• A direct statement is when we have a direct quote. Ex: Jack said: "It is cold today"  (Must have quotation marks in English)
• An inderect statement is when we have a report of a statement. Ex: Jack said that it is cold today. (Must have "that" before what is reported)
• Same goes for direct and inderect questions.

How would this handled in Dovahzul? Since there are no quotationmarks or even a colen (or simicolen for that mater). This isn't much of a problem with inderect statements/questions as you could just add "that", but what do you do with direct statements/questions? Could you have a sufix as a marker, a preposition, or add quotations? With out a way of setting up a direct statement/question literature is a bit harder to write or translate into Dovahzul. What do you all think?

Thanks for posting a thread on this. It's an interesting question that I don't think can be answered on the Question Board alone.

If you absolutely need to use direct quotes, I would say use line breaks to your advantage and let context imply it.

Onik mun drey fun niin
Ni krosis dilon ko grah
fah nust fen siiv unslaad drem
ko Sovngarde

The wise man did tell them,
"Do not sorrow the dead in battle
for they will find eternal peace
in Sovngarde."

This means that, if there were a whole story here, it would more likely be written in many small chunks like the above, rather than the long and punctuated paragraphs of English.

paarthurnax

Thanks for posting a thread on this. It's an interesting question that I don't think can be answered on the Question Board alone.

If you absolutely need to use direct quotes, I would say use line breaks to your advantage and let context imply it.

Onik mun drey fun niin
Ni krosis dilon ko grah
fah nust fen siiv unslaad drem
ko Sovngarde

The wise man did tell them,
"Do not sorrow the dead in battle
for they will find eternal peace
in Sovngarde."

This means that, if there were a whole story here, it would more likely be written in many small chunks like the above, rather than the long and punctuated paragraphs of English.

I dont know if you saw my comment on the question board or not but since a sentance in dovahzul basically conveys an idea, and the change in idea conveys a change in sentace, then just state it as a direct statement/question Ex: The wise old man said do not sorrow the dead in battle for they will find eternal peace in Sovngarde. vs The wise old man said that you should not sorrow the dead in battle for they will find eternal peace in Sovngarde.

I'm not sure I understand. My post here is a suggestion of how to write it in a way that you can use a direct statement without punctuation.

paarthurnax

I'm not sure I understand. My post here is a suggestion of how to write it in a way that you can use a direct statement without punctuation.

Thats what I was saying. If you want to "quote" someone you say: He/She said...

So basicly just leave out the quotation marks, if it says "(subject) said (object) you assume its a quote

If it's an inderect question or statement just write it as you would in english

I didn't notice that there was a thread on this before I posted on the question board!

So, just to re-cap for all those interested, here's what I do in my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland translation project:

Take this sample:

"Well!" thought Alice to herself, "after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (Which was very likely true.)

I translated it as such:

 

alis lorot
ful! mindin mah med daar mah tum stegniir los nid
nust koraav zey kril ahst hofkiin
saag nid waan mah nol hofkah
 
tol lost lot grozein vahzah

 

The first line in the quoted paragraph indicates the person speaking, as well as defining what he/she is doing to produce the quote (says/thinks). And to end the quote, a double line-break is used to show separation.

This is pretty much the same thing as paarthurnax suggested.

hiith

I didn't notice that there was a thread on this before I posted on the question board!

So, just to re-cap for all those interested, here's what I do in my Alice's Adventures in Wonderland translation project:

 

Take this sample:

"Well!" thought Alice to herself, "after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (Which was very likely true.)

I translated it as such:

 

alis lorot
ful! mindin mah med daar mah tum stegniir los nid
nust koraav zey kril ahst hofkiin
saag nid waan mah nol hofkah
 
tol lost lot grozein vahzah

 

The first line in the quoted paragraph indicates the person speaking, as well as defining what he/she is doing to produce the quote (says/thinks). And to end the quote, a double line-break is used to show separation.

This is pretty much the same thing as paarthurnax suggested.

Thanks!