tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 19 23:44:33 1997
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Verbs of speaking, again
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Verbs of speaking, again
- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 97 23:31:06 UT
I've been revising my ideas on how to use the verbs of saying, thanks mostly
to working with Nick, who loves to use all sorts of constructions that make me
wince. :-) Here's the current summary of these ideas, for anyone who's
interested. I'm definitely not convinced that I'm right, though. These ideas
don't change much about how I will be using verbs of speaking.
jatlh "speak, say"
We know that it can take the name of a language as an object, and we know that
one speaks to someone else by adding {-vaD} to that someone else. I would
guess that other words, like {mu'} or {SoQ}, or anything you can say, would
qualify as an object. Any quotation used is not the object of the verb, and
is stuck at either end of the sentence.
Here comes the icky part: we know we can occasionally use prefixes to indicate
the indirect object, as long as it doesn't match the prefix that'd be used by
the direct object. (Unfortunately, we have no rules on doing this.) This
would make sentences like {mu' qajatlh} possible.
ja' "tell, report"
This verb is the one that really got me started on all of this. TKD's
example, {qaja'pu' HIqaghQo'} "I told you not to interrupt me" apparently has
the object as "you." But that really doesn't match the gloss we're given, the
"report" part especially. Something Nick (I think) said suggested to me that
this may be an example of indirect-object shortening. I mean, this might also
be written as {SoHvaD jIja'pu' HIqaghQo'}. If true, this is a TKD example of
direct-object shortening, and I'd better get used to it. Also, it's an
example of this shortening which *doesn't* have a direct object with a
different prefix value; you *could* say {qajatlh} just to mean "I speak to
you." Horrible, isn't it? (Of course, if I've been wrong all along, and the
quote *is* an object, then you still need one, and everything is out of
kilter.)
Anyway, the object of {ja'} seems to be the thing reported or told, if it's
not a quote. For example, {SoHvaD Dotlhmaj vIja'} or {Dotlhmaj qaja'} for "I
reported our status to you," or "I told you our status." The main problem I
see with this is that I don't see any way to distinguish between a word and a
quotation.
tlhob "request, ask, plead"
In keeping with the above changes, I'd guess that the object of {tlhob} would
be the thing requested. I'm not at all convinced that this verb would use an
object. Otherwise, why wasn't it glossed "ask for"? Still, the usual {-vaD}
and indirect object shortening applies.
And so forth.
Any comments?
--
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97138.9