tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Aug 23 22:48:04 1997
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Asking (was: That's 'aD)
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Asking (was: That's 'aD)
- Date: Sun, 24 Aug 97 05:48:09 UT
Alan Anderson wrote:
> >And, I've had to readjust my usage of {tlhob} for "ask". We now have
{ghel}
> >for "ask a question".
>
> Yeah, the changing nature of the Klingon "ask" has me mildly amused. In
> the original edition of TKD, we have {tlhob} "ask". The addendum gave it
> the expanded meaning of "request, ask, plead". Now KGT gives us {ghel}
> "ask (a question)". Which one do we use as a verb of saying, and why?
> Is there a proper way to use either or both in a non-saying way?
We've heard {tlhob} as both a verb of saying (lutlhob naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq
majaHlaH'a'? -- PK, jokes) and as a verb with an object and without a quote
(juDev 'ej Dujvam ra'wI' DagheS 'e' vItlhob -- KGT p. 184). In the second
one, {tlhob} is clearly used with its idea of "request." (Either that, or
it's evidence that verbs of saying can take indirect quotations, but I don't
believe that just yet.) I would guess that {tlhob} carries a very broad
meaning, combining all of asking for information and requesting something be
done, while {ghel} refers ONLY to asking a question.
I wouldn't be surprised if {ghel} were also a verb of saying, since there's
very little it could take as an object anyway, and quotations aren't objects.
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97646.1