tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 19 15:39:19 1996

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



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

RE: KLBC: Quotes



At 09:02 AM 11/19/96 -0800, you wrote:
>
>> 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"

This brings up an interesting idea. If we could use prefixes with {-wI'},
could we use prefixes which take a subject other than he/she/it? In most
cases this would lead to nonsense, but certain verbs might be able to do
this. Take {jatlh}, for example. The common use of {jatlh} is:

1. Use {-vaD}, as in {SoHvaD jIjatlh} - "I speak to/for you."
2. Treat {jatlh} as transitive, and use a suffix like I-you, as in {qajatlh}.

Now, is it feasible that one could use {qajatlhwI'}? It seems to me that
this is the same, basically, as {Doch qajatlhbogh}. "I-you speaker" and
"Thing which I speak you." Just an idea.

>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
>
>
        |   
        |   
       | \     HurghwI'
    .-|  |-.   vogh vIghoSchugh, pa' SoH
   / /    \ \  [email protected]
  |_,\    /  | http://www.jwp.bc.ca/peregrine
 /   \\  //\_|__
|  ___\\//     /
|/ \     `----'
    `-.__.-`



Back to archive top level