tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 21 16:52:11 2003

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: Grammar question re:tlheD

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

From: "Steven Boozer" <[email protected]>

> jIqel asks:
>  >> Does tlheD take an object?  If so, is it the place being departed
(from)?
>  >> /juHwIj vItlheD/ I depart (from) my home?
...
> Here are the other examples of {-vo'} used with verbs of motion:
>
>    pa'vo' yIjaH
>    Leave the room! ("Go from the room!") TKD 28

For the purposes of determining appropriate objects, this sentence is
inconclusive.  We have since learned that /jaH/ is a verb of motion, and
takes the destination as its object, with or without a locative suffix on
the object.

>    naDevvo' yIghoS
>    Go away! TKD

Also inconclusive.  Since the meaning of /ghoS/ includes going AWAY from
something, this is even more inconclusive than /pa'vo' yIjaH/.

>    naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq majaHlaH'a'
>    Can we get to the Great Hall from here? PK

This is now known to be wrong.  Correctly, it should be /naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq
wIjaHlaH'a'/ or /naDevvo' vaS'a' wIjaHlaH'a'/.  As stated, it actually means
something like, "While we're at the Great Hall, can we go from here?"

>    juHqo' Qo'noSvo' loghDaq lengtaHvIS tlhInganpu'
>    During the (aggressive) expansion of the Klingon people from their
>    homeworld of Kronos into space... SP1

This clause lacks /lu-/ on the verb, so unless it's the "missing /lu-/"
error described in KGT, /loghDaq/ and /Qo'noSvo'/ are not objects of the
verb.  I don't recall off the top of my head if /leng/ is one of the verbs
of motion.  However, the clause happens to mean more or less the same thing
(traveling "in space" instead of traveling "into space"), so we can just
call this one inconclusive and forget about it.

>    tera'vo' Qo'noS vIchegh
>    I return to Kronos from Earth. (st.k 7/99)

This sentence shows conclusively what the object of /chegh/ is.  I think
this is also one of the verbs of motion Okrand talked about.

>    yuQvo' jIleng
>    I roam away from the planet. (HQ 12/1998)

The only thing we can guess from this is that the object of /leng/ isn't
going to be the place that the subject leaves.

>    ghe'torvo' narghDI' qa'pu'
>    when spirits escape from Gre'thor  KGT

Again, this sentence lacks a /lu-/, so if we assume that it's not an error,
then we must conclude that the place being escaped from is not the object of
the sentence (otherwise it would have been /ghe'tor lunarghDI' qa'pu'/, or,
possibly, /ghe'torvo' lunarghDI' qa'pu'/).

(Naturally, all of these MUSTS and THEREFORES rely on the supposition that
there isn't a special case that Okrand hasn't told us about yet.)

>    may'meyDajvo' Haw'be' tlhIngan
>    A Klingon does not run away from his battles. TKW
>
> Note especially the last example with {Haw'} "flee, get out" - pretty
close
> in meaning to {tlheD} and {mej} - which tips the scales slightly in favor
> of SuStel's 2nd possibility.

No, this one is entirely inconclusive.  It's impossible to tell if it has
/may'meyDajvo'/ as the object of /Haw'be'/ or not.

SuStel
Stardate 3638.3

Back to archive top level