tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jan 16 14:03:53 1996

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Re: Can one learn Klingon TOO well?

>Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 12:44:34 -0800
>From: [email protected]

>>In reply to Alan Anderson's email, I submit:
>>
>>I agree with Mr Anderson's statement. We are learning Klingon as if 
>>it was s dialect of English.
>>
>>For Eris' sakes, guys, read the book! Where does Marc Okrand describe 
>>verbs as "stative?" Just because they describe something in English 
>>as"be green," doesn't mean you can't describe something as 
>><paq SuD> <The Green Book,> just because your English Language 
>>grammatical brainwashing insists that the translation comes out in 
>>your minds as <the/a/book - be - green.>

Actually, the whole business about "stative" verbs as distinct from others
stems from the following passage in TKD:

 "A verb *expressing a state or quality* can be used immediately following
  a noun to modify that noun." (emphasis added)

The interpretation is that the emphasized modifier is in fact restrictive;
i.e. that verbs which do not express states or qualities cannot be used
adjectivally.  Weak support for this is given by the fact that no examples
of "non-stative" verbs used adjectivally exist in the canon (despite
opportunities like "qaStaHvIS loS SaD Hugh SIjlaH qetbogh loD" which, if
"qet" could be used after a noun, could have been "?loD qet").  Much
discussion has gone by regarding how to detect which verbs are these
stative ones and which aren't (some people going by whether or not the
definition contains "be", etc).

>This means, in your opinion, that my sig aint that bad?

>+-----------------------------------+
>|            Name: Dotlh            |
>|                                   |
>|*HIja'*      *Hovmey*      *vIbang*|
>|*Yes* *I* *do* *love* *the* *stars*|
>+-----------------------------------+

I don't see any verbs, stative or not, there.  "bang" is a noun; you can't
treat it like a verb.

~mark

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