[Tlhingan-hol] Question words used not in questions

[De'vID]

qunnoQ:
>> He didn't tell me how he painted the cat.
>> She didn't tell me why she tickled my dog.
>>
>> Can we use the words {chay'}, {qatlh} (or any other question word) in
>> klingon in a similar manner ?

'arHa:
> [...]
> I would try to translate your first sentence this way, relying on {-meH}. (I
> may be wrong in putting -vaD on vIghro'; I'm not quite sure how DIj works in
> terms of being transitive.):
>
> vIghro'vaD DIjmeH nabDaj QIjbe'.
> "He did not explain his plan for the purpose of him painting the cat."
>
> And maybe--
> SoHvaD targhwI' qotlhmeH meqDaj ja'be'.
> To me she did not report her reason for tickling my targ.

{-meH} is supposed to describe purpose, although it seems to have a
somewhat broader meaning in canon. So {DIjmeH nab} and {qotlhmeH meq}
don't just mean "plan for painting" and "reason for tickling", they
mean very specifically "plan whose purpose is painting" and "reason
for the purpose of tickling". Is the purpose of the plan to paint? Is
the purpose of the reason to tickle? I think the former is okay, but
the latter seems off to me, though I understand them both.

'arHa:
> These seem really clunky, but it's what I can come up with. {-meH} seems to
> cover a lot of the territory that we are covering when we use how, why, when
> in the way you've described.
>
> What does everyone else think? Got any better, less clunky ideas?

vIghro' nguvmoHpu' ghaH. jIHvaD mIw ja'pu'be'.
targhwIj qotlhta' ghaH. ngoQ QIjpu'be'.

-- 
De'vID