tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 14 22:10:41 1998
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Re: relative clause attempt
ja' charghwI':
>1. The {-pu'} on {Suppu'bogh} does not indicate simple past. It
>indicates "perfective". As it happens, the present perfect
>really is a whole lot like the simple past in meaning, so some
>translations do make this slide. Okrand often does this.
>Meanwhile, for clarity of understanding what the grammar is
>really doing here, you should recognize that this is present
>perfect, not simple past.
Technically, it could be past perfect or future perfect. In Klingon, it
is basically just perfect without any tense at all. Qov often says that
it's past/present/future all at once.
>2. There are two different kinds of relative clauses in English.
>...
>The only written difference between these is the presence or
>absence of commas. When spoken, the emphasis is a bit different,
>since the D example is, well, parenthetical. It describes the
>captain, but it doesn't identify him.
>...
>In Klingon, we have no such division in types of relative
>clause. The examples I've noticed tend toward the exclusive
>type, where the head noun is identified by the relative clause.
>Perhaps there are also examples of parenthetical relative
>clauses that I have not noticed, or perhaps the grammar doesn't
>care and it is a coincidence that the examples have been
>exclusive and not parenthetical. I'm not sure.
I think stative verbs used adjectivally are usually parenthetical.
{SuDbogh HIvje'} "the glass which is blue" implies to me that the
blueness is the distinguishing feature which identifies the glass.
{HIvje' SuD} "the blue glass" sounds like it's just giving extra
information about the color of the glass.
>...
>Hmm. Maybe Kahless's reference is parenthetical? Is it "Kahless,
>who happens to be unforgettable" or is it "Kahless, not just any
>Kahless, but the one who is unforgettable". Opinions?
My opinion is that it's the latter. It's "Kahless the Unforgettable"
as opposed to "Kahless the targh-breeder whom most have forgotten." :-)
If you'll forgive the introduction of some Christian terminology here,
it's like "Jesus Christ" == "the Jesus who is anointed" as opposed to
"the Jesus who plays baseball."
-- ghunchu'wI'