Is the Sev Trek 2 translation ready? (and catagories of
Rob Zook 
Thu, 25 Jun 1998 16:27:51 -0500

Hi all,


A little while ago I posted a possible translation for Sev Trek 2.

With Saul's help we got it to this form:


English:

Gaudy: Beta, can I ask you a personal question?

Beta: Of course, Gaudy.

Gaudy: Are you IBM compatible?


Vulcan:

Gaudi: th'nidroijia goifa jidokhti beta'a

Beta:  s'nidroima gaudi'a

Gaudi: qa s'izgezu ibumusko



Does anyone see anything else wrong with this translation?




Also, Saul had proposed the suffix -sko for the "with" kind of

instrumental object. Since the general indirect objects we have already,

can have much more specific meanings. I had been wondering can the 

various kind of objects be divided into well defined catagories?


If so, we might want to make a small set of indirect object suffixes,

and use them for informal vulcan. Then add some kind of modifier to

the suffix for a catagory of indirect objects and make it more

specific.


The idea is, that for a new comer to vulcan, even if they do not

know what the specifier part of the suffix adds to the meaning,

they can at least tell what general kind of indirect object the

sentance is using. Like location -he, we chould (just for example)

have something like:


-he - some kind of location

-hei - temporal location

-hea - spatial location

-heu - imaginary location


-ti - instrumental

-tia - with

-tio - using


The catagories of indirect objects could be very small, to make 

them easy to learn, having the morphology of the more specific

instances of a catagory related to the catagory, would make it possibly 

unnecessary for the listener to know the specific indirect object.


Knowing the indirect object catagory might be enough if the sentence

makes the meaning fairly obvious. While the specific indirect object

would make it easy to speak very precisely without obfustication or

overcomplication.



Comments?



Rob Z.

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<bigger>Boundary, n. In political geography, an imaginary line between 

two nations, separating the imaginary rights of one from the 

imaginary rights of another.

-- Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_

</bigger>