[Tlhingan-hol] paS (was: Question regarding purpose clauses)

[Felix Malmenbeck]

My statement is based primarily on Marc's suggestion that the sentence occurs, but perhaps later than desired. While any English sentence can be interpreted in many ways, in my opinion it seems rather clear that Marc meant late as in "past the deadline" in this statement, or at least that that's a possible interpretation.

Agreed, though, that we don't know that that paS can't mean "occurring late in the day/month/year/[poH of your choice]". It seems a bit strange to me that one would then put the experiencer as the subject rather than the event, but, of course, stranger things have happened ("America, what a country! In your language, fire can burn intransitively. In Soviet Swedish, FIRE burns YOU!").

________________________________________
From: De'vID jonpIn [de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2012 17:27
To: tlhIngan-Hol
Subject: [Tlhingan-hol] paS (was: Question regarding purpose clauses)

loghaD:
> {qaSuchmeH jIpaSqu'.} - Marc Okrand was asked if this could mean something like "I was going to visit you, but was too late", but Marc describes replies thusly:
> "Perhaps, then, a better English rendition of the Klingon sentence is "In order for me to visit you, I'll be very late."   This suggests that the visit did or will take place (though later, perhaps, than desired), which is not the intended meaning."
> http://klingonska.org/canon/search/?file=1998-01-18b-news.txt&get=source
>
> One could come up with situations where being late would be beneficial to the act of visiting somebody (for instance, you could be late to work because you want to visit a friend on the way), but that's clearly not the case here: {jIpaSqu'} states something about how the goal is accomplished, but it is not itself the means to an end.

Why not?  It's not that clear to me.  In English, "late" has two meanings.

(1) to miss an opportunity, deadline, etc.  Example: "He was late to
the party, i.e., by the time he arrived it was over"

(2) to take place in the latter part of the day or some other time
period.  Example: "He went late to the cinema, i.e., the movie had
several show times from morning to past midnight, and he attended the
midnight showing"

Now, do we have any evidence that {paS} is restricted to just the
first meaning?  Otherwise, it's certainly plausible that someone could
be late to accomplish the purpose of visiting someone (e.g., he's not
home earlier, or the visitor is otherwise occupied earlier).

--
De'vID

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