The Borg Language On-Line CourseLesson TwoWelcome back! Congratulations on finishing Lesson One.SoundsIn this lesson, we'll look at the related sounds k q gh and kh. The k is like the first sound in the word cat, so no problems there. The q is similar, but not exactly the same; it's pronounced farther back in the throat, like the c of calm (it never has the kw sound found in words like queen).In English, k and g are related; the only difference between them is that your vocal chords vibrate when you say g (so we say g is voiced) and do not vibrate when you say k (unvoiced). kh and gh are related in the same way. kh is the unvoiced "raspy h" sound we hear in words like Bach and loch; gh is the voiced version of this same sound. We should note that, when r is the final consonant of a word, it usually sounds something like a trilled gh, and not like the plural 'r'-sound. There aren't many words that end with an r.
Word-BuildingMost Borg words are built from a C_C framework by adding a central vowel to show what type of word it is (its part of speech). So, many words are grouped in families around the central idea of the C_C root. We've already seen vaq unit, component and voq person, both from the root v_q. On the other hand, some CvC words don't seem to have an underlying root; one example is thab datapadd.New words can be built from the CvC words in two ways. First, words may be built by placing infixes in front of the central vowel. An example of this is vemaq collective, from voq plus the infix -em-, which indicates a collection of something; also dhiqudat repair station, from dhudat (act of) repairing, (dhut to repair plus -ud- action) and -iq- place for. Words can also be built by adding prefixes to the word. An example is dmakhut misunderstand, from dma- wrongly plus khut to understand. Basic CvC words can be turned into prefixes and added to words, as well. When this happens, the central vowel of the word being added drops out, making a CC pattern. An example is lnathab textbook, computer learning program, made from lun to learn + thab. When you convert a CvC word to a CCv in this way, change the v to be the same as the pos vowel of the word you're adding to. This is the only time you can do this! When you use helper words that already have the pattern CCv, the v never changes. Remember that words of more than one syllable always have the accent on the first syllable. Sometimes the beginning CC patterns can be hard to pronounce. In this case, you can add (in speaking, not in spelling!) a brief uh sound to separate them. However, the accent stays on the first written vowel of the word! It can be confusing to use such complex words, but just remember two simple principles: with nouns, the final vowel of the word is the one that takes the y object marker and r plural marker; with verbs, the tense infixes go right after the first single consonant of the word (letters like kh, sh, DH, etc., are considered single consonants!).
Adjectives and AdverbsWe've called a, o and u central vowels so far, but you can see from the examples above that sometimes they are not in the middle of the word. A more accurate term is pos vowel (for part-of-speech), and that is the term we will use from now on.Besides the three pos vowels we've met so far, Borg has two others: i and e. Words with i are adjectives and those with e are adverbs. From the root b_d goodness, we can make the adjective bid good, and the adverb bed well. Adjectives are words that modify (expand on or change information about) nouns, and adverbs modify verbs. Adjectives in Borg follow the noun they modify, and must take the y or r markers if the noun has them: ji'uD voq lwe thyab byid The person reads a good datapadd. Adverbs generally come before the verb and aren't marked in any way: bed ji'uD voq lwe thyarb The person reads datapadds well. Borg has other adverbs, too, besides ones with e. Many of the CCv helper words are adverbs, such as vli more and lda soon. The helper word lwe can be considered a kind of adjective. With these kinds of words, the final vowel of the CCv pattern is not a pos vowel, and you must simply learn their proper part of speech along with their meaning.
VerbsThere are other verb infixes besides the present, past and future infixes. One of the most common is -ah-, used to give commands: shahu' ghyazh lwe Seal the airlock, qra jahuD thyab lwe Don't read the datapadd.The naked verb without infixes, called the infinitive, also has its use, as part of a compound verb. Used this way, it follows the main verb and never receives a tense infix: li'ukh juD voq lwe thyab lwe The person wants to read the datapadd (lukh = to want). Besides modifying nouns, adjectives can be used with verbs in the same way as an infinitive verb. The adjective will take the plural r if the noun subject is plural, but it never takes the oblique y: Hi'uH birsh zarj lwe The ships are big (HuH = to be; bish = big).
PrepositionsNouns in a sentence can perform other jobs besides subject and object. When they do, they generally need a helper word to show their relationship to the rest of the sentence. These helper words are called prepositions. Three of the most common prepositions are hva towards, tro in and Dwe at, by, next to. Here's how they're used in sentences:
Note that the entire prepositional phrase comes first in the sentence, before the verb, that the noun of the phrase need not take the y marker, and that the preposition comes last in the phrase, after any adjectives modifying the noun. Another very common preposition is tve, whose basic meaning is of, belonging to. This preposition relates an owner to the thing owned. The preposition follows the owner noun, and the owner and preposition are placed before the noun indicating the thing owned (and not at the beginning of the sentence): Hi'ud voq lwe borgh tve vyagh The person is studying the Borg language. In this sentence, borgh tve is the owner, Borg's/of the Borg, and vagh language, is the thing owned (or belonging to) the Borg. Since vagh is the object of Hud, it must take the y marker.
Using lweThe helper word lwe is known as the definite article, and corresponds to the word the. There is no word similar to a, an. However, lwe is not used as much as English the. In particular, it is often dropped with certain prepositions (especially tve), or when the can be implied from the sentence. In the sentence above, lwe was dropped from borgh because of the word tve, and dropped from vagh because there is only one Borg language, and so the word the (pointing to a particular one) is not needed.
NamesWhile Borg names are all meaningful Borg words and fall under the general rules of Borg grammar, there are ways to express foreign names. The Borg do so by preceeding the name with a word that specifies the type of entity named. For example, Cardassia is ja? qarDas the planet (named) qardas; the Cardassians are chaT qarDas the species (named) qardas. Individual members of these groups are indicated by the words jepo? and chepoT: jepo? tera a Terran, chepoT verenghi a Ferengi.
To Summarize
Vocabulary
ExercisesDon't pressENTER when typing in the text boxes!
© 1998, Terrence Donnelly
|