tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jun 18 14:56:59 2000
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Re: Deixis and direction
jIjatlh:
> > HIvje'Daq yIqang.
> > Pour it into the cup.
>
> I agree, but only because pouring happens in the cup. You don't pour in
the
> bottle. You pour FROM the bottle. The pouring happens in the cup.
Doesn't the pouring happen in the room where I'm standing while pouring?
I'm quite convinced that /HIvje'Daq yIqang/ works because the locative is a
target, not the location of the action.
> > lupDujHomvo' qachDaq Sup Sub.
> > The hero jumped from the shuttlecraft to the building.
>
> True. Meanwhile, if it were just {qachDaq Sup Sub}, most people would
> interpret that to mean he was in the building and he jumped. Probably just
> up and down.
If you agree that the mere change of context changes the meaning of the
sentence, then you must have agreed that the original sentence I provided
does, in fact, show that /qachDaq/ is the target, not the location of the
jumping. After all, /lupDujHomvo'/ only adds the context necessary for an
interpretation.
"Most people" would probably say there isn't enough information to determine
whether the jumping is happening in or toward the building, not that it's
definitely in the building. YOU probably would, because that's the
interpretation you would prefer to see, I think. Without /lupDujHom/, there
simply isn't enough information to determine what's happening. That's WHY I
added /lupDujHom/. We know that the action is not already in or on the
building, so we conclude that it's happening TOWARD the building. And with
that context, you agreed that the grammar of the rest is probably valid.
By stripping /lupDujHom/ away, you simply demonstrate the importance of
context.
> > HewDaq jIlegh.
> > I look at the statue.
>
> Totally wrong here. {legh} means "see" not "look".
I stand corrected. But I think the point has been made. Locatives seem to
work as targets, too. At least, there's a little evidence that they do, and
none that I can find that they don't. (Verbs of motion are a special case,
as has been repeatedly established, and therefore do not apply to the
discussion.) Not in every case, of course, but the potential is there,
under the right circumstances. Furthermore, I think it's a mistake to try
to dictate what those circumstances might be for all verbs. As demonstrated
with the pouring example, our conclusions will be biased strongly by our
preconceived notions, which have nothing to do with Klingon.
SuStel
Stardate 465.2