the delphic expanse

Ok, I am trying to make a simple phrase in Vulcan, but it looks a little weird and wonky to me, so I was hoping that someone more knowledgeable would take a look and tell me if I'm right.

The phrase I'm looking for is "I like it"--as in, for example if someone asks you in Vulcan, "How do you feel about plomeek broth?" and you answer, "I like it."

As near as I can figure, it should go something like--

Tizh-tor nash-veh ish-veh.
(enjoy I it)

--on the assumption of verb-subject-object sentence order.

But nash-veh next to ish-veh looks weird to me. I'm wondering is there another word for "it" that I"m missing, or does the "I" or "it" component drop out because it's implied in the answer, or what?

Thank you to anyone who can help.

I tried to post a response to this earlier, but my internet keeps dropping out, which also explains why I haven't posted much here in the last day or so...

Long story short is that I checked an online Vulcan Language Dictionary, and there doesn't seem to be a word listed for "it." (I'm sure there is, but this particular dictionary is rather limited.) What if you substituted whatever it is that is being talked about, so that it's "I like plomeek broth"?

Then again, if someone asked a Vulcan how they feel about plomeek broth, they would probably answer, "Carefully, with my hands."

As far as what you have, it seems okay. I tried sounding it out, and there are lots of made-up languages that seem to have a sound repetition factor.

or nash-veh ish (that)

KR-- the word for "it" and "that" is the "ish-veh" part of the phrase. It literally translates to "that one." They also don't actually have a word for "I" or "me," so that component of the sentence is "nash-veh," which literally translates to "this one." So either way it's a little problematic.

I was just wondering if there was a way to make it a little less clunky. I considered your suggestion about replacing "it" with the subject, but that seemed a little clunky too.

cw--I thought about that, too, but the VLD has ish listed as a prefix, so I thought it had to go with something? Is there another site that says differently?

No, you're right. Sorry, I forgot. I haven't looked at that DB in about a year or so. Truthfully, I shouldn't now.

How about KR's suggestion but changed a little. Use that-food or that-soup?

BTW, I've actually encountered more natural languages than conlangs that repeat certain patterns. I think it's because the authors purposely try to avoid it.

I don't know if this is helpful, but a lot of languages don't use "I" or "it". For example, in Japanese you try to avoid the words I and you (I always roll my eyes for the fact that the Japenese language has about 100 counting words, but just one word for mrs. or mr. - you just have to find out by the context). Also in ancient languages like Hebrew, Greek and Turkisch the verb comes at the end of the sentence and hiding in the verb is the person connected to.

To make a long story short: I think you can easily presume that in Vulcan language this is a perfectly normal sentence:

'How do you like your soup?"

"Like." or "Not like".

panyasan wrote:To make a long story short: I think you can easily presume that in Vulcan language this is a perfectly normal sentence:

'How do you like your soup?"

"Like." or "Not like".

I absolutely agree with this.

I'm also wondering if the person answering is a native speaker or not. If not, I think you can get away with your "Enjoy I it" translation just fine. If he/she is a native speaker, you might also consider whether or not a Vulcan would say something akin to "I like it." I think that something like "It is acceptable" or "It is well-made" (depending on the personality of the speaker) would be more Vulcan.

Misplaced wrote:I'm also wondering if the person answering is a native speaker or not. If not, I think you can get away with your "Enjoy I it" translation just fine. If he/she is a native speaker, you might also consider whether or not a Vulcan would say something akin to "I like it." I think that something like "It is acceptable" or "It is well-made" (depending on the personality of the speaker) would be more Vulcan.

Great point!

I don't want to get too deep into context, but I'll say this: the speaker is a native speaker, but the situation is such that the speaker is not necessarily trying to "sound" Vulcan. Not sure if it makes sense. Basically, it's okay that this is something a Vulcan would not normally say.

I think part of what's throwing me, too, is that in Vulcan, he, she, and it all share the "ish-veh" pronoun. So if someone said to you in Vulcan, "Do you know Susie?" your answer would translate to "Yes, I like that one." Although a different verb than "enjoy" would be applicable LOL.

Aquarius wrote:I think part of what's throwing me, too, is that in Vulcan, he, she, and it all share the "ish-veh" pronoun. So if someone said to you in Vulcan, "Do you know Susie?" your answer would translate to "Yes, I like that one." Although a different verb than "enjoy" would be applicable LOL.

The Finnish language is like this. There is no "he" or "she", just "hän", which can also be "it".

I'd defer to our resident linguist, ladyrainbow, on this one but I think keeping or leaving the ish-veh would work in this case.