tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Apr 03 11:37:14 1996

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

Re: Re: KLBC "Don't let the bastards get you down"

tIm writes:
>>Also from William H. Martin list
>>Hmmm. I guess it does need an {'e'} between the two >main
>>verbs, regardless of which first main verb one >chooses...
>My feeling is the the verb "chaw'" allow was referring to the taHqeqpu' and I
>wrote don't allow them, making 'e' inappropriate.

Your feeling is, to put it bluntly, wrong.  {chaw'} indeed is referring
to the action of {nI[whatever] taHqeqpu'}.  The {'e'} is necessary.  If
you leave it out, the hypothetical "meaning" would wind up something like
"don't allow the bastards get you down."  It isn't grammatical.

>See above and add, allowing a thing (even if that thing is an action) doesn't
>sound right.  We allow sentient beings, we make objects do things.

Allowing an action sounds fine to me.  How does one allow a person?
"I permit him" is meaningless, but "I permit that he speaks" is okay.
The person "he" is not being permitted.  The action "he speaks" is
being permitted.

>>HIjangnIS
>
>>You can say either {HIjang} or {chojangnIS} to indicate >you need a reply,
>>but {HI-} and {-nIS} don't coexist well.  You've said >something close to
>>"Hey, you -- need to answer me!"  You ordered me to >have to do something
>>instead of either ordering me to do it or telling me I >have to do it.
> The use of <-nIS> was a compromise; it is the closest to the English,
>"must", "have to" or "gotta".  What I was trying to say in a nice, short
>sign-off was "You gotta tell me!"

I thought I was clear enough, but I guess you didn't quite get it.  You
gave a command, but "You gotta tell me" is a simple statement.  The verb
suffix {nIS} is exactly right for "must" and "have to".  So the statement
"You gotta tell me!" would be {chojangnIS}, or {chojangnISqu'} if you want
to emphasize the "must".

-- ghunchu'wI'               batlh Suvchugh vaj batlh SovchoH vaj

Back to archive top level