tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 21 08:05:07 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'
you have the rules in your brain, and therefore you can feel what's
right and wrong. unless you don't give names and rules to what you
feel, you cannot teach the language to someone else, you can only
repeat it and make the other one repeat. this is the natural way of
teaching, and of course it is beautiful and all. the only problem
here is that i am interested in the rules. i want to know them by
name, as to speak. you don't. that's all.
bye,
tulwI',
sts.