tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 17 10:48:39 1997
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Re: Klingon words for "subject" and "object"; ghunlu'wI'
- From: "David Trimboli" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Klingon words for "subject" and "object"; ghunlu'wI'
- Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 06:25:04 -0500
-----Original Message-----
From: Anthony.Appleyard <[email protected]>
To: Multiple recipients of list <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, November 17, 1997 5:59 AM
Subject: Klingon words for "subject" and "object"; ghunlu'wI'
>Whether each of {tlhInganpu' wIleghlu'} or Latin {Tlingani
>videmur} for "we Klingons are seen" is called a passive, or an active with
an
>impersonal subject and the agreement concords distorted, is a matter of
>definition and convention.
You cannot say "we Klingons" in Klingon. You cannot say {maHagh
tlhInganpu'} for "We Klingons laugh." It just don't work that way! You'd
have to say {tlhIngan maH. maHagh.} "We are Klingons. We laugh."
I, for one, do not find this lack to be in any way troublesome.
So, you could say {tlhInganpu' luleghlu'} "Klingons are seen"/"someone sees
Klingons," or {wIleghlu'} "we are seen"/"someone sees us," but you cannot
combine the two.
tlhIngan maH. wIleghlu'.
And I don't call it passive OR active. I call it a verb with {-lu'}.
SuStel
Stardate 97879.5