tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu May 27 09:21:28 2004
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Re: action verbs vs. qualities
From: <[email protected]>
> In a message dated 2004-05-27 8:43:15 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> > >The subject of a verb of quality is a patient, the one experiencing the
> > >quality.
> >
> > Why couldn't it be that the subject is the one *expressing* the quality?
> >
>
> Because that's not what a patient is, by definition. The patient
> *experiences* the state.
You're doing exactly what ghunchu'wI' is pointing out: you're starting with
the assumption that Klingon fits into an agent/patient/focus scheme, and
deciding how the language works based on that.
There's an interesting bit in KGT (which I don't have with me) that explains
that with some words (like describing food), a quality is not inherent in
the subject, but rather is a description of the effect the subject has on
someone.
na' Ha'DIbaH
The meat is salty.
To the Klingon perspective, this doesn't mean the meat expresses the quality
of saltiness, it means I, the eater, experience saltiness when eating the
meat. So what's the agent/patient relationship there? Does this thinking
apply to all quality verbs, or just ones desribing food and music? We don't
know.
SuStel
Stardate 4404.3
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