tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon May 01 00:31:30 1995
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Re: KLBC: Present tense of verbs
- From: Ivan Derzhanski <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: KLBC: Present tense of verbs
- Date: Mon, 1 May 1995 08:01:56 +0100
- In-Reply-To: <[email protected]> (message from Alan Anderson on Sun, 30 Apr 1995 19:36:09 -0400)
On Sun, 30 Apr 1995 19:36:09 -0400, Alan Anderson <[email protected]> said:
> yoDtargh wrote:
>> {jIjatlh} can mean: I speak, I am speaking, I do speak, I will speak, I
>> will be speaking, I spoke, I was speaking.
> I must disagree with our esteemed Beginner's Grammarian. My opinion is that
> {jIjatlh} means: I speak, I do speak, I spoke, I did speak, I will speak.
> The phrases "I am speaking" or "I was speaking" or "I will be speaking" imply
> to me a continuous action, and thus would be translated {jIjatlhtaH}.
It could be, but would it have to be? In English you must use a
continuous tense for an ongoing process. You can not say `I speak'
to describe your activity at the moment; you must say `I am speaking'.
In Klingon you can say {jIjatlhtaH}, but does that mean that {jIjatlh}
in that context is incorrect? It seems to me that the use of the four
overt aspect markers is optional. (Does not Okrand say {qaghojmoHpu'}
in CK and {qaghojmoH} in PK, and does he not mean the same thing?)
--'Iwvan