Re: agentive -wI'

["David Trimboli" <SuStel@hotmail.com>]

From: <cheesbro@rpa.net>
> HoHwI'wI' - "my killer".  Did I hire him to kill someone else, or did
someone
> else hire him to kill me?
>
> muHoHwI' - "one that kills me".  Someone hired him to kill me.


This sort of thing only makes semantic sense when the subject of the
verb-that-isn't is third person.  The following example words would seem to
be nonsense:

choHoHwI'
qaHoHwI'
juHoHwI'
jIHoHwI'
maHoHwI'

The comparatively large number of these, combined with a restriction on
prefixes and /-ghach/ given to us by Okrand, are sufficient to convince me
that prefixes shouldn't be used on verbs with /-wI'/, even if you could
glean something sensical out of it.

Clarity of */muHoHwI'/ over /HoHwI'wI'/ is nice and all, but often the
ambiguous things are the ones that win.

SuStel
Stardate 2145.4