tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 11 08:51:41 1998
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Re: {-meH} and its useage
- From: "William H. Martin" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: {-meH} and its useage
- Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 11:51:43 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)
- Priority: NORMAL
On Fri, 9 Jan 1998 23:42:37 -0800 (PST) Bjorn X Oqvist
<[email protected]> wrote:
> 'eQ asked:
>
> >>I just wondered how it would look like if a {-meH} phrase would modify a
> >>verb, especially if both the {-meH} phrase *and* the other verb has both
> >>subject and object.
>
> Voragh explains:
>
> >>HIq DaSammeH tach yI'el
> >> To find ale, go into a bar. TKW
> >>
> >>[...and other examples...]
>
> ghunchu'wI' answers:
>
> >There's the answer. While the clause with {-meH} must always precede
> >what it modifies, it doesn't have to *immediately* precede it. In these
> >examples, it comes before the object of the sentence as well as the verb.
>
> Isn't there a risk that one mixes up the subject of the {-meH} verb and
> the object of the following verb, with a noun-noun construction?
All languages contain a certain degree of ambiguity. Yes, what
you describe can be true, though in most cases the intended
meaning will be clear enough. A well placed comma can help,
though.
maghwI' SammeH HoD tach Such.
Does that mean, "In order that he find the traitor, he visited
the captain's bar," or does it mean, "In order that the captain
finds the traitor, he entered the bar."? It is clearer with:
maghwI' SammeH HoD, tach Such.
There is similarly a danger of confusing whether the {-meH}
clause is modifying the verb or the verb's object, but again, the
correct meaning is usually apparent, and sometimes it doesn't
even really matter which you apply the {-meH} to. The meaning
comes out pretty much the same.
jonta' tI'meH jan lo'.
Does that mean, "He used the device in order to fix the engine,"
or does it mean, "He used the engine repair device."? In most
cases, the only reason you'd use an engine repair device would
be to repair an engine, so either interpretation tells you that
he used a device and repaired the engine. Now, if you wanted to
say, "He used the engine repair device to cut his hair," you'd
say:
jIbDaj chIpmeH, jonta' tI'meH jan lo'.
> /'eQ
>
> --
> Bjorn X Oqvist KLI(#H2014) WCT(#491)
> [email protected] http://www.bahnhof.se/~dark
>
charghwI'