tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 07 11:28:40 1998
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RE: KLBC [juHwIj vIchenmoH]
- From: Robyn Stewart <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC [juHwIj vIchenmoH]
- Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998 11:29:15 -0700 (PDT)
pagh:
>lab Tony:
>>
>> naDev juHwIj vIchenmoH
>> I build my house here.
>>
>> Is this an event in progress or one to take place
>> sometime in the future.
>
>Klingon doesn't have tense, so you just don't know. I could be "I built
>my house here" or "I am building my house here" or "I will build my
>house here." It all depends on the time context of the sentence.
Nothing wrong with what pagh has said, but your question about an
event in progress cues me to say this:
If it were really an event in progress, with the intent of the
statement that the building is going on, either in past present or
future, you'd use the suffix /-lI'/.
naDev juHwIj vIchenmoH - I build my house here/I built my house here/I
will build my house here.
naDev juHwIj vIchenmoHlI' - I'm building my house here/I was building
my house here/I will be building my house here.
The difference is that /-lI'/ adds the element of the progress of the
house towards completion. The /-ing/ endings in English aren't a
perfect match. It would be quite reasonable to translate
I'm building my house here in September, so we'll see you at Christmas.
/*September* naDev juHwIj vIchenmoH, vaj *Christmas* relegh/
(The process of building isn't important to the sentence.)
I'm building my house here in September. The machinery will be very
noisy.
/*September* naDev juHwIj vIchenmoHlI'. chuSqu' mIqta'.
(Here the process of building the house is important to the meaning.)
Neither translation would be wrong if the placement of /-lI'/ were
swapped. The languages don't match up perfectly. That's why there
are different translations of the Illiad, or the Bible, or anything.
==
Qov - pab 'utlh
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