tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Sep 18 14:58:10 2001
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Pronouns
- From: Will Martin <[email protected]>
- Subject: Pronouns
- Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2001 15:03:42 -0400
A few days ago, I was driving. I felt crabby. A driver near me was creating
a traffic situation that activated that part of my brain that thinks in
Klingon first and then translates back to English. Like I said, I felt
crabby.
Anyway, I thought I finally got around this car and drove on for a while,
daydreaming about other stuff when I awoke and saw the same car in front of
me again. {SoHqa'!}, I cried aloud, with a subliminal "You again!" echoing
behind.
Then I thought, "No, that's wrong. Pronouns only work as verbs when used
with other nouns, as in {tlhIngan maH!} If I just yell {maH!}, then it's
acting like a noun, not a verb."
I continued my internal debate. That slant basically requires every pronoun
used as a verb to have a direct object. It may or may not have a subject,
but it always needs a direct object. Canon reveals this.
But no. What about {pa'wIjDaq jIHtaH}? There is no direct object or subject
noun here. The locative doesn't count. The root "sentence" here is
{jIHtaH}. It is clearly a verb. So, what is wrong with {SoHqa'}? Well,
nothing.
Admittedly, I was using it more as an exclammatory than as a verb. I could
have said, {HewIjDaq SoHqa'} and it would have been a perfectly good
sentence by pretty much anybody's enlightened opinion.
Unfortunately, my car's foreward distruptors weren't working, so I had to
just continue driving behind this ... other car.
charghwI'