tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jan 20 04:28:32 1995

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Re: easy sentences

> >I try to explain, what I wanted the suffixes to express:
> >-Ha'		a change from QaHlaH to QaHlaHbe'
> >-laH		well, "help" -> "helpful"
> >-pu'		the change indicated by -Ha'
> >	   is completed. (I know the difference
> >	   between tense and aspect - though
> >	   I'm not to say I mastered it :-)
> 
> I think I have to chime in here briefly.  I see a point of confusion.  You
> seem to think, for some reason, that -Ha' implies a *change* of status.
> I'm not positive where you get that idea, but it's good that you notice

TKD p. 47: "This negative suffix implies not merely that
something is not done (as does -be'), but that there is
a change of state:..."

TKD p. 48: "Do'Ha' it is unfortunate... The use of -Ha'
in this sentence suggests a turn of luck from good to bad."

Have I misunderstood these passages?

> it's needed, since Klingon *DOES* express changes of status
> explicitly... but not with -Ha'.  That's what -choH is for.  Read it again.

I know of -choH, I just thought -Ha' combines the meanings
of -choH and -be'

> So QaHchoHlaHbe' is probably the closest to what you want... yes, I know it
> doesn't seem obvious from the ordering of teh suffixes, but there's no
> alternative.  -choH has to precede -laH, and -be' only makes sense after
> -laH.

Do you imply that I shouldn't even have used -pu'?
I'd understand QaHchoHlaHbe' (or QaHHa'laH) as
becoming unhelpful, or better said, either this OR
having become unhelpful, which would have to be
disambiguated either by context or by the use of
type 7 verb suffixes.


			Marc 'Doychlangan'


--
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Marc Ruehlaender	[email protected]
Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, Germany
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