tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 30 20:27:02 1998

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RE: Much ado

jatlh SuStel:

> From: WestphalWz <[email protected]>
> 
> >I have discovered two instances of canon imperatives of stative
> verbs:
> >ytamchoH and petaD.
> 
> {tamchoH} ceases to be a verb of state, and has become a verb of
> activity.
> Thus, making it an imperative is not a problem here.
> 
> An unexplained imperative verb of state usage is {QaghmeylIj tIchID,
> yIyoH}
> from TKW.
> 
> SuStel
> Stardate 98329.1
> 
> 
   I had a thought about how this use of imperative stative verbs might
be explained.. In the case of {..yIyoH}, the state can be changed by the
person spoken to, without any actual physical act. With {petaD} (when
taken literally), however, a physical process is required. When ordered,
you can't simply try to become frozen.. you have to do something to
cause yourself to be frozen, such as jump in a barrel of liquid
nitrogen. Similarly, I don't think that {yIHegh} could be used properly
as a command under normal circumstances, since you can't just die at
will.  You would have to do something physical to change to that
condition.

   So if someone said {yIyoH} (as SuStel quoted above), you can
presumably become brave just by willing yourself. So I'd suspect that
you could use stative verbs as commands if it's possible to will that
state into existance, but otherwise you'd have to do something to cause
the condition (in which case you would use -moH). For example, {yItuH}
seems okay to me, since you could change that state by changing your
behavior. But commands like {yImIp} or {yInoy} would require an outside
force (in these examples, wealth or fame) rather than just an instant
thought. Therefore I think it would be more likely to hear
{yImIp'eghmoH} or {yInoy'eghmoH}. You can't just spontaneously become
wealthy, but you can become brave or ashamed.

  The problem, then, becomes "What states can be spontaneously created
at will, and which require action to achieve them?"  i.e., To say "Be
insubordinate!" would you use {yItlhIv} or {yItlhIv'eghmoH}? Even though
it is a state of behavior, rather than a physical state, someone would
probably have to act against authority before they could be considered
insubordinate, so I think it might be {yItlhIv'eghmoH}.

qechqoqwIj SayajmoHta' 'e' vIHech.

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