tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 01 15:47:20 1999
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RE: KLBC: Prefix trick
- From: Steven Boozer <[email protected]>
- Subject: RE: KLBC: Prefix trick
- Date: Mon, 01 Mar 1999 17:45:55 -0600
- In-Reply-To: <CBD6795F70A5D211B2B20008C733321A031D29@INFINITI2>
pagh:
: The "prefix trick" is a bit of Klingon grammar. If a verb has an indirect
: object (IO) that is first or second person (me, you, us) and a direct
object
: (DO) that is third person, then instead of using the usual {IO-vaD DO verb}
: formation, the verb prefix can be changed to indicate the indirect object.
: Examples:
: jIHvaD paq yInob - "Give me the book" - becomes paq HInob
: [snip]
: I don't know what you mean by "the double -bogh suffixed verb comment". If
: you're talking about my advice to put a repeated subject in the first
clause
: instead of the last, that's more of a style issue than anything else.
The "prefix trick" is also a style issue. You don't have to use it if you
don't want to. BTW, we have a similar "indirect object trick" in English:
paq HInob
"Give me the book"
jIHvaD paq yInob
"Give the book to me"
Note that the IO and DO have switched places in the second English example;
the IO is also preceeded with the preposition "to". In English, the first
is more colloquial or informal, while the second feels somewhat formal or
deliberate (at least to me).
Although we don't yet have enough data to tell what the difference in style
means in Klingon or when one would be used in preference to the other, we
do know that both forms are grammatically correct.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons