qa'

(vsuff) "again". Using this suffix implies that an action had been taking place, then it stopped, and then it began again.

-ta'

(vsuff) marks perfective aspect; implies that the result of the verb was on purpose or that the activity was deliberately undertaken, the implication being that someone set out to do something and in fact did it. (The difference between -pu' and -ta' is not necessarily reflected in an English translation.)

-taH

(vsuff) marks continuous aspect; indicates that an action is ongoing.

-vaD

(nsuff) for, for the benefit of, on behalf of; used for indirect objects.

-vam

(nsuff) this (demonstrative; indicates something near or that has been a recent topic of conversation)

Prefixes

Da-

subject = thou, object = him/her/it/them

HI-

(imperative) subject = thou/you, object = me

jI-

subject = I, no object

lu-

subject = they, object = him/her/it

vI-

subject = I, object = him/her/it/them

wI-

subject = we, object = him/her/it

yI-

(imperative) subject = thou/you, object = him/her/it or no object

(zero)

subject = him/her/it, object = him/her/it/them or no object; subject = they, object = them or no object

Words

be'nal

n. wife

bej

v. watch

bogh

v. be born

chaj

n. dear (term of affection used between two women who are very close friends)

chay'

adv. how?

DaH

adv. now

Daq

n. location

Del

v. describe

Doj

adj. impressive

ghaj

v. to have, possess

ghItlh

v. to write

ghojmoq

n. nurse

ghot

n. person

ghu

n. baby

ghuy'cha'

interj. *@$% (used, for example, after hearing something unsettling)

Hegh

v. die

HIq

(see 'Iw HIq)

Hut

num. nine

ja'wI'

n. reporter

jaj

n. day

jatlh

v. speak, say

je

conj. and (*follows* the terms to be joined)

jIH

pron. I; v. I am

legh

v. see

loDHom

n. boy

loDnal

n. husband

nach

n. head

nargh

v. escape; appear

not

adv. never

nuq

pron. what?

par

v. dislike

pe'

v. cut

petroS

proper n. A name, Petrosh

pong

n. name; v. name (DO = name, IO = named thing)

puqloD

n. son

Qapla'

interj. Success! (also used as a farewell or as encouragement)

QaQ

adj. good

qaS

v. happen, occur

qImHa'

v. disregard, pay no attention (to)

qonnor

proper n. A name, Kon'nor

Qub

v. think

rar

v. connect

ro

n. torso, trunk (of the body), chest

roD

adv. usually, customarily, habitually

SoS

n. mother

Sov

v. know

Sut

n. clothing

Suto'vo'qor

proper n. Sto-vo-kor; Klingon afterlife for the honoured dead, where all true warriors go after they die to fight an eternal battle. The closest Klingon equivalent to heaven.

SuvwI'

n. warrior

ta'

v. accomplish

tlhegh

n. rope, line

tlhoS

adv. almost, nearly

tlhutlh

v. drink

toH

interj. So! Well!

toj

v. trick, deceive

tuQ

v. wear (clothing)

tuQmoH

v. put on (clothing) (DO = clothing; IO = person clothed)

vay'

pron. someone, something

veb

adj. next, following (in a series or sequence)

vIH

v. move, be in motion

wen

n. months ago

yoH

v. be brave

yuv

v. push

'Ij

v. listen (to)

'Iq

v. be too many, be too much

'Iv

pron. who?

'Iw HIq

n. bloodwine (an alcoholic drink typically drunk by warriors)

'ach

conj. but

'e'

pron. that (refers to a preceding sentence which is the object of this verb's sentence; see grammar)

'oH

pron. it; v. it is

'oj

v. be thirsty

Grammar sketch

• Klingon has an OVS sentence structure. Adverbs and temporal/locative/ indirect object phrases come at the very beginning of a clause.
• Verbs have a prefix which indicates subject and object as well as mood (indicative vs imperative). A special case is the null prefix, which indicates a third-person subject and either no object or a third-person object (except for the combination 3pl subject/3sg object, which has the prefix lu-). For example, legh see could mean "he sees her", "they see", or "she sees them", among other things.
• Verbs can take a number of suffixes, which fall into certain classes. Specifics are not important here, except for the fact that suffixes must occur in a certain order, depending on the class of each suffix; this order may or may not correspond to the "natural" order that the translations would take in English (e.g. poSnISmoH need to open from poS be open + -moH causative + -nIS need, but with suffix order -nISmoH not -moHnIS).
• Verbs are optionally marked for aspect (continuous or perfective) but are not marked for tense. An unmarked verb may have a past, present, or future interpretation, which must be determined from context. Even a verb with a perfective suffix need not refer to a past event.
• Relative clauses use the marker -bogh on the verb in the subordinate cluase. If it is not clear whether the head of the subordinate clause is the subject or the object of that clause, the head may be made explicit by attaching the topic marker -'e' to the head.
• Nouns can also takes suffixes, which also come in classes. The ones used in this text should be fairly self-explanatory.
• Two nouns next to one another modify one another in the order modifier-modified, e.g. qun paq history book from qun history + paq book, or qeylIS betleH Kahless's bat'leth, from qeylIS Kahless (proper name) + betleH bat'leth (type of weapon).
• Pronouns can function like nouns (I, thou, he, etc.) or as verbs (I am, thou art, he is, etc.). A special case is the "to be" sentence for a third-person subject, which consists of object + 3rd person pronoun + subject noun with topic marker -'e' (e.g. Qel ghaH loDvam'e' this man is/was a doctor, from Qel doctor, ghaH he (is), loDvam'e' this man (top.).
• Reported speech always uses the verb jatlh speak, talk, say, possibly in connection with a different verb of speech such as ghItlh write or jang reply. For example, "He replied, 'I will not kill him'" would be jang, jatlh: «vIHoHQo'» -- literally: "He replied; he said, 'I will not kill him'".
• Sentences can take previous sentences as objects; in this case, the previous sentence is replaced with the special pronoun 'e'. Any adverbials etc. precede this object, as they do other objects. For example, paq DalaDpu' wej 'e' vIHar I do not yet believe that you have read the book (paq book, DalaDpu' you have read it (perf.), wej not yet, 'e' that (refers back to previous sentence as an object), vIHar I believe it). NB do not confuse the pronoun 'e' with the noun suffix -'e' (topic marker). (The first always stands alone; the second is always attached to a word.)
• It may be easiest first to identify the main verb in each clause; anything before it is adverbs, temporal/locative/indirect object phrases, or the object of the verb; anything after it is the subject. If the subject or the object is a relative clause, next identify whether the subordinate verb has anything before or after it, indicating the object and/or subject of the subordinate clause. If the second sentence uses the sentence-as-object pronoun 'e', try to determine where the first sentence ends (e.g. by looking for adverbials etc. which must come at the beginning of a sentence).
• Verbs with -lu' indicate an unknown or unspecified subject. In such cases, the prefixes take on a different meaning; with subject and object trading places. For example, Da- (which usually means "you - him/her/it/them") means "someone/something - you", e.g. Daleghlu' someone sees you. Such verbs can sometimes be translated as passives; in the example, "You are seen".