tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jun 11 16:21:58 2004

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lol (was Re: taH...)

QeS lagh ([email protected])



ghItlhpu' lay'tel SIvten:

>If {ghaH} referred to {SuvwI'}, it would be reflexive, and thus expressed 
>in a totally different way: {lol'egh SuvwI'}.  qar'a'?  So what would 
>{ghaH} refer back to?  Some word in a previous sentence.

No, it looks like {lol} doesn't normally take an object, so {lol'egh} is 
senseless. {lol} doesn't mean "cause to be in an attitude", it means "be in 
an attitude". It'd be like saying {Doq'egh}: grammatically it can be done, 
but semantically it's almost impossible to make sense of. You'd have to say 
{Doq'eghmoH} (or {lol'eghmoH}).

But I think what you're doing here is confusing the position of {SuvwI'}. 
You're analysing this as though {SuvwI'} were part of the main clause: 
{DuHIvmeH <SuvwI' lol ghaH>}. The sentence looks like it's actually read as 
{DuHIvmeH SuvwI' <lol ghaH>}; {SuvwI'} is part of the purpose clause, not 
the main one. Remember that {-meH} clauses can include nouns, even when 
modifying nouns: {maghwI'pu' HoHmeH taj} "a knife for killing traitors".

(BTW: I don't see a problem with adding a subject, too: {maghwI'pu' vIHoHmeH 
taj} "a knife for me to kill traitors with". I'm not sure of the stance of 
the rest of the list on this, but I don't know any reason why not.)

Savan.

QeS lagh

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