tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 05 15:38:09 1998
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Re: Translation of English Past and Present Perfect Tenses in Klingon
- From: "Neal Schermerhorn" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Translation of English Past and Present Perfect Tenses in Klingon
- Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 18:43:08 -0500
ghItlh Michael Rhodes ~mark je:
>>Majority of canon? You give one example of a verb without -pu' translated
>>as
>>a past tense against the 30 examples which I give of past tense and 20
>>examples
>>of present perfect. wa'Hu' jIghung could simply be explained as clipped
>>Klingon
>>lacking the -pu' marker because the temporal adverb makes it redundant.
>
>Erm, but Okrand's whole point in that section of the tape was the the verbs
>do not change for tense. That's what he SAID.
Here's another way to look at it. I read a story about a man who wears a
watch. From examining this story, I determine that 'watch' is a timepiece
you wear. But I didn't find an example of 'watch' used to describe seeing an
event or a period of time one is on patrol, so I will argue that those
meanings are invalid when faced with them.
Michael has made a common, simple, human error - He has looked at a lot of
canon, but not all. His conclusions are arguable, at least, when looking at
only the canon he did. But CK gives the information which makes his position
invalid.
The point of this is not to roll poor Michael through the coals, but to
remind us all - remember how we all felt before KGT came out? We were
waiting for that new bit of canon to turn our understanding of Klingon
upside-down. That didn't happen, thankfully, but who knows what the next
book will bring?
So I guess the only way to function is to remember that we do not have all
the canon - and until MO or his successor no longer will/can provide canon
and the language is not controlled by Viacom/Paramount, we will not. We have
only the canon we have - an incomplete picture of the language. I am glad no
one has been smug in telling Michael he hasn't got all the canon - for none
of us do. As for me, not knowing everything's half the fun.
Qermaq