tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jul 28 12:07:29 1998

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Re: KLBC - Qu'vatlh! qep'a'Daq jIjaH vIneH!

: jatlh tu'vel pach puqloD:
: > Didn't I see someone say something like /qajatlh/ recently?
: > "I speak you," doesn't make sense, so is this a verb that
: > shouldn't take an object?  
: 
: The object of /jatlh/ can be the addressee or the thing (SoQ, Hol,
: mu'mey ...) spoken.  The object of /ja'/ seems to be exclusively the
: addressee.  There's a lovely post on this I could show you, but I'm
: much too lazy today to look for it. 
: 
: Qov - Beginners' Grammarian

Okrand explained the use of the 1st and 2nd person object prefixes with
{jatlh} a bit more on the MSN Expert Forum BBS back in June 6/97:

  Since the object of {jatlh} is that which is spoken, and since "you"
  or "I" or "we" cannot be spoken (and therefore cannot be the object
  of the verb), if the verb is used with a pronominal prefix indicating
  a first- or second-person object, that first or second person is the
  indirect object. Which is a not very elegant way of saying that 
  {qajatlh} means "I speak to you" or, more literally, perhaps "I speak
  it to you," where "it" is a language or a speech or whatever... 
  {tlhIngan Hol qajatlh} "I speak Klingon to you" ...

If it's easier to accept, consider this an idiomatic usage.  Note, however,
that this is not done in the 3rd person.  "Maltz speaks Klingon to you" has
to be {SoHvaD tlhIngan Hol jatlh matlh}.  


Voragh                          "Grammatici certant et adhuc sub judice
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons    lis est."        - Horace, Ars Poetica

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