tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 23 06:12:59 2009

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Re: The topic marker -'e'

ghunchu'wI' 'utlh ([email protected])



> ma-pum  Sor
> 3plS-accuse   tree

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:24 AM, Christopher Doty <[email protected]> wrote:
> Yes, well, robots made more sense than trees...

It might be time for you to take a rest, or at least brush up on your
vocabulary.

> 3plS is "third plural subject" (subject being from intransitive verbs,
> and distinct from "agent" for transitive verbs).

You should *definitely* brush up on your verb prefixes. {ma-}
indicates as *first* person plural subject. Perhaps this minor error
is why you guys seem to be talking past each other here.

Oh, and it might be a good idea to stay away from a debate over
subjects vs. agents. There is no obvious distinction between them in
Klingon. The subject is *always* the thing performing the action (or
expressing the state or quality, if "action" is not an appropriate
concept).

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:40 AM, Tracy Canfield <[email protected]> wrote:
> mIS puq
>
> "puq" is the subject, but it isn't an agent.

Why not?

Don't fret over the English gloss of {mIS} as "be confused" with the
appearance of passive voice. Consider it as a simple verb in Klingon.
{ghung puq} is exactly analogous to {mIS puq}, and {puq} is doing the
action / having the quality in both.

-- ghunchu'wI'






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