tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 19 10:54:35 1996
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Re: KLBC: Quotes
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I think part of the problem for me with prefixes and -wI' has to do with
place structure.
Consider "HoHwI'"/killer. "HoH" seems to be behaving rather un-verb-like,
its subject *and* object places unspecified. Rather, the -wI' ending says
"OK, take the verb I'm on and picture some placeholder noun in its subject
place. That's what I'm talking about: whatever would fill the subject
place of the noun." So "HoHwI'" is the thing that fills the subject place
of HoH. In order to pull off this stunt, the subject place of HoH is not
specified, since -wI' is taking care of it.
Once you add a prefix, though, you're specifying that subject place.
You're saying "*he/she/it* kills me..." and so it no longer makes sense for
the -wI' ending to refer to its notional placeholder. For example,
consider something I think just about everyone would agree is nonsensical,
"*choHoHwI'". If the subject place is "you", how can it be the
placeholder? If this means anything, it would be "you who kill
me"/choHoHbogh SoH'e'. But I doubt it can be used even so. Lojbanists out
there, consider something like "*le klama be fa la djan." Too many
arguments for the x1 place. Semantics error.
Now, there's really no telling whether "HoHwI'" has "HoH" in "bare" form,
with no prefix and no specification of subject, or if it has it with a null
prefix and an implied third-person subject. And I'll admit that if it DOES
make sense to use a prefix with -wI' I'd expect it to be a
3rd-person-subject prefix. But to me it seems that -wI' handles the
subject, and specifying it another way is overload.
~mark
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