[86952] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: The topic marker -'e'
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (ghunchu'wI' 'utlh)
Mon Nov 23 09:29:16 2009
In-Reply-To: <a1173fff0911222224w13efc813h60991db607b2f30f@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:11:35 -0500
From: "ghunchu'wI' 'utlh" <qunchuy@alcaco.net>
To: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
> ma-pum Sor
> 3plS-accuse tree
On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:24 AM, Christopher Doty <suomichris@gmail.com> 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 <toastrix@gmail.com> 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'
