tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Aug 02 00:27:53 1995

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Re: Re[2]: }} KLBC: Life is like...



ghItlh charghwI':
> [lots of sneaky derivation omitted]
> So, perhaps legh'eghmoHlu'wI' would mean
> "thing that makes one see ones self". A mirror.

If I were more comfortable with {-lu'} I might be happier with this.
"Indefinite subject" is the one part of the language I KNOW I don't
understand fully.  It's less than a page in the dictionary, but I can't
quite make myself feel secure about how it works.  The third-person
singular object verb prefixes get turned around to apply to the object
rather than the subject, and the subject is unstated?  {vIlegh} "I see it",
{vIleghlu'} "[something] sees me"?

{X legh Y} "Y sees X" -- fine.
{X leghmoH Y} "Y causes X to see" -- fine.
(legh'egh X} "X sees him/herself" -- fine.
{X legh'eghmoHlu'} "[something] causes X to see him/herself" -- I'm lost.
Something about {-moHlu'} just doesn't click.
{legh'eghmoHlu'wI'} "thing which causes one to see oneself" -- follows
nicely from the previous sentence, but I'm not sure why that sentence is
correct.  Does anybody have any helpful explanations?

-- ghunchu'wI'





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