tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 16 11:47:57 2003
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Re: untranstvty
From: "Quvar valer (Lieven)" <[email protected]>
> Can one say that *all* verbs which are translated "be xyz" are
intransitive?
I think it's a mistake to try to make rules about transitivity in Klingon.
It's not at all clear that such a concept is useful. I've found it to be
much more relevant to ask whether a verb represents an action or a quality.
There are multiple situations in which this distinction is important (the Q
of a law'/puS construction, whether an imperative needs /-'egh/ and /-moH/,
whether the verb may be used adjectivally).
Whenever the question you posed comes up, someone always comes up with a
controversial word or two that might be interpreted one way or another, and
we don't end up with a definitive answer. For instance, /HeghmoH/ "be
fatal" is a verb that is translated in TKD as "be <something>." But it's
really "cause to die." Was it included in the word list in case someone
looked up "fatal"? Is it considered a quality by Klingons? If it is, is it
a transitive quality (because you can say, for instance /HoD HeghmoH/ "it
causes the captain to die")?
Better not to try to come up with a blanket statement on this.
SuStel
Stardate 3457.0