Conjunctions - 'a, 'ach "but"

This is the last conjunction word used in tlhIngan Hol. 'ach (sometimes shortened to 'a) means but, however, nonetheless, even so.

'ach

This conjunction comes between two sentences it is joining. Some examples:-

jIghung 'ach jI'ojbe'	I am hungry but I am not thirsty
jagh Suv neH loDvetlh 'ach SuDqangbe'	That man wants to fight the enemy but he is unwilling to take a risk
jIQong vIneH 'a jIQonglaHbe'	I want to sleep, but I cannot

'ach can also be used at the beginning of a sentence, and even in addressing someone - typically to voice an objection:-

'ach HoD, jaghmey law' tu'lu' 'ej mapuS

But Captain, there are many enemies and we are few!

Note from the Blogmaster

A bit light on examples this week. I did not expect to be online tonight to edit this document for more examples.

The UK, where I live, is being battered by high winds and driving rain. I was expecting domestic power and access to the internet to be cut off at any moment. It still might.

Updates and further examples will be forthcoming soon.

Conjunctions - Exclusive "Or," Joining Sentences

Last time, the conjunction ghap XOR was introduced. ghap is used to join nouns together, and goes after the joined nouns.

qagh chab ghap	Gagh XOR a pie - in other words, one or the other - not both
vulqanganpu' romuluSnganpu' ghap	Vulcans XOR Romulans
ghaH ghaH ghap	him XOR her

The XOR conjunction that joins sentences together is pagh. All sentence-joining conjunctions come between the sentences they join. That includes pagh.

Examples:-

jaghDaj Suv tlhIngan pagh tera'ngan jagh Suv tlhIngan	The Klingon fights his own enemy XOR the Terran's enemy (if he fights the Terran's enemy, he is not fighting his own)
tachmeyDaq SuvtaH SuvwI'pu' pagh pa' SoptaH SuvwI'pu' pagh pa' tlhutlhtaH SuvwI'pu' net Sov	One knows that warriors eat XOR fight XOR drink in bars (they can't do all of the above at once)
yIQaQ pagh yIDaj	Be good XOR interesting(this is true of all Klingons, more than you can know)
jaghpu'vo' qetlaH pagh So'laH	They can either run from the enemies XOR hide from them

Conjunctions - Exclusive "Or," Joining Nouns

Today, we are looking at the conjunction ghap exclusive or.

ghap

ghap joins nouns together. It means or; either one option or the other, but not both. As with je, ghap goes after the nouns it joins together.

Example:-

tlhIngan tera'ngan ghap

means A Klingon or a Terran, but not both.

Mercy Or Power

There is a famous Klingon proverb,

pung HoS ghap

Often written ungrammatically (but traditionally) as pung ghap HoS, the proverb reads Mercy or power. The use of ghap exclusive or reveals the Klingon philosophy - in order to be strong, a Klingon cannot show mercy.

Gate Logic

ghap is the equivalent of the XOR logic gate with two inputs A and B, which returns 1 only if A is 1 and B is 0, or if A is 0 and B is 1, but returns 0 if both A and B are 0 or if A and B are both 1.

tlhIngan tera'ngan ghap	a Klingon or a Terran
chab HIq ghap	a pie or an ale
taj mupwI' ghap	a knife or a hammer
DIpmey wotmey ghap	nouns or verbs
moHaqmey mojaqmey ghap	prefixes or suffixes
loDpu' be'pu' ghap	Men or women
jIH SoH ghap	me or you
jIp rup ghap Segh 'oH	It's a type of penalty or a fine
qama'pu' ray' ghap bIH	They're targets or prisoners
Soj veQ ghap rurbej	Clearly, it looks like food or trash

Next: Exclusive "Or," joining sentences.

Conjunctions - "Or," Joining Sentences

Last time, the conjunction joq and/or was introduced. joq is used to join nouns together, and goes after the joined nouns.

qagh chab joq	Gagh and/or a pie
vulqanganpu' romuluSnganpu' joq	Vulcans and/or Romulans
ghaH ghaH joq	him and/or her

The and/or conjunction that joins sentences together is qoj. All sentence-joining conjunctions come between the sentences they join. That includes qoj.

Examples:-

jaghDaj Suv tlhIngan qoj tera'ngan jagh Suv tlhIngan	The Klingon fights his own enemy and/or the Terran's enemy
tachmeyDaq SuvtaH SuvwI'pu' qoj pa' SoptaH SuvwI'pu' qoj pa' tlhutlhtaH SuvwI'pu' net Sov	One knows that warriors eat and/or fight and/or drink in bars
yIQaQ qoj yIDaj	Be good and/or interesting
jaghpu'vo' maqetqangbe' qoj maSo'qangbe'. DISuvnIS	We are unwilling either to run from the enemies or hide from them. We must fight them
DIqaghnIS qoj mamumnIS qoj vay' wIta'nIS	We've got to interrupt them or intervene or do something

Next: exclusive or, joining nouns.

Conjunctions - "Or," Joining Nouns

Just as there are two types of conjunction for and - je joining nouns, coming after the joined nouns, and 'ej joining sentences, coming between the sentences, so too there are conjunctions for or.

Now here's the thing. There are four conjunctions for or.

Today, we are looking at one of them - the conjunction joq and/or.

joq

joq joins nouns together. It means and/or; either one option or the other, or both. As with je, joq goes after the nouns it joins together.

Example:-

tlhIngan tera'ngan joq

means A Klingon or a Terran, or both.

There is a conjunction describing exclusive or - a Klingon or a Terran but not both - but that is covered in another article.

tlhIngan tera'ngan joq	a Klingon or a Terran
chab HIq joq	a pie, an ale or both
taj mupwI' joq	a knife and/or a hammer
DIpmey wotmey joq	nouns and/or verbs
moHaqmey mojaqmey joq	prefixes and/or suffixes
loDpu' be'pu' joq	Men or women
jIH SoH joq	me or you (or both)
chab HIq qIj joq ra'ta' 'Iv	Who ordered the pie and/or black ale?
jIp rup joq Segh 'oH	It's a type of penalty or a fine
qama'pu' ray' joq bIH	They're targets or prisoners (or both)
Soj veQ joq rurbej	Clearly, it looks like food and/or trash

This is the equivalent of the logical OR gate with two inputs, which would return 1 if either or both inputs were 1, and would return 0 if both inputs were 0.

Note: unlike je, there is no additional meaning for joq.

Next: "Or," joining sentences.

Conjunctions - 'ej - "And" Joining Sentences

Last time, the conjunction je and was introduced. je is used to join nouns together, and can mean and and also also; too too:-

chab HIq je	a pie and an ale
puqloDpu' puqbe'pu' je	Boys and girls
ghaH ghaH je	him and her

All conjunctions joining sentences come between the sentences they join. Examples using 'ej:-

jaghDaj Suv tlhIngan 'ej tera'ngan jagh Suv tlhIngan	The Klingon fights his own enemy and the Terran's enemy
maSuvtaH 'ej maQap	We're going to fight and we're going to win
pa' DabtaH 'ej pa' vumtaH	He lives and works there

Note that in the last example,

pa' DabtaH 'ej pa' vumtaH

the term pa' has been repeated: the compound sentence is He lives there and he works there. While this can be shortened to

pa' DabtaH 'ej vumtaH

it is better to use the redundant terms in both parts of the joined sentence, particularly if doing so makes the meaning of the sentence clearer. In some cases, it is necessary to use both joined parts of the sentence in full:-

pa' DabtaH 'ej latlh DaqDaq vumtaH

He lives over there and works somewhere else

Colours

'ej also turns up in certain colour descriptions, where the combination 'ej wov usually means bright and 'ej wovbe' typically dark:-

Doq 'ej wov	bright red / bright orange
Doq 'ej wovbe'	brownish
Doqqu' 'ej wov	pink
SuD 'ej wov	bright blue / bright green / bright yellow

Colours will be described in greater detail in a later article.

Next: or, joining nouns.

Conjunctions Again

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Using Conjunctions

As outlined in the last lesson, the three kinds of conjunctions are:-

je	and (joining nouns)	'ej	and (joining sentences)
joq	and/or (joining nouns)	qoj	and/or (joining sentences)
ghap	either/or (joining nouns)	pagh	either/or (joining sentences)

In contrast with English, we only have one conjunction and which we use in joining nouns and sentences alike: fish AND chips, we talked AND we laughed, the Klingon AND the Terran both fought AND died with honour and so on.

In tlhIngan Hol, the first sentence would require the je conjunction (ghotI, tlhagh patat 'oQqar naQHommey, je), the second example would require the sentence conjunction 'ej (majatlhpu' 'ej maHaghpu') and the last example would require both (batlh Suvta' tlhIngan tera'ngan je 'ej batlh Heghta' tlhIngan tera'ngan je).

je can also be used in the context of also, too:-

romuluSngan tera'ngan je	A Romulan and a Terran too
nepwI' tojwI' je	a liar and a deceiver too
toplIn cha'pujqutmey je	topaline and also dilithium crystals
DIpmey wotmey je	nouns. Verbs, too

English also has a very important limitation in that whereas Klingon has four distinct conjunctions for or, depending on whether it is for joining nouns or sentences, and depending on whether the conjunction is exclusive (one or the other but not both) or inclusive (one and/or the other), English only really has one such conjunction, or, and no way of making such a subtle distinction.

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Conjunctions: Joining Everything Together

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Conjunctions: Joining Words

tlhIngan Hol has a way to join nouns and sentences together. These words are called conjunctions.

The three kinds of conjunctions are:-

je	and (joining nouns)	'ej	and (joining sentences)
joq	and/or (joining nouns)	qoj	and/or (joining sentences)
ghap	either/or (joining nouns)	pagh	either/or (joining sentences)

Note the difference between and/or and either/or. And/or can mean one or the other or both; either/or is mutually exclusive: only one or the other, never both.

Here are some examples of the conjunctions used to join nouns together. The conjunctions here are placed after the nouns.

romuluSngan tera'ngan je	A Romulan and a Terran
nepwI' tojwI' je	a liar and a deceiver
quv yIn HoS je	Honour, Life and Power
toplIn cha'pujqutmey joq	topaline and/or dilithium crystals
DeS 'uS joq	an arm and/or leg
DIpmey wotmey joq	nouns and/or verbs
HoS pung ghap	Strength either/or Mercy
quv Hegh ghap	Honour either/or Death
roj yay ghap	peace either/or victory

Here are examples of conjunctions joining sentences. These conjunctions come between the sentences being joined.

SoptaH 'ej QongtaH	He eats and sleeps
ngIv 'ej yevbe'	She patrols without pause (she patrols and does not pause)
jIQub qoj jIHar	I think and/or I believe
nuHvam vIlo'laH qoj nuHvetlh vIlo'laH	I can use this weapon and/or that weapon
bIyIn pagh bIHegh	You will either live or die
maroj pagh maQap	We either make peace OR we win

Friday: Some more examples.

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