tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 29 07:40:29 1993
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Klingon language camp
- From: (Mark E. Shoulson) <[email protected]>
- Subject: Klingon language camp
- Date: Tue, 29 Jun 93 09:22:58 -0400
- In-Reply-To: Will Martin's message of Mon, 28 Jun 93 15:23:39 EDT <[email protected]>
>From: Will Martin <[email protected]>
>Date: Mon, 28 Jun 93 15:23:39 EDT
>X-Mailer: UVa PCMail 1.7.1
>Content-Length: 457
>I've seen different versions of this posted, but it brings up a
>grammatical issue. I would have thought that tlhIngan Hol would be the
>SUBJECT of the last sentence, given the nature of the -lu' suffix.
>If Daqawlu' means "You will be remembered," and Soplu' means "It is
>eaten," then I venture that the sentence should be:
> naDev jatlhlu' tlhIngan Hol
Not quite. "-lu'" is *not* a true passive voice. It indicates that the
subject is indefinite, but the object of the corresponding "active"
sentence remains, grammatically, the object. This fact is confused by the
anomolous use of the prefixes involved; the prefixes do behave as though
the subject and object were reversed. However, the word-order does not
change. See section 4.2.5, in which "-lu'" is glossed as "indefinite
subject" (not "passive"), and the example "naDev puqpu' tu'lu'", "there are
childern here", literally "something finds children here", where "puqpu'"
is still the object of the sentence, not as in English "children are found
here". See also "bortaS bIr jablu'DI' reH QaQqu' nay'" (when cold revenge
is served...) in the phrasebook, note the typos in its printing.
>-- charghwI'
~mark