[tlhIngan Hol] [English] Using "pong" as a verb to say "my name is..." ?

[Lieven]

Am 03.10.2016 um 16:08 schrieb SuStel:
> You said "So it IS true that the /word/ has a first person object, but
> the prefix itself does NOT."
>
> I don't even know what this is supposed to mean.

Come on, you're not that stupid. You just enjoy nitpicking and attach 
yourself to my not-so-perfect scientific linguistic description. I'm 
sorry, I'll go study English language and linguistics before I write any 
other message here.

> A prefix does not /have/ an object; it /indicates/ an object.

Thanks for clarifying this to me. I have been doing it wrong for almost 
twenty years now. That probably explains why I'm not so fluent in Klingon.

> A prefix like *vI-* can indicate a third-person object /or/ a first-person
> object, depending on whether the subject is definite or indefinite.

Yes, it can. All that I just wanted to say - and yes, I'm also 
nitpicking now - is that "per definition" of TKD, chapter 4.1.1, {vI-} 
primarily "indicates" a third person object. What I meant to say with 
the above phrase you do not understand is that the word including the 
suffix -lu' indicates a different object than with the suffix -lu'.

In the MSN forum, Okrand wrote "When the indirect object is first or 
second person, the pronominal prefix which NORMALLY indicates first or 
second person object may be used."

So aaaall that I'm saying is that if you take this 
"nitpickingly-literally", {vI-} is NOT a prefix that "NORMALLY indicates 
first person object".

Further, chapter 4.2.5 about indefinite subject, say what you mentioned 
(and which I do not contradict) that the prefixes "which NORMALLY 
indicate first person object" are used in a differetn way. The next page 
even mentions the prefix {vI-} "which NORMALLY means I do something to 
him" in combination with -lu' becomes "something does something to me".

---

I know this may be a bit too nitpicking from my side regarding the used 
term "normally", but most of the time it's YOU who insists on sticking 
to existing definitions and not accepting extrapolated rules that are 
based on just our feeling that it sounds correct.

rIn.

-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
Grammarian of the KLI
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher
http://www.klingonwiki.net