tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Oct 19 09:33:23 1994

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Re: -taH



According to [email protected]:
> 
> 
> Would anyone care to elaborate on the aspect suffix -taH.  I know about
> its use with -Daq, but how about some examples of its other uses.

Just to add to ~mark's good explanation, Klingons are very goal
oriented and change oriented. {-taH} is the suffix to use to
explicitly mark a verb as something that is NOT involving a
goal or a change. It can mean that the verb is perpetual
(che'taH tlhInganpu'!} or it can simply refer to an action that
has a vague beginning and ending that is relatively
unimportant, as in {QongtaH HoD}. The captain is sleeping. He
did not just fall asleep. He is not on the verge of waking. My
reference has nothing to do with any boundary between his being
awake and being asleep. I'm speaking only about the continued
state that he sleeps.

As for its use on a pronoun with a locative, {naDev jIHtaH} it
both serves to indicate that I am being here without a specific
goal to be somewhere else real soon, and it also serves to make
it clear that the pronoun is being used as a verb. Consider
that {naDev jIH} could be the beginning of {naDev jIH munuQ qoH.}

When you hear {naDev jIHtaH,} you know you've heard a complete
sentence. It is just a little clearer.

> William

charghwI'



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