[tlhIngan Hol] Sentence as object using {'oH}

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Thu Aug 24 06:29:12 PDT 2017


On 8/24/2017 6:38 AM, Lieven wrote:
>
> One other thing that came to my mind: if you add "that" to the english 
> phrase (it is true /that/...) I began to think about using the verb 
> {teH} to say "it is true that..." like {Sopta' 'e' teH}. But that does 
> not work; we know that {'e'} is used with verbs of thinking or 
> observation like "see", "know" etc. I'm sure {teH} is not one of that 
> kind, so that does not work. (although it would nice to have)

More importantly, *'e'* has to be the object of a verb, and *teH* does 
not take an object without a *-moH* attached to it.

The advice in /The Klingon Dictionary/ that sentences-as-object 
primarily use verbs of thinking and observation as their second verbs 
must be taken with a grain of salt. We have tons of examples of 
sentences-as-object that don't follow that advice. For example, I count 
nine uses of sentence-as-object in /The Klingon Way/ (not counting 
multiple instances in the same saying), and of these only two could be 
said to be remotely about thinking (*tul* and *Hech*) and one about 
observation (*Qoy*). Maybe you could argue that *wIv* represents 
thinking about a choice, and maybe you could argue that *tIv* is about 
thinking of enjoyment, but we're opening up the meaning of "thinking or 
observation" pretty widely, and we still have the verbs *chaw', mev,* 
and *baj* to consider.

I don't think Okrand has had that particular bit of advice in mind when 
crafting sentence-as-object constructions subsequent to /TKD/. I think 
it's more important simply to keep the second-sentence concept 
relatively simple. Don't try fancy tricks with these sentences. If you 
get to a point where you're not sure if you /can/ do something, you 
probably shouldn't.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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