[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Hoj

[Robyn Stewart]

Irrealis was the word Marc gave to it, when presented with "If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake." 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: SuStel [mailto:sustel at trimboli.name]
> Sent: March 4, 2016 14:21
> To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
> Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Hoj
> 
> On 3/4/2016 1:17 PM, qov at kli.org wrote:
> 
> > Certainly Klingon currently lacks the tools to express what English
> > does with "Had it been so, then ..."  or "Were it thus, then ..." but
> > there are English speakers who don't use that grammar and they get by,
> > showing that context can do the job. At a session with Mac two
> > qep'a'mey ago the lack of an irrealis was mentioned to Marc and he
> > appreciated what was being asked and thought about it, but hasn't
> > returned with any solution.
> 
> paq'batlh has an example, spoken by Molor:
> 
>     jIlay’DI’ reH batlh jIpabchugh
>     Qapla’meywIj Hoch vIta’ta’ ‘e’ DaHar’a’
>     quv vuv nuv pagh ghajbogh neH
> 
>     Did you think that my word of honor
>     Would have carried me this far?
>     Honor is for those with nothing to lose!
> 
> Literally, it's "when I promise, if I always follow the rules honorably, I have
> accomplished the entirety of my successes; do you believe that?"
> 
> Klingons can apparently speak in this kind of conditional perfect sense
> without any special grammar devoted to it, so long as the listener "gets it."
> 
> "Irrealis" isn't really the right word for it. Irrelealis refers to any verbal clause
> that expresses something other than what is known to be true.
> {bIje'be'chugh} is an irrealis; {qeylIS Daghomjaj} is an irrealis; {yIjaH} is an
> irrealis. What's special about the conditional perfect is that it's an irrealis that
> Klingon has no grammar for.
> 
> --
> SuStel
> http://trimboli.name
> 
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