Choosing Between Two Renderings of a Moral Line
A revision group of five students is translating a one-line Pahlavi moral sentence supplied by their teacher: 'mardōm kē dēn ī xwēš nē dārēd'. Two drafts are on the board. Draft X: 'People do not hold their own religion.' Draft Y: 'The person who does not hold their own religion.' The group must choose one for a printed revision card. The teacher has underlined 'kē' and 'nē' and asked them not to use an online translator. One student objects that Draft Y is incomplete because it has no main clause. The group has a glossary giving mardōm 'people/person', dēn 'religion', xwēš 'own', dārēd 'holds', nē 'not', kē 'who'.
1. Which draft is grammatically better supported by the Pahlavi, and why? Address the 'no main clause' objection.
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Draft Y is better supported. kē is a relative pronoun introducing a clause that modifies mardōm; nē negates dārēd. Draft X deletes the relative link and turns the whole into an independent main clause, which the Pahlavi does not show. The objection is fair only if the card claims to be a complete English sentence. As a translation of a one-line excerpt, a noun phrase is acceptable; if a complete sentence is required, the group should mark any frame verb they add, for example 'This is the person who does not hold their own religion' - but 'This is' is a supplement, not in the Pahlavi. Better: keep Draft Y and label it 'noun phrase' or supply context from the wider passage if available.
2. Rewrite the line as a complete English sentence without adding Pahlavi words, and state what you added.
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Possible: 'The person who does not hold their own religion is described here.' Added: 'is described here' as a framing predicate, because English needs a main verb. Or, if the card is a heading, keep 'The person who does not hold their own religion' and do not pretend it is a sentence. The Pahlavi words are all represented: mardōm 'person', kē 'who', dēn ī xwēš 'their own religion', nē dārēd 'does not hold'. The key is to declare the addition rather than smuggling it into the translation.
3. What would you check in the wider passage before finalizing the card?
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Check whether the line is the beginning of a longer sentence: a following clause may supply the main verb and show whether mardōm is singular or collective. Check whether dārēd has an object beyond dēn ī xwēš and whether nē negates dārēd or a larger phrase. Check the genre: a moral maxim may use a generic 'the person who ...' as a heading, which supports Draft Y. Check the glossary's headwords for dāštan and for kē; confirm that kē is not čē 'because'. If the wider passage is unavailable, print Draft Y with a note that it is a noun phrase.