tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 03 12:19:19 2009

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Sentences as objects

Tracy Canfield ([email protected]) 

I have some questions about verbs in the TKD glossary that could potentiall
take sentences as objects.  TKD only gives a few examples of these
constructions, mostly in section 6.2.5.  ter'eS has additional information
at http://teresh.tdonnelly.org/kliadd6.html .  I'm finding that I have some
questions that go beyond both sources.
I've grouped potentially similar verbs together to make this more readable -
I realize of course that they're not guaranteed to behave the same way.

1.  Verbs of speech

This seems straightforward enough - only two verbs, jatlh and ja', can be
used with reported speech.  So, just to confirm, none of the following can
be used with reported speech in the same sentences:

admit    chID
ask    thlob
communicate    Qum
deny    tem
explain    QIj

I'm guessing that you can use these in two sentences:  jagh jeylu'.
vIQIjpu'.  "The enemy was defeated.  I explained it."  for an equivalent to
"I explained that the enemy was defeated."

2.  Verbs of observation

TKD gives a few example sentences for these:

see    legh
yaS qIppu' 'e' vIlegh

discover, find, observe, notice    tu'
Qu'vaD lI' net tu'bej

I find it interesting that the 'e' and net constructions can be used both
with sensory verbs and with more abstract verbs.

Here are some other verbs I might expect to take sentence objects using 'e'
and net:

hear    Qoy
learn    ghoj
read    laD
realize    tlhoj
verify    'ol
watch    bej

Do we have any examples of these with sentence objects?

3.  Verbs of mental processes

TKD gives us two examples with Sov, which takes a sentence object with 'e'
or net:

know    Sov
qamapu' DIHoH 'e' luSov
qamapu' DIHoH net Sov

The following verbs have related meanings - they all deal with mental
processes.  Do we have any information about which ones do or don't work the
same way?

believe    Har
doubt    Hon
expect    pIH
forget    lIj
judge, estimate    noH
recognize    ghov
regret    pay
remember    qaw
think    Qub
understand    yaj

4.  Verbs of wanting

TKD shows that neH takes a sentence object without using a complementizer
such as 'e' or net:

want    neH
jIQong vIneH

Do these verbs work the same way?

hope    tul
prefer    maS

5.  Other verbs which take sentence objects in human languages

Finally, the TKD glossary includes several verbs which would take sentence
objects* in human languages, but which aren't particularly similar to the
verbs of perceiving, knowing, or desiring for which we see sample
sentences.  Are any of these verbs known to take sentence objects?

advise    qeS
allow, permit    chaw'
attempt, try    nID
decide    wuq demand, require    poQ
discourage    tung
help, aid    QaH
intend, mean to    Hech
order, command    ra'
plan    nab
prevent, block, prohibit    bot
recommend, suggest    chup
show, reveal    'ang
vow, swear    'Ip

* In many cases, including English, these "sentence objects" take forms that
wouldn't be allowed in a standalone sentence - we say "He goes" but "I want
him to go".  Since none of these forms have Klingon equivalents that I know
if, I'm trying to avoid getting sidetracked into non-Klingon grammar.

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