[83992] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: We fly tomorrow at dawn
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Wed Jan 16 16:36:20 2008
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:34:07 -0600
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
In-Reply-To: <478E62A1.8090307@trimboli.name>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
SuStel wrote:
>Here's a passage from page 40 of THE KLINGON DICTIONARY:
>
> When the context is appropriate, verbs without a Type 7 suffix may be
> translated by the English future tense (will), but the real feeling
> of the Klingon is closer to English sentences such as "We fly tomorrow
> at dawn", where the present-tense verb refers to an event in the
> future.
>
>What exactly is the difference in feeling between "We fly tomorrow at
>dawn" and "We will fly tomorrow at dawn"?
Style. The former is more dramatic: "We fly at dawn!!" The second is
merely informative.
Remember your English Comp or creative writing classes. It's a stylistic
device, like using the present tense to narrate past events to give a more
immediate, participatory feel. E.g. "So yesterday I was walking down the
street, see, when this guy walks up to me and says 'XXXXX'. So I say to
him 'ZZZZZ'."
Both of these variants are irrelevant in Klingon, of course, which has no
grammatical tense. Okrand was probably suggesting that if you think of
phrasing EVERYTHING in the "present" tense, you avoid problems with the
lack of a past or future tense in Klingon. (Now aspect is another matter
entirely. <g>)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
