tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Apr 25 10:28:29 1998

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Re: Verb prepositional concepts

ghItlh peHruS:

>By looking at the later entry into the language, we can see more deeply the
>earlier entry means.

Ah! This is what is going on...

peHruS argues that if we accept the fiction of a Klingon in the good
doctor's basement, we accept that each report on the language is an update.
Okrand is, as a natural exolinguist would, reporting as he learns. In this
light, it is sensible to assume that reports of an altered verb being
transitive are a clarification of earlier reports of the root verb not being
transitive.

The real truth is that MO sits at his desk and comes up with a cool word and
assigns meaning to it. No Klingon. Maybe even no basement. Just a writer and
a writing implement and a carefully constructed vocab and syntax. A writer
might make an error early on, or add an item in error later on. In this
light, the <qIm> transitivity debate is reduced to "I don't know, but let's
keep to intransitive at least for now to play it safe." The only real truth
comes from MO's mouth, and the language is less a growing living thing as a
brick wall; constructed mostly from the bottom up, but a brick could be
replaced once in a while.

Again, accepting the Maltz story as 'fact', it's reasonable to assume that a
later report is an update of an earlier report, and whether a contradiction
is acknowledged or not, any contradictions are actually corrections.
Reasonable as it is to assume Maltz is actually eating the worms in Marc's
root cellar, that is. It's really a matter of viewpoint. If you study
tlhIngan Hol as a fan of Klingon, peHruS's argument may have more meaning.
As a linguist, less weight.

The true truth, in my mind, outweighs the fictional truth. We must wait for
MO's statement on this word <qIm> - short of that, transitive usage is, to
me, at best premature and at worst wrong. I'll play the averages and treat
it as intransitive only. I recommend others do the same.

Qermaq

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