tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Dec 11 22:27:45 2007

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Re: Basic grammar question

QeS 'utlh ([email protected]) 

ghItlhpu' Doq, ja':
>I did not remember this example. Thanks for offering it.

qay'be'. The examples from the MSN postings, since they're not as
central as TKD, sometimes don't pop as easily to my mind either.

taH:
>I think {choQIj} is a bit less obvious, since a person is not something
>that can be spoken, but perhaps might be something that can be
>explained.

For me that isn't the case, but of course, that could just be how the
concept of {QIj} is internalised for me. I could happily explain
someone's actions, someone's desires, or someone's dislikes, but just
explaining someone strikes me as weird. Maybe not wrong per se, but
definitely peculiar.

For the record, I could only find two examples of {QIj} in actual use:

yaSvaD nab QIj
"he explains the plan to the officer" (KGT p.149)

QaghwIj vIQIj 'e' yIchaw'neS
"allow me to explain my mistake, your honour" (PK)

taH:
>We have not been given an explanation for potential direct objects of
>{QIj} like we have {jatlh}.

Of course not. In fact, the reason why the detailed explanation exists
for {jatlh} is because the question that was put to Marc Okrand on the
MSN newsgroup specifically concerned that verb: "Does {qajatlh} mean
anything? Some feel this is poor grammar. I'm not sure what to think.
Can {jatlh} take an object other than a language?" (Neal Schermerhorn
to Okrand via MSN newsgroup). Explicit explanations of what can appear
in which argument slot exist for very few other verbs, although the
argument structures of various verbs of motion are described in detail in
the interview in HolQeD 7.4 (pp. 2-12). Most of it we have to work out
from usage, and for {choQIj} I'm just going from that. But naturally, one
swallow (or two {QIj}es, in this case) doesn't make a summer, and
{QIj} might be capable of taking other sorts of direct objects.

QeS 'utlh
tlhIngan Hol yejHaD pab po'wI' / Grammarian of the Klingon Language Institute


not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
- Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh

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