[tlhIngan Hol] naDev and 'el

[Will Martin]

I honestly disagree about {‘el} having locative objects… or at least I think I disagree, since this is one of those things that is hard enough to converse about without everyone getting confused about what the other person is saying. We may very well mean exactly the same thing. I’m just confused about the wording.

Okay, so here I go, trying to be clear…

{‘el} is a kind of motion. A being or thing is in motion. It’s the subject and the agent, if you will.

The motion occurs at a place. That’s the whole point of the verb. The object of {‘el} is the destination, just as the object of {ghoS} is the path. The motion of {‘el} has an indefinite beginning and a specific end point. The motion of {ghoS} has undefined beginning and end with a path that has a name, which quite often corresponds to the destination, but that is not necessarily the case. I can {ghoS} Interstate 95 without making any reference to my destination. I can also {ghoS} Washington, DC, which is a destination I can get to via Interstate 95, and basically, I’d be calling Interstate 95 “The Washington, DC road”.

You don’t need {-Daq} on the object of {ghoS} or {‘el}. The structure or area one enters can be named without grammatically notating it as a location. The fact that you are entering it implies that it is a location. If a drug enters the bloodstream, in terms of meaning, the bloodstream is a location. Everything you enter is a location.

In English, “I enter the stadium”. It would be weird to say, “I enter into the stadium,” or “I enter at the stadium.” The preposition is unnecessary because that locational meaning is built into the meaning of the verb. In this case, I think Klingon is similar. It would be strange to put {-Daq} on the direct object of {‘el}. It would feel redundant, and then you’d need some kind of reason for having expressed that redundancy.

It would also be a little confusing, since the use of {-Daq} suggests at least the possibility that it’s not the direct object of the verb. Like instead of saying “I entered the stadium,” you might say “I entered [the stadium] at the front gate.” You are not really saying that you enter the front gate. You enter AT the front gate. You enter the stadium… at the front gate.

Is that clear enough, or is this yet another argument, where we mean the same thing and argue over the one and only right way to say it?

charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan

rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.




> On Mar 11, 2019, at 12:11 PM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:
> 
> On 3/11/2019 12:04 PM, Steven Boozer wrote:
>> {naDev Da’elpa’}. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> If you asking about {naDev}, it’s a noun in Klingon not an adverbial, and thus can be the object of a verb.  If you’re asking whether {‘el} takes an object, it does; e.g.:
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> tach vI'el, HItlhej 
>> Let's go to the pub. (RT)
>> 
>> Hevetlh wIghoSchugh veH tIn wI'el maH'e'
>> 
>> that course will take us into the [Great] Barrier as well! (ST5)
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> neHmaH Da'el net tu' 
>> Caught breaching the Neutral Zone. (MKE)
>> 
> He's asking whether 'el is a verb with an inherent locative sense. The answer is no, it is not. The object of 'el does not have to be a locative. The fact that naDev is automatically locative doesn't change the lack of locative requirements of 'el.
> 
> tugh naDev wI'el
> Soon we will enter here.
> 
> It's awkward in English to say enter here; I wonder if naDev being inherently locative makes this just as awkward in Klingon. You might prefer sentences like tugh pa'vam wI'el or tugh Daqvam wI'el.
> 
> -- 
> SuStel
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