tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Aug 26 15:57:02 2004
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Re: waH
- From: "QeS lagh" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: waH
- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:36:43 +1000
- Bcc:
ghItlhpu' lay'tel SIvten:
>I don't think they are the same. Both {'Iv} and {SoH} can be verbs, but
>both sentences only work when the verb is second.
jangpu' Paul:
>I don't understand what you're saying here. Why do these sentences only
>work if the verb is second?
>/'Iv SoH/ - verb could be /'Iv/ "You (are who)?" or /SoH/ "(You are)
>who?"
>/SoH 'Iv/ - verb could be /SoH/ "Who (are you)?" or /'Iv/ "(Who are) you?"
>Given that, this doesn't affect at all how these could be negated --
>although with the addition of the negative suffix, the verb becomes
>identifiable:
Klingon grammar demands that the subject of a copular sentence takes the
suffix {-'e'}. Hence, if the verb in the sentence {SoH 'Iv} is the pronoun
{SoH}, then the question word {'Iv} must take the suffix {-'e'}, because it
is in the subject position. In the same way, if {'Iv} is the verb in {'Iv
SoH}, the pronoun {SoH} must take {-'e'}:
??{'Iv SoH'e'} "who are you?"
??{SoH 'Iv'e'} "who are you?"
And as lay'tel SIvten has pointed out previously, pronouns-as-verbs have an
inherent subject agreement in them. {jIH} doesn't just mean "to be X", it
means "I am X". For this reason, pronouns-as-verbs can't sensibly take
subjects, unless the pronoun-as-verb is third person, in which case they can
take semantically sensible subjects: {tlhIngan jatlhwI' ghaH Holtej'e'}
"Holtej is a Klingon speaker".
QeS lagh
not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' qan je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh
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