tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jul 12 21:57:06 2000
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RE: {-Ha'} (was Re: obtuse question)
I enjoy the insight here. I've noticed that Okrand definitely goes between
this "opposite of" meaning and the "undo/do badly" meaning, but I never saw
the pattern before that stative verbs get the "opposite of" meaning while
active verbs get the "undo/do badly" meaning. Meanwhile, your examples do
show that consistency.
qatlho'.
charghwI'
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alan Anderson [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Monday, July 10, 2000 7:46 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: {-Ha'} (was Re: obtuse question)
>
>
> ja' peHruS:
> >I see that a lot of Klingon speakers are feeling that {-Ha'} works like
> >"anti-." The new meaning of the verb is the opposite of its original. I
> >want to know how these speakers have come to this conclusion, since TKD
> >explanations reveal only "undo, misdo."
>
> The examples of {-Ha'} in TKD section 4.3 involve only verbs of action:
>
> chenHa'moHlaH
> yIchu'Ha'
> bIjatlhHa'chugh
>
> For these, and for other "active" verbs like {Qey} "be loose" and {tung}
> "discourage", the explanation of {-Ha'} as "undoing" or "doing wrongly" is
> easily accepted. But for verbs of quality, another meaning does appear
> reasonable. The dictionary includes the following pairs of words:
>
> {bel} "be pleased" / {belHa'} "be displeased"
> {jot} "be calm" / {jotHa'} "be uneasy"
> {Qey} "be tight" / {QeyHa'} "be loose"
> {Quch} "be happy" / {QuchHa'} "be unhappy"
> {yep} "be careful" / {yepHa'} "be careless"
> {yuD} "be dishonest" / {yuDHa'} "be honest"
>
> Later sources give us more canonical opposites:
>
> {jej} "be sharp" / {jejHa'} "be dull"
> {matlh} "be loyal" / {matlhHa'} "be disloyal"
> {ngaD} "be stable" / {ngaDHa'} "be unstable"
> {quv} "be honored" / {quvHa'} "be dishonored"
> {ru'} "be temporary" / {ru'Ha'} "be permanent"
> {tlhorgh} "be pungent} / {tlhorghHa'} "be bland"
>
> I think these all work very well with an "anti-" interpretation. I also
> think that the natural "undoing" of {veb} "be next" is {vebHa'} "be
> previous".
>
> -- ghunchu'wI' 'utlh
>
>