tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Apr 11 10:49:23 1994

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

-taH vs. -lI'


Guido #1vo':


>To me, both {-taH} and {-lI'} describe continuous action. But {-lI'} is only
>used to indicate that the subject is in the process of doing something *as
>part of his/her/its intention*, viz., consciously performing an action.
>{-taH} tends to imply that the subject's intentions are not important or that
>the event is happening without anyone's true intention.

I always had the impression that -taH was soemthing that is and was, and 
probably always will be.  tlhIngan jIHtaH.  That isn' likely to change anytime 
soon. {{:)  "Toledo" jIyIntaH.  That also isn't likely to change anytime soon.  
On the other hand:  vavwI' juHDaq jIyInlI'.  That WILL change, eventually, 
whether I want it to or not:  at some point, my father will die, or I will 
move out, and I will not be living in his house, regardless of whether or not 
I *intend* to stop living there.

So what am I saying?  -lI' implies an intention, yes, but doesn't *require* 
it.  All it requires is a definite *stopping* point:  "...-lI' implies that 
the activity has a known goal or a definite stopping point."  (p. 42)  Yes, 
most of the time this will imply an intention, as most things which a person 
sets out to do is a definite, set goal:  save enough money to buy those new 
disrupters for the cruiser, assassinate one's superior, etc... there is some 
point at which the doer stops and says "this is done" when they have finished 
what they set out to do.  This is how the comparison to -ta' comes in.  
Likewise, most times when -taH is used will be things beyond one's control, or 
are not necesarily something the doer intended, such as tlhIngan jIHtaH.  I 
was born a Klingon, I will die a Klingon (unless I have some majour, 
complicated surgery done, at any rate...) {{:)... but notice some thins 
AREN'T:  tlhIngan Hol vIghojtaH.  I am learning Klingon.  I don't plan on 
stopping anytime soon.  It is something I chose to do, and I am doing, and 
will continue doing, regardless... but I still use -taH:  "The suffix -taH 
[continuous] can be used whether there is a known goal or not.  -lI', on the 
other hand, can be used only when there is an implied goal." [square brackets 
used to replace italics, p. 43].  Notice that in the example of my living in 
my father's house, there is the implied goal that at some time, even if it is 
regardless of my wishes, I will cease to live in my father's house.  It is 
somehting I know will happen, so I plan on it, same as if it were something I 
wanted to begin with.

tuyajchu'a'?



--HoD trI'Qal
  tlhwD lIy So'





                            ^^^

Back to archive top level