[Tlhingan-hol] Question regarding purpose clauses

[Felix Malmenbeck]

I personally think it's quite useful for discussing, for instance, whether or not something is possible; for example, when asking if it's possible that a certain event has taken place and -laH dors not provide a way. I frequently use sentences like {wej pa' pawmeH vay' DuH'a'} ("Is it possible that no one had gotten there yet?"), because I find that they're sometimes more elegant than alternative solutions.

That being said, whether or not that's a good example, I'd recommend against assessinga whole grammatical construct as uninteresting; you never know when ut might come in handy.

________________________________________
From: ghunchu'wI' 'utlh [qunchuy at alcaco.net]
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 22:43
To: Klingon language email discussion forum
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Question regarding purpose clauses

Felix Malmenbeck <felixm at kth.se> wrote:
> The question really is: Is this evidence of a new grammatical tool that we can employ when trying to express ourselves?

jISaHbe'. wIlo'chugh, ghaytan maQumchu'be'. maQumchu' vIneH. vaj
vIlo'Qo' jIH. qaq DuHmey pIm.



The answer to that question does not interest me.

If it is evidence of anything in particular, it is of a not
particularly effective tool. Employing that tool outside specific
contexts will result in our expressing ourselves poorly. There are
many such «nuH vaQHa'» in our toolbox. Trying to use them well might
be an interesting intellectual exercise, but I do not believe it
serves what I think is the goal of using language: communication.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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