[tlhIngan Hol] Using aspect as tense

[SuStel]

On 12/27/2018 1:05 PM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
> SuStel:
>> naH jajmeywIj bIQ'a' HeHDaq jIyIt
>> In my youth I walked on the beach.
>> My intention here is to imply that I used to walk on the beach;
>> it was my habit to walk on the beach in my youth
> If this sentence describes a habit taking place during youth, then
> shouldn't the sentence be {qaStaHvIS naH jajmeywIj, bIQ'a' HeHDaq
> jIyIt} ?
>
> The way I would understand {naH jajmeywIj bIQ'a' HeHDaq jIyIt}, is
> that "in my youth, once I walk on the beach".

*qaStaHvIS* isn't some magical invocation, and has no special status in 
grammar. *-vIS* just means that while one thing is happening, another 
thing happens. If I had said, *jIQuptaHvIS bIQ'a' HeHDaq jIyIt,* you'd 
have no trouble seeing that as /When I was young I would walk on the 
beach/, as if it's a habit. Why should /While such-and-such period of 
time occurs/ be any different?

You /can/ use the *qaStaHvIS,* but you don't need to.

The sentence /could/ be interpreted as /In my youth I walk on the 
beach,/ but only if you're conceptually casting yourself back in time to 
those heady vegetable days. Ah, it's like I'm there now. It's my youth. 
I wake up and smell the sea-air. I take a walk along the beach. A crab 
suddenly takes a bite out of my foot. You've put yourself in the moment, 
and you're relating it as if you're there right now. As you state each 
of those actions, you haven't finished them.

As I said, how you interpret an aspectless verb depends strongly on context.


>
> SuStel:
>> If I said
>> wa' ben Ha'DIbaH vISopbe'pu'
>> I didn't eat the meat last year.
>> This would be referring to some instance
>> in which I was offered meat and refused it.
> I understand this; but is there any particular reason you chose to
> write {vISopbe'pu'} instead of {vISoppu'be'} ?

No particular reason. I believe they are synonymous.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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