[919] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: "movie"mey, etc. (Really: transitivity?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Fri May 21 16:37:40 1993
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: mark <mark@dragonsys.COM>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Fri, 21 May 93 15:18:47 EST
Ken BeesleyvaD ghItlh HoD Qanqor:
> I certainly *will* agree that, in the examples you cite, using
> the naked verb with an object would probably not result in the
> meaning which obtains by adding -moH. I am not claiming that
> qaSey would mean "I excite you"-- that would certainly have to
> be qaSeymoH. I'm not claiming anything about what qaSey might
> mean. I'm simply saying there is no rule that says you can't
> say it or that it is illegal.
I can see, as a plausible meaning for qaSey, 'I am excited
by/about you.' This is not quite the same as choSeymoH, which
could imply that you are actively exciting me without saying
what or who I'm getting excited ABOUT. E.g., if you tell me
about a plan to attack Romulus, I may get excited about the plan
but not about you: choSeymoH. OTOH, maybe (if "you" is my wife)
you tell me about the Town Meeting agenda while getting ready for
bed; I might say qaSey, implying that I'm getting excited about
her, not about what she's telling me, and that I'm not saying
she's intending to excite me. (All that is assuming my wife
speaks Klingon rather than treating it as the somewhat wacko
diversion that it is, but that's another issue.)
ghItlhqa':
> Even if I pick a verb that you classify as "intransitive", I
> can certainly add -lu' to it.
> yaymo' Seylu' "One is excited because of victory".
As with my treatment of qaSey, I see that as a possible reading,
but not one that follows clearly from our data.
- marqem
Mark A. Mandel
Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
320 Nevada St. : Newton, Mass. 02160, USA : mark@dragonsys.com
