[tlhIngan Hol] Imperatives and type nine suffixes

[SuStel]

On 6/10/2019 12:49 AM, Ed Bailey wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 9, 2019 at 6:36 PM Daniel Dadap <daniel at dadap.net 
> <mailto:daniel at dadap.net>> wrote:
>
>     I don’t remember ever seeing a rule against using type nine verb
>     suffixes with an imperative prefix. At the same time, I also
>     cannot think of any sane reason one would want to do this, nor can
>     I coax any example I can think of where a verb has both an
>     imperative prefix and a type nine suffix into making any kind of
>     sense.
>
>     I’m pretty sure that type nine suffixes and imperative prefixes
>     can’t coexist, but maybe I’m just not being imaginative enough.
>     Can anybody think of an example where a type nine suffix somehow
>     marks an imperative verb and actually means something useful?
>
>
> Possibly it seems like there's no sane reason because literal 
> translation won't work. Likewise, Klingons might think it's insane to 
> have a sentence like, "Identify the ship in which he fled!" Languages 
> have plenty of expressions that don't make literal sense, like "What 
> does God need with a starship?"
>
> While there's no reason to believe Type 9 suffixes are ever used on 
> verbs with imperative prefixes, who wants to walk into a bar full of 
> Klingons and tell them they're not allowed to? So let's suppose 
> Klingons actually do this and we cobble together an example and try to 
> figure out what meaning it's supposed to convey. For instance, 
> **yIruchchugh bIQap!* Weird, but I'd guess it's something like a 
> condensed version of *yIruch! bIruchchugh bIQap* or *yIruch 
> bIruchchugh bIQapmo'!* Perhaps it's more exhortative than imperative.

You're basically suggesting that we speculatively invent new grammar. I 
don't see this as particularly constructive, since at the end of the day 
you have to admit that you made it all up anyway, and in the meantime 
there's a very real chance that someone will read the speculation and 
not realize you're just speculating.

I don't think you can use type 9 suffixes on imperative verbs.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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