tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 19 14:15:46 2002
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Re: Why do type 6s come before type 7s?
ja' Qov:
>Most English speakers will produce:
>
>my two favourite little blue ballet shoes
>
>Now, why did you put the words in that order?
>
>What's wrong with "favourite ballet two my blue little shoes"?
>
>Most native English speakers don't even know. It just sounds
>stupid.
Thank you for providing such a wonderful example. I hope it helps support
the oft-derided answer of "It doesn't matter why. It just *is* that way."
>Does that help? The rules and number are a way to describe correctly
>spoken Klingon, not a recipe that native Klingon speakers follow.
That's a good explanation. When I come up with Klingon phrases, I don't do
it by building up words and affixes according to the rules of grammar. I
do it by putting words and affixes in the "right" place according to the
patterns I have learned by reading and listening to correctly written and
spoken Klingon. I'll apply the rules *after the fact* in order to explain
why I did it that way, but the rules themselves are not the real reason.
Using language is funny that way.
-- ghunchu'wI'