[87391] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: Double negatives
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Trimboli)
Tue Dec 1 15:50:30 2009
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:47:49 -0500
From: David Trimboli <david@trimboli.name>
In-reply-to:
<C305E6BD33E2654DAE1F8F403247B6A6011382A88280@EVS02.ad.uchicago.edu>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Steven Boozer wrote:
> ghunchu'wI':
>>> My answer to Blake should be uncontroversial: Klingon as we see it
>>> used does not "do" double negatives. Whether or not it might be able
>>> to in some hypothetical dialect is unimportant to the fact that it
>>> *doesn't* in the dialect we study.
>
> Although it's not quite what Blake had in mind, there is one type of double negative which I don't believe has been mentioned so far: whenever one of the "negative verbs" - {Qoch} "disagree", {par} "dislike", {tung} "discourage", {Dach} "not pay attentive, be distracted", etc. - is used with a negative suffix:
>
> Qochbe' "not disagree
> parbe' "not dislike"
> tungbe' "not discourage"
> Dachbe' "not not pay attentive, not be distracted"
These aren't double negatives in Klingon. {Qoch}, {par}, {tung}, and
{Dach} are normal, "positive" states; {Qochbe'}, {parbe'}, {tungbe'},
and {Dachbe'} are simple negation of the positive states.
> Note that some of these verbs form their opposites with {-be'} (e.g. {Qochbe'} "agree") and some with {-Ha'} (e.g. {parHa'} "like", {tungHa'} "encourage"). Still others have completely unrelated antonyms.
In general, the explanation of TKD should hold. {Qochbe'} means a lack
of {Qoch}, or a lack of dislike. {tungHa'} means that someone was
discouraged, or at least not encouraged, and then made encouraged.
{QochHa'} would mean someone was unhappy, or at least not actively
happy, and then made to be happy. {tungbe'} means a lack of
discouragement, but not necessarily encouragement, and the person was
not necessarily feeling encouraged before.
--
SuStel
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