[86625] in tlhIngan-Hol
The prefix trick without direct objects
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Trimboli)
Mon Oct 5 19:30:56 2009
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:28:53 -0400
From: David Trimboli <david@trimboli.name>
In-reply-to: <429E16FC-1C4E-4002-AE2D-09E8A38A27D8@embarqmail.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Doq wrote:
> I'm not sure we've ever seen the prefix trick used without an explicit
> third-person direct object. The whole thing that makes the prefix
> trick work for me is the obvious mismatch between the prefix and the
> explicit direct object.
>
> It may be that the prefix works just as well without the presence of a
> direct object, but I've never noticed a case of this.
It does. When Okrand introduced what I later called the "prefix trick,"
he was answering the question, "Does {qajatlh} mean anything?" Okrand
said the object of {jatlh} is the thing spoken, but then he showed us
the prefix trick, including these examples:
qajatlh "I speak to you"
Sajatlh "I speak to you [plural]"
chojatlh "you speak to me"
He also defined the prefix trick: "When the indirect object (in this
case, the hearer) is first or second person, the pronominal prefix which
normally indicates first or second person object may be used."
Unlike English, Klingon is allowed to have an indirect object (any noun
in the sentence that is not the subject or direct object and is somehow
affected by the action, usually as beneficiary or recipient) without
also having a direct object. But English likes to turn indirect objects
into prepositional objects, so the rules defining an indirect object in
English have an additional requirement: that the noun not be part of a
prepositional phrase.
He never says so, but technically his explanation would also allow
phrases like {SoHvaD tlhIngan Hol qajatlh} "I speak Klingon to you." I
don't think this is the intention, though; I think the prefix trick is
only meant to completely elide the indirect object.
--
SuStel
tlhIngan Hol MUSH
http://trimboli.name/mush
