tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Sep 15 12:41:53 1994
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Re: 2 questions[D
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: 2 questions[D
- Date: Thu, 15 Sep 1994 15:41:21 -0400 (EDT)
- In-Reply-To: <9409151422.AA16870@ bush.cs.tamu.edu> from "Erich Schneider" at Sep 15, 94 09:22:35 am
>
>
> Niall Hosking <[email protected]> asks:
>
> >With:
> >How do you say "with" in the sense "I hit him with a rock"?
>
> There are a couple of ways that sort of work.
>
> vIqIpta' nagh vIlo'bogh jIH. "I, who use a rock, hit him."
> nagh vIlo'taHvIS, vIqIpta'. "While I used a rock, I hit him."
> vIqIpmeH, nagh vIlo'ta'. "In order to hit him, I used a rock."
>
> I prefer the first, because I think it places the emphasis on the
> "hitting" while maintaining a stronger link between the hitting and
> the rock than #2 does. Others on the list prefer #3 because it
> indicates the causal link between rock and hitting more forcefully,
> but I think it shifts the focus away from the hitting too much.
>
> -QumpIn 'avrIn
>
>
Please forgive a speculation from an absolute newbie to this
list, but if thlIngan Hol is like Terran languages, then the usual way
to express instrumental 'with' is through some form of the verb
'take'.
I would suggest
nagh vI-tlhap ('ej?) vI-qIp-pu'.
rock I:it-take & I:him-hit-perfective
(I took a rock and hit him.)
The question marks around /'ej/ indicate some uncertainty on my part.
Most languages with this sort of construction would use a participial
form of the verb 'take', i.e. "Taking a rock, I hit him". But it's
not clear to me from reading TKD how to form the equivalent of
participles.
And since I've butted in to this discussion, let me introduce
myself. I am a professor of linguistics at SUNY-Albany. I'm
considering offering a short course on thlIngan Hol (and possibly
other invented languages, like Tolkien's) sometime next year with the
aim of showing students that grammar, invented or naturally occurring,
can be interesting and worthy of discussion. At this point, I've read
Okrand's book, but I'm otherwise new to the Klingon world. I look
forward to learning from you all.
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Aaron Broadwell | `To anyone who finds that grammar is a
Dept. of Anthropology | worthless finicking with trifles, I
Program in Linguistics and | would reply that life consists of
Cognitive Science | little things; the important matter is
Albany, NY 12222 | to see them largely' -- Jespersen, 1925
[email protected] |
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