tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 12 00:21:20 1999
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Re: prefix trick.
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: prefix trick.
- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 03:20:43 EDT
jatlh muHwI':
> SoHvaD matlh vIpong --> matlh qapong
> "I call you Maltz"
> ------------------
> Can someone explain me why it is {vIpong}? In the book-sentence, paq is
> the object of course. I give the Book. I give the book to you. But
> aren't you the one who I name? I name you! Or am I wrong with this
> point? Is this one of these "pab taQ" you just have to follow? (like
> {Say'moH}+{nIS} = Say'nISmoH)
It's just as natural to use constructions like "I say *matlh* to you" --
or "use the name" or "apply the name", etc. In this sentence, it now
appears that "(the name) *matlh*" should be the direct object and "you"
should be oblique.
Even for "I give the book to you", there's nothing "of course" about the
construction; it could as easily have been "I present you with a book."
In this sentence, it now appears that "you" should be the direct object
and "book" should be oblique.
For that matter, there's nothing in the objective world to determine which
term
will be the subject of a verb, and which the object, for a given meaning.
One
familiar example: English "I like that" is equivalent to "That pleases me"
in many
other European languages.
The objective world doesn't tell us what objects and actions correspond to
verbs,
to subjects, to objects, to prepositions, to adverbs, etc. These are not
one-way
facts given to us by the world; they are options which different languages
exercise
differently. They are all more or less arbitrarily specified by particular
languages in
their vocabularies and grammars, and whoever learns the language must simply
memorize them -- and practice.
--jey'el