[tlhIngan Hol] A thought on the irrealis construction

mayqel qunenoS mihkoun at gmail.com
Thu Nov 3 11:07:02 PDT 2016


oh this is beautiful ! I can't believe I'll say this, but I love maltz !

qatlho' lieven ! DoyIchlanwI' jup 'ej tlhIngan loDnI', qatlho' !

qunnoH jan puqloD

On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 7:50 PM, Lieven <levinius at gmx.de> wrote:
> Am 03.11.2016 um 15:34 schrieb mayqel qunenoS:
>>
>> I remember having discussed here, that klingon doesn't possess the
>> grammar to say "if klingon possessed an irrealis suffix, then I wouldn't
>> be writing this post".
>
>
> I wanted to wait until after the qepHom, but as you mentioned this topic,
> here is what Maltz has revealed to us just now:
>
> ------begin------
> For a statement that's counterfactual (or "irrealis"), a phrase with the
> verb jal ("imagine, envision") is used: ... net jalchugh ("if one imagines
> that…", "if it is imagined that…"). For example:
>
> tlhIngan SoH net jalchugh, qagh DatIv
> This is "If you were a Klingon, you would enjoy gagh" or, literally,
> "If one imagines that you are a Klingon, you would enjoy gagh."
>
> The implication is that you are not a Klingon. Compare:
>
> qaghwIj DaSopchugh, qaHoH
> "If you eat my gagh, I'll kill you."
> qaghwIj DaSop net jalchugh, qaHoH
>
> "If you were eating my gagh, I would kill you"
> (literally: "If one imagines that you are eating my gagh…").
>
> -------end-------
>
> --
> Lieven L. Litaer
> aka Quvar valer 'utlh
> Grammarian of the KLI
> http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
> http://www.klingonwiki.net
>
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