tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 01 07:02:32 2004

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Re: prefix trick verbs

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

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 2004 10:18 AM
Subject: prefix trick verbs


> There's been a lot of discussion about which verbs can take objects, but I
> wonder which verbs the prefix trick can be applied to.  All five of the
examples
> I know of so far (I'm still marking up my database) use the verb {nob}
> (give), and three of those five are the "shine my nose" sentence from PK.
> lay'tel SIvten

I asked a similar question a little over a year ago, immediately after
aquiring PK and running across the prefix trick for the first time. IIRC, I
asked if this could be done with all verbs, or just the ones MO cited. (I
believe my exact question was, "Is this a special case, or was he stating a
general rule?") Voragh responded that MO was, in fact, stating a general
rule, and my example sentence, {tlhonDu'lIj qangeHlaH. tISqu' ngaSwI'} "I
can send you your nostrils. The container is very lightweight." was a valid
use of the prefix trick.

(I'm afraid I can't cite the exact message, and some of the details may be
off, as the above comes from memory, and the archive search is down. I'm
positive Voragh had canon to back it all up, though, so the advice is
certainly valid.)

!!!!WARNING: OPINION AHEAD!!!!
Some "unofficial usage tips". It is the opinion of at least some of the
po'wI'pu' on this list that the prefix trick is a retrofit of Klingon
grammar to cover for those occasions when Okrand's English got in the way.
(When you're the inventor of one of the more popular conlangs out there, you
can do stuff like that.) }}: )

It seems that everytime we've seen the prefix trick used in canon, it
translates beautifully directly into English:

{ro'qegh'Iwchab HInob} "Give me the Rokeg Blood Pie." PK

I, personally, limit my usage of the prefix trick to situations like this,
despite the fact that, as I understand it, a statement like:

{puq HIqIp} "Hit me the child", "Hit the child for me"

is a legitimate use of the prefix trick. However, because of the clumsy
English translation, I don't believe that MO (and, by extension, Maltz)
would use the trick this way.

'ach vuDwIj neH 'oH. vuD pIm ghajbej latlh.

--ngabwI'
Beginners' Grammarian
Klingon Language Institute
http://kli.org
HovpoH 701733.8

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