tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 20 11:47:32 2001
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Re: -pu' on second verb
DloraH:
: Do we have canon of MO putting aspect markers on a second verb?
: (... 'e' verb-pu')
Andrew H. Strader:
> ghobe'. 'oH bot tlhIngan Hol pab, TKD nav 66Daq 'e' QIj je ghaH.
"In complex sentences of this type, the second verb never takes
an aspect suffix." (TKD p.66)
DloraH:
: pab vISov jay', 'ach rut pabHa' MO.
Indeed. Although he adheres to this rule in the vast majority of cases, we do
have two examples where the aspectual suffix is on the second verb, both
occurring in fairly complex sentences:
DaH che' ghawran. yejquv DevwI' moj ghawran 'e' wuqta'
cho' 'oDwI' Dapu'bogh janluq pIqarD HoD.
Gowron currently presides, named leader of the High Council
by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who was acting as Arbiter of
Succession. (S25)
Literally: "Gowron became leader of the High Council. The Arbiter of Succession
has decided (upon) it." According to the rule, if Okrand wanted to use {-ta'},
he should have put it on {moj}. Perhaps he felt awkward doing so because
{-ta'} implies intent:
"it is used when an activity was deliberately undertaken,
the implication being that someone set out to do something
and in fact did it." (TKD p.41)
But just whose intent would it show if placed there? Gowron's, the grammatical
subject of the verb {moj}, who of course wanted to become leader of the Council
(else he wouldn't have submitted to the {ja'chuq}), or Picard's, the subject of
{wuq}, who carefully chose Gowron over Duras after due consideration and
investigation? Clearly Okrand was thinking of the latter.
DuraS tuq tlhIngan yejquv patlh luDub 'e' reH lunIDtaH DuraS
be'nI'pu' lurSa' be'etor je.
The sisters of the House of Duras, Lursa and B'Etor, are
constantly seeking a higher standing for the House of Duras
within the Klingon High Council. (S26)
Here, he put the {-taH} "constantly" on the second verb. This one is a bit
more puzzling, as the subject of both {Dub} and {nID} is (are?) the Duras
sisters. According to the rule, he should have put it on {luDub}, as in this
example:
Hem tlhIngan Segh 'ej maHemtaH 'e' wIHech
Klingons are a proud race, and we intend to go on being
proud. TKW
If language-creator Okrand hasn't admitted that he simply made a mistake, I
suspect that "Federation linguist" Okrand might consider these slips as
evidence - drawn from "real Klingon" - that this rule isn't quite as rigid as
previously thought, at least, not in fancy literary style. He has refined the
rules before, as new evidence came to light, which is just what you'd expect
from a real Federation linguist, who can only study the samples of the language
available to him.
Has Okrand ever discussed these two "mistakes"?
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
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