tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Aug 23 22:48:04 1997

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Asking (was: That's 'aD)

Alan Anderson wrote:

> >And, I've had to readjust my usage of {tlhob} for "ask".  We now have 
{ghel}
> >for "ask a question".
> 
> Yeah, the changing nature of the Klingon "ask" has me mildly amused.  In
> the original edition of TKD, we have {tlhob} "ask".  The addendum gave it
> the expanded meaning of "request, ask, plead".  Now KGT gives us {ghel}
> "ask (a question)".  Which one do we use as a verb of saying, and why?
> Is there a proper way to use either or both in a non-saying way?

We've heard {tlhob} as both a verb of saying (lutlhob naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq 
majaHlaH'a'? -- PK, jokes) and as a verb with an object and without a quote 
(juDev 'ej Dujvam ra'wI' DagheS 'e' vItlhob -- KGT p. 184).  In the second 
one, {tlhob} is clearly used with its idea of "request."  (Either that, or 
it's evidence that verbs of saying can take indirect quotations, but I don't 
believe that just yet.)  I would guess that {tlhob} carries a very broad 
meaning, combining all of asking for information and requesting something be 
done, while {ghel} refers ONLY to asking a question.

I wouldn't be surprised if {ghel} were also a verb of saying, since there's 
very little it could take as an object anyway, and quotations aren't objects.

-- 
SuStel
Beginners' Grammarian
Stardate 97646.1

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