tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Nov 26 11:08:45 2009

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Re: The topic marker -'e'

David Trimboli ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']



Christopher Doty wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 05:38, David Trimboli <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Indeed, I don't agree that {-vaD} is an indirect object marker. When
>> there is an indirect object, it's probably got {-vaD} on it, but that's
>> not the same as saying everything with {-vaD} is an indirect object.
>> Klingon reserves no special inflection or position for indirect objects;
>> they are just a consequence of other features of the sentence.
> 
> If this is true (which I think it is), then -vaD gets used for
> anything where an action or object is directed toward something, and
> is thus logically used for indirect objects, but this doesn't limit
> how it is used...  For example:
> 
> tlhIHvaD tIrqi' jaj Quch!!

'oy' jay'! When transliterating, please at least mark the word somehow. 
It took me a moment to realize this meant "turkey," and any beginners 
reading your post may have spent several minutes scratching their heads, 
wondering what *{qi'} meant. :)

But yes, I agree that {-vaD} can be used in this sense, but not with 
this syntax, unless it's clipped in the way DloraH suggested. You 
haven't specified what {tlhIH} is the beneficiary of. It can't be 
{turkey jaj Quch}, because that's a noun phrase, and modifying the 
following noun phrase would be a noun-noun construction with a Type 5 
suffix on the genitive. (The same objection I've had all along.)

Well-wishing and (espeically) toasts in Klingon actually follow special 
grammatical rules, first mentioned in Power Klingon and later explained 
in detail in Klingon for the Galactic Traveler. No matter what the 
sentence, the verb will have {-jaj} and it will always come last, even 
if this violates OVS order. So, as a toast:

    tlhIHvaD turkey jaj Quchjaj!
    May you have a happy turkey day!
    Happy turkey day!

In standard Klingon, if it weren't in the context of a toast or the 
like, the sentence would be

    tlhIHvaD Quchjaj turkey jaj!

-- 
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush






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