tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 19 08:54:35 1996

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

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

RE: KLBC: Quotes


> HoSmaj ghurmoH nuHoHbe'wI'.
>
> Do we know for sure that a verb can't take a pronominal prefix and {-wI'} 
at the
> same time?

I don't think we have any evidence that shows that we *can*, but there's 
also no rule that says we *can't*.  But I tend to avoid this construction. 
 It's like the difference between "my killer" and "the me-killer".

	muHoHwI'	"me-killer"
	HoHwI'wI'	"my killer"

The first one emphasizes the individual, the second the action.  Here's 
another example.  We go to the opera, and I ask you what you though of the 
tenor.  Would you say "I liked him singing" or "I liked his singing"?  The 
first is like using a prefix on the verb, and the second like using the 
normal possessive constructions.  (Though the gerund examples are harder to 
show what I mean clearly in Klingon).  We're not talking about the 
individual, we're talking about the action.

So, I've always disliked prefixes on /-wI'/'d verbs.

> T'Lark

--Holtej
Stardate 96886.26

Back to archive top level