tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 15 01:52:49 2012
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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Time and Type 7 verb suffixes
<p>SuStel:<br>
> > **Note that whenever Okrand uses -Daq <pro> to describe the location of<br>
> > a movable object, he uses {-taH}, whereas whenever he describes the<br>
> > location of a permanent object he uses no aspect suffix.**</p>
<p>QeS 'utlh:<br>
> Not quite "whenever". Skybox card S27 has {-taH} on a permanent object:<br>
><br>
> pa' 'oHtaH vaS'a''e'<br>
> The Great Hall is there</p>
<p>Actually, I believe the translation is "This is where the Klingon Great Hall is located..."</p>
<p>So I did my convert-to-Cantonese mental check on aspect, and I believe this example doesn't contradict SuStel's hypothesis about moveable objects. </p>
<p>Trying to express "the bathroom is there" with a continuous aspect in Cantonese didn't work for me (but see below), whereas "this is where the Parliament Building is" works fine. The difference is that a bathroom is a fixed location inside a building, whereas the Klingon Great Hall or a Parliament Building *is* a moveable object within a city or country, even though you might not think of it as one. </p>
<p>When I express "the Parliament Building is (continuous) here", it implies that it used to be somewhere else, or may be somewhere else in the future. It's not that the *building* can be moved, it's that the *label* "Parliament Building" or "Klingon Great Hall" can be transferred from one building to another.</p>
<p>Actually, come to think of it, I *can* say something like "the bathroom is (continous) there", if a building is under construction and they have one of those temporary toilets. But the meaning is different with and without the suffix. With a continuous aspect marker, there's an implication that the location isn't fixed.</p>
<p>Klingon doesn't have to work the same way as Cantonese, but at least the relationship between fixed and moveable locations and continuous aspect that SuStel proposed can actually work.</p>
<p>--<br>
De'vID</p>
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