tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 30 05:55:47 2004

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"Benefactives" (was:Re: Using object prefixes with "intransitive" verbs)

QuljIb ([email protected])



"QeS lagh" <[email protected]> wrote:

>ghItlhpu' SuStel:
>
>>I'm not sure if the concept of "beneficiary" equals the concept of 
>>"indirect
>>object"; I suspect it doesn't exactly match.

QeSlagh jang:
>You're right, SuStel. "Beneficiaries" in Klingon appear to be what's
>called "benefactive" nouns, and they definitely don't exactly map to >dative objects in English. Sometimes they do, but oftentimes they don't.
>I study Ubykh as a hobby. This language uses a well-defined benefactive >marker that shows up a lot, so I feel that I'm at least basically
>qualified to discuss what a "beneficiary" is.

[details about benefactives in Ubykh]

Heh, way cool.  I'd wondered if there existed a natlang that worked thusly.  I especial like the idea of a "malefactive" subset of "benefactives".  Opens up so many possibilities...

-quljIb





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