tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 26 12:03:29 2004

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Re: core semantic case roles: agent, patient, focus

...Paul ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

On Wed, 26 May 2004, David Trimboli wrote:
> There are most certainly differences between verbs of quality and verbs of
> action.  Those differences are not made clear by Okrand's description of the
> grammar in TKD.  There is no basis on which to claim that {-ta'} or {-lI'}
> can only be used on action verbs.

How about a little /ngaSwI' HurDaq/ thinking...

Do we simplify anything if we take a look at verbs as "those which subsume
a concept of state" and "those which do not"?

I'm thinking, the example of /Doq/ -- it doesn't make sense to say
/yIDoq/, but it does make sense to say /yIDoq'eghmoH/.  Would it make any
sense to say /yIDoqchoH/ ("Start being red!")?  Would this translation
really be any different than /yIQongchoH/ ("Start sleeping!")

If the issue really boils down in the end to how the imperative prefixes
work (with or without various verb suffixes), perhaps it's because the
imperative prefix has a connotation of /-choH/, although it's not
explicit.  Turn it around -- does it really make sense to say /yIQong/?
Or does one really mean /yIQongchoH/, and we can attribute this to
"clipped Klingon"?

I'm doing this without lunch and in a meeting, so if I rambled, I
apologize.  :)

...Paul

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