tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Dec 08 11:48:32 1996
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Re: jaH
- From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)
- Subject: Re: jaH
- Date: Sun, 8 Dec 1996 14:48:50 -0500
ja'pu' SuStel:
>>Actually, this is just one of those uncertain verbs. "Orbit" does mean
>>"go in
>>a circle around," so it could be {yuQ vIbav}. However, English can use it
>>intransitively, too, as in "I've been orbiting for nine hours." Now all you
>>have to do is say *where* this takes place. {yuQDaq jIbav} would work in
>>this
>>case.
ja' ~mark:
>Nah, that';s not different than "Sop" which can be used in "I've been
>eating for hours." Just an ellipsized object.
I think there *is* a difference. One definition is "move around a center
of attraction" -- the intransitive definition. Another is "move around
(a center of attraction)" -- the transitive one. If the concept of the
center of attraction is included in the definition, it should not be used
as the verb's direct object. If there were a verb {Soj} "eat food", it
could not be used transitively in the same way as {Sop} "eat". We still
don't have any real evidence of whether {bav} *can* have an object.
There's another transitive meaning of "orbit", by the way -- "put into an
orbit" -- but I think that would be a less productive interpretation.
-- ghunchu'wI'