tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Jun 09 07:36:34 1998

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Re: Schoolbook

>ghunchu'wI' writes:
>  I also think we've had clarification that {-Daq} applies *only* to
>  physical location, and being "in" a house or clan probably doesn't
>  qualify.
 
: Then, this means we cannot XDaq jIqIm or XDaq jIjeS.  Is that not right?
: Unless we are paying attention -Daq a place or participating -Daq a physical
: location.  This unresolves some claims.
: 
: peHruS

Correct.  This was stated in brief in TKD:

"This suffix indicates that something is happening (or has happened or will
happen) IN THE VICINITY OF the noun to which it is attached. It is normally
translated by an English preposition: 'to, in, at, on'. The exact
translation is determined by the meaning of the whole sentence." (TKD 27f,
emphasis added)

Okrand addressed this very question in more detail on the STC Expert Forum
newsgroups:

"In English, the preposition 'in' is sometimes locative (that is, referring
to location) in meaning (e.g., in the house, on the table) but sometimes not
(as in the examples cited above, trust in God, believe in magic). In fact,
in English, 'in' frequently doesn't have a literally locative sense. We use
it all over the place: in debt, work in television, in preparing this
report, speaking in Klingon, and so on. Likewise, in addition to the
locative uses of the English preposition 'from' (run from the burning house,
traveled from Paris), there are non-locative uses (know right from wrong,
stop me from eating). The story's the same for other English prepositions
(for example, locative 'on the table', non-locative 'go on with your story';
locative 'under the table', non-locative 'under discussion'). In Klingon,
however, the noun suffixes {-Daq} (the general locative) and {-vo'} 'from'
express only notions related to space (to a place, in a place, from a place,
and so on). They are thus not the same as English prepositions, which have a
wider range of usage." (MO on EF, 3/23/98)

And, as MO says, this strictly locative sense also applies to {-vo'}:

"This suffix is similar to {-Daq} but is used only when action is in a
direction away from the noun suffixed with {-vo'}..." (TKD 28)


Voragh

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