[2763] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: po puv bortaS!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Tue Jan 25 09:13:19 1994
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
From: mark <mark@dragonsys.COM>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 94 09:02:10 EST
[I got charghwI''s message privately and replied the same way
before getting the list version, so I'm forwarding to the list my
file copy of my reply. -- marqem]
ghItlh charghwI':
* * *
No. I assumed that {vIH} is a verb describing a state of being. For
example, I could say {jIvIH} or I could say {vIvIHmoH}, but I could not say
{vIvIH}, since the verb is not transitive without the {-moH}. If this is
true, then that means it can be used adjectivally. I used it following the
noun, so it means "moving river" the same way that {bIQtIq bIr} would mean
"cold river".
* * *
Good try, but I don't think it works, because I don't think that
vIH is a "verb describing a state or quality", by which I think
Okrand meant what linguists among themselves call a "stative
verb". (I'm a linguist too, so for my own use I back-translate
Okrand's excellent laifications, back into linguistese.) Stative
verbs are more like his examples: tIn 'be big', Doy 'be tired'.
There's no way to PROVE that Klingon vIH ISN'T an exception, a
verb describing motion that is nevertheless syntactically used as
a stative verb, but absent positive evidence we should assume
that the class is limited to verbs that clearly fit the
description.
I will sleep on this and try to come up with alternatives.
- marqem
Mark A. Mandel
Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : mark@dragonsys.com
