Re: Gender in Pronouns
Steven Boozer 
Wed, 14 Oct 1998 16:09:26 -0500

Martina Luise Pachali:
:                                If for some reason you need to be
: offensive, you just use the non-sentient pronons for a person...
 
Saul Epstein:
: Ooh, that does sound effective. Especially for so intellectual a
: people as Vulcans...

I agree, not that a Vulcan would ever dream of being intentionally offensive!
That would be an obvious (not to mention public) emotional reaction.

Actually, this is one of the many ways you can insult someone in Klingon.  The
nominal possessive suffixes -wIj "my", -maj "our", -lIj "your (sg.)" and -raj
"your (pl.)" are only used for objects, animals, abstractions, etc.  The
corresponding forms for "beings capable of using language" (i,e. people and
other sentient life forms) are -wI', -ma', -lI' and -ra'.  (There is no such 
non-sentient/sentient split in the third person, however, and the same
suffixes
-- -Daj "his/her/its" and -chaj "their" -- are used for both.)  This same
distinction is made with the plural suffixes: -mey for things, -pu' for people
plus -Du' for body parts.  Using the wrong one inadvertantly may prove
hazardous to one's health.  Marc Okrand explains:

"It is grammatically correct to use the regular possessive suffixes with nouns
referring to beings capable of speech (as in {puqlIj} 'your child'), but such
constructions are considered derogatory; {joHwIj} for 'my lord' borders on
taboo". (The Klingon Dictionary, p,25)

"Addressing 'my Lord' or 'my Lady' as {joHwIj} rather than {joHwI'} is
insulting indeed, since it implies that 'my Lord' or 'my Lady' is a lower
order
of being. Similarly, a group of heads of households would probably not
appreciate being referred to as {joHDu'}, since that would be the appropriate
way to say 'Lords' or 'Ladies' only if they were body parts. The only thing
worse would be combining mispronuncation with grammatical blundering, such as
by saying {joQDu'wIj} (my ribs) ... when {joHpu'wI'} (my Lords, my Ladies) is
intended. Mistakes of this kind are simply not tolerated and there are no
recorded instances of anyone living long enough to repeat the offense."
(Klingon For the Galactic Traveller, p,190)



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 Steven Boozer                The University of Chicago Library
 s-boozer*uchicago,edu