tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 15 09:32:47 1996
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Re: tlhIngan Hol chu' jIH
- From: "Mark E. Shoulson" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: tlhIngan Hol chu' jIH
- Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 12:32:35 -0400 (EDT)
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]> (message fromdpNoll on Wed, 14 Aug 1996 15:05:46 -0700)
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>Date: Wed, 14 Aug 1996 15:05:46 -0700
>From: dpNoll <[email protected]>
>> Yes, HIghItlhneS carries much the same meaning to my mind.
>I just forgot something myself. {HI-} implies a direct object of "me", right?
>Well, since, I am not telling you to write _me_, but _to_ me, perhaps this
>should really be {jIHvaD yIghItlhneS}, "Do me the honor of writing, for/to me".
There is some evidence of *SOME* blurring of direct and indirect objects in
tlhIngan-Hol. Usually, to be sure, when there is a direct object
explicitly stated elsewhere. Canon example: {ro'qegh'Iwchab HInob} for
"give me the rokeq blood pie" or {cha'pujqut vIngevmeH chaw' HInobneS} for
"give me a permit to sell dilithium crystals, your honor." There are
non-command examples as well. Note that there is a direct object in third
person, but the verb has a first-person object, and the speaker is really
the *indirect* object of the sentence. So it would seem that "paq HInob"
is a short-form for "jIHvaD paq yInob." This only appears to happen when a
direct object is already present in a sentence; "HIngev!" is more likely to
be a command to one's owner than to a recalcitrant merchant.
I *think* there's some evidence of using direct-object prefixes for
indirect objects in other cases, at least with certain verbs. It might be
what's going on with verbs of speaking, though that's unclear (ask
SuStel). You're right that "jIHvaD yIghItlhneS" is certainly more clear
and correct; there may be some support for "?HIghItlhneS" as a
colloquialism. But I probably should be more conservative than I have
been.
~mark
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