[tlhIngan Hol] Verbs of measure

[SuStel]

On 3/28/2019 8:38 AM, DloraH wrote:
>
> While there is a limit before communication breaks down, people break the rules of the English language every day.
> The way we speak while hanging out with your friends is certainly
> different from what we would write in a college essay.

It certainly is. And yet those two ways of speaking both have known 
rules that grammarians can describe. In a college essay I could write 
"You will not do that" and with my friends it might be "You ain't gonna 
do that," and both of these are grammatical in their own contexts. But 
if I'm standing around with my friends and always say "no is" instead of 
"will not" or "ain't gonna," they'll understand me but they won't accept 
the way I'm talking. "You no is gonna do that" is not acceptable in 
either context, and not in any context except something like Lolcat.

And the problem here is that we know very little about these different 
modes of speaking among Klingons. I can't point to any subculture or 
demographic that allows *-taH* with *-jaj,* so I can't declare it as 
being acceptable to any particular group.


> I am not saying we should just ignore all the rules; I just saying that
> in casual conversation, we can get away with it a little bit.  Okrand
> even mentions such in the books.  I don't have the quotes handy and I
> am running late for work.

The tendency around here will be to take that little bit of leeway and 
justify using it constantly. If using *-taH* with *-jaj* is an example 
of acceptable breaking of the rules, then every time I find myself 
wanting *-taH* with *-jaj* I'm going to justify using it by telling 
myself it's okay just this time, because I /reeeeeaaalllly/ need it this 
time.

The correct course of action is to stick to the rules until we get more 
information about the rules. If you throw out a stray *-taHjaj* in 
casual use probably nobody will say anything, if they even notice, but 
if you start using it as a rhetorical device you deserve to be called 
out for it.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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