[tlhIngan Hol] adverb {rut} {motlh} and aspect {-pu'}

D qunen'oS mihkoun at gmail.com
Wed May 4 05:46:15 PDT 2022


jIH:
> During the previous summer, I never/always ate pizza.
> (I'm describing specific instances of (not) pizza-eating, so this is
perfective)
SuStel:
> The first one is perfective if you're describing specific instances of
eating or not eating pizza,
> but the English doesn't necessarily mean that. I always/never eat pizza
COULD mean the same
> thing as I would always/never eat pizza, so its perfectiveness is
ambiguous outside of context.

I'll write an example to see if I understand this correctly.

"In ancient Greece people always honored the gods of Olympus"

Outside of context this English sentence could mean either of the following
two:

1. Specific instances of honoring the gods which were always happening.
(perfective)
2. "In ancient Greece people would always honor the gods" (describing
something which used to happen) (imperfective)

So, suppose I write:

reH 'elaDya' tIQDaq olympus Qunpu' quvmoHpu' nuvpu'
(this is the translation of the number 1 above)

reH 'elaDya' tIQDaq olympus Qunpu' quvmoH nuvpu'
(this is the translation of the number 2 above)

Would you agree?

-- 
Dana'an
https://sacredtextsinklingon.wordpress.com/
Ζεὺς ἦν, Ζεὺς ἐστίν, Ζεὺς ἔσσεται· ὦ μεγάλε Ζεῦ
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