[tlhIngan Hol] Using aspect as tense

[SuStel]

On 12/28/2018 6:14 AM, 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
> jIH:
>> 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".
> SuStel:
>> 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.
> I'm rather confused here..
>
> In your original sentence, i.e. {naH jajmeywIj bIQ'a' HeHDaq jIyIt},
> your intended meaning was the stating of an action while conceptually
> casting yourself back in time at that moment ? At a moment of a
> specific walk on the beach, where a crab bites your foot ? An
> action/event which took place only once ?
>
> Or was the intended meaning that while you were young you were
> habitually walking on a beach ? i.e. describing an event which was
> happening regularly ? But an event you're actually re-living at the
> time of the narration of the sentence ?
>
> Or was the intended meaning, the description of a habitual event which
> was happening regularly, but without re-living it at the time that the
> sentence is spoken ?

The point is that there isn't a single meaning to a verb that doesn't 
have a type 7 suffix; it can be interpreted in lots of ways, depending 
on the context. You must apply the associated context to get the correct 
meaning. Two ways it /can't/ be interpreted, though, are perfective and 
continuous.

Look, the rules are just what's in TKD. When an action described is a 
completed action, you must use a perfective suffix; you can't drop it. 
When an action described is a continuous action, you must use a 
continuous suffix; you can't drop it. For everything else, use no aspect 
suffix.

Completed or continuous from what point of view? Every sentence has a 
point of view that may or may not be the same as the time context or the 
speaker's present. *wa'leS qaHoHta'*/Tomorrow I will have killed you/ 
takes as its viewpoint a moment tomorrow after my killing of you. "Place 
yourself in the moment after my killing you tomorrow. I shall now 
describe what you see: /I have killed you./" *wa'leS 
qaHoHtaHvIS*//*jImon*/While I'm killing you tomorrow/ /I smile/ forces 
the viewpoint to be a slightly earlier point, still tomorrow, but during 
the act of killing you. It's specifically at the moment I smile. *wa'leS 
qaHoH* /I will kill you tomorrow/ has right now as the viewpoint, and is 
looking ahead to a hypothetical action — being hypothetical, it 
certainly isn't completed.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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