[3803] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: -moH and other suffixes
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Mon Mar 14 01:39:50 1994
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@klingon.East.Sun.COM
From: dls9@aol.com
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@klingon.East.Sun.COM>
Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 01:27:04 EST
>What do you folks think? I think "qaQongrupmoH" for "I'm ready to put you
>to sleep" is legal. This came up, btw, when I was making a sentence "I'm
>willing to teach you" and got "*qaghojmoHqang", then fixed it to
>"qaghojqangmoH", and then decided to do something else and ask the list
>instead.
>
>~mark
>
>
This {-moH} suffix, what a trouble-maker!
This verb you have here {qaQongrupmoH} has both a subject and an object. Now,
according to TKD 4.2.2 on type 2 verb suffixes: "Suffixes of this type
express how much choice the *subject* has about the action described or how
predisposed the *subject* is to doing it." (emphasis added).
So, it's downright translucent that the {-rup} in {qaQongrupmoH} should apply
to the subject, an implicit {jIH}. And to say something like, "I cause you to
be ready to sleep," i.e., "I make you tired," you would probably make better
use of it as {bIQongrup 'e' vIqaSmoH}. A cop-out answer is to say simply
{qaDoy'moH}, but copping out is not the Klingon way.
Consider the {-vIp} suffix, which is strongly discouraged in use with the
first person. This is not to say that it is not socially acceptable to say
something like {mu'oy'vIpmoH}, meaning "He/She/It is afraid to hurt me." (And
yes, if you check TKD, {'oy'} is intransitive). The {-vIp} here
unquestionably refers to the implicit subject, {ghaH/'oH}. But only a nuch
ngIm quvHa'qu' jay' would utter {jI'oy'vIp 'e' qaSmoH}, "He/She/It makes me
afraid to be in pain."
Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos
