tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 02 19:33:01 1998
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: KLBC: RB Illusions
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: RB Illusions
- Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2098 16:39:21 -0500
-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, February 02, 1998 12:05 AM
Subject: Re: KLBC: RB Illusions
>ja' edy:
>>>I'm not sure if the guards arrested the protesters.
>>morghwI'pu' qop 'avwI' 'e' vISovbejbe'
>
>I usually complain about the inappropriate use of perfective. In this
>case, though, I think {qop} needs a {-pu'} on it to make this meaning
>clear. As it is, it looks like a statement of the guards' duties:
>
>"I'm not certain that guards arrest protesters."
>
>Saying {morghwI'pu' qoppu' 'avwI'pu' 'e' vISovbejbe'} makes it more
>obvious that it's a specific action that the guards did or did not do,
>as opposed to whether or not arresting protesters is one of their tasks.
jIQoch. For one thing, Sentence as Object allows the perfective only on the
first verb, and if the second one is supposed to have the perfective sense,
it shifts back to the first one anyway.
Of course, all of this Sentence as Object stuff can be ignored if one uses
{-law'}.
morghwI'pu' qoplaw' 'avwI'pu'.
{-law'} means you're not certain.
Secondly, what Edy is lacking is not a perfective sense, but context. A
timestamp would peg the fact that this happens at a particular time, not in
general. The context of what he's discussing is also very important.
wa'Hu' morghwI'pu' qoplaw' 'avwI'pu'
The guards arrested the protesters yesterday, I think.
Only use the perfective if you want to convey the idea that the idea was
completed as of the time context.
wa'maH vagh vatlh rep morghwI'pu' qoplaw'pu' 'avwI'pu'.
The guards had arrested the protesters as of 3 pm, I think.
Depending also on context, {-ta'} might be more appropriate here.
If Edy DOES want to describe the guards' duties, context will also tell you
that.
Qugh: nuq luta' 'avwI'?
Kruge: What do the guards do?
matlh: morghwI'pu' qoplaw' 'avwI'pu'.
Maltz: The guards arrest protesters, I think.
SuStel
Stardate 98091.4