tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 15 14:35:28 1998

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Re: KLBCbej: jIyIntaH

: Christiane Scharf wrote:
: > Well, that's my problem. Is {-taH} + {rIntaH} ungrammatical or just
: > unusual/weird?
: 
: rIntaH itself is weird.  Whether -taH + rIntaH is ungrammatical is a
: matter of semantics.  It's certainly a contradiction.  Either it
: continues or it doesn't.  Pick one. 
: 
: Qov - Beginners' Grammarian 

     "The meaning of {-ta'} can also be indicated syntactically. That is, 
     instead of using the suffix {-ta'}, a special verbal construction can 
     follow the verb which indicates the accomplished action. This special 
     verb is {rIn} 'be finished, accomplished', and in this usage it 
     always takes the suffix {-taH} 'continuous' ... and the third-person 
     pronominal prefix (0). The resulting construction, {rIntaH}, literally 
     means 'it continues to be finished' or 'it remains accomplished'. It 
     is used to indicate that the action denoted by the preceding verb is 
     a fait accompli:  it is done, and it cannot be undone. {luHoH rIntaH} 
     'they have killed him/her', {vIje' rIntaH} 'I have purchased it'. The 
     English translations of {rIntaH} and {-ta'} are usually the same. The 
     notion of absolute finality implied by {rIntaH} seldom comes across. 
     It should be noted that {rIntaH} is sometimes used for dramatic effect 
     even in cases when the action could be undone." (TKD p.41)

Since {rIntaH} "It is accomplished! It is done!" is a replacement for {-ta'}
on the main verb, in effect it acts as another Type 7 suffix and I suspect
cannot be used together with {-taH} or any other Type 7.  Outside of the
above explanation in TKD, {rIntaH} appears only once in canon:

     qa'vam De' vIje' rIntaH. 
     I have purchased the Genesis Data. (ST3) 

charghwI' informed us some time ago this was an "improvisation to keep
Valkris's mouth moving when she had finished all the words she needed to
express the subtitle, this was ... invented to make a contorted line
grammatically correct."  Now of course it's part of the language and
available for us to use for our own dramatic effects.  An alternative
exclamation - one that isn't linked explicitly to {-ta'} - is {pItlh} "Done!
All finished!":

     {pItlh} is used for "It's done! I've done it! I've finished! All done!"
      etc." (TKD p. 57) 

According to KCD, it's "a common exclamation uttered upon the completion of
a project."  The following line appears in Hilary Bader's novelization of KCD:

     All the crew said, "pItlh."

Oddly enough, it's another Valkris-ism:

     jabbI'ID pItlh. 
     Transmission completed. (ST3)

pItlh!  QInvam vIgher rIntaH.






Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."        - Horace, Ars Poetica

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