On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 9:24 AM SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
Whose purpose it is will be subject to context. In this case, it's the Klingon's purpose because the Klingon is trying to get the Romulan's attention. The subject of the main clause will usually be the one acting toward the purpose, and I can't think of an example where that is not the case, but it's possible someone could construct a sentence that defies this expectation.
Something with a stative verb would work. *SaqlaHmeH 'orwI'pu' wovqu' wovmoHwI'mey* "The lights are very bright so the pilots can land."
(I'm ignoring sentences like *qIpmeH Qatlh'a',* whose grammar I find to be fairly impenetrable.)
They're not that impenetrable. It seems that Okrand is using the idea of "for the purpose of accomplishing something" in a somewhat different way than the examples in TKD. Those examples use *XmeH Y Z* to mean "Z does Y, and does so for the purpose/intent of accomplishing X". In later examples like *qIpmeH Qatlh'a'*, it seems to be also used with stative verbs to mean something like "Z has quality Y for/regarding the purposes of accomplishing X". So *qIpmeH Qatlh* would be "For the purposes of [one] hitting it, it is difficult" or "As far as hitting it is concerned, it is difficult" or just "It is difficult to hit." Something similar is used with* Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam* and *tlhutlhmeH HIq ngeb qaq law' bIQ qaq puS*. They're describing something's usefulness/suitability/quality/etc. towards achieving a purpose, not describing a thing happening to bring about a purpose. I assume context helps listeners determine whether something like *vIqIpmeH Qatlh* is intended to mean "For the purposes of me hitting him, he's difficult"/"He's difficult for me to hit" or to mean "He's difficult, for the purpose of me hitting him"/"He's difficult so that I'll hit him."