[tlhIngan Hol] intransitivity
SuStel
sustel at trimboli.name
Sat Feb 22 09:02:53 PST 2020
On 2/22/2020 11:48 AM, Lieven L. Litaer wrote:
> This is a poll to check your opinion or your knowledge:
>
> I'm working on a dictionary as part of the Klingon Language Wiki. Now I
> wondered: How much do people know the word "in/transitive"? Does it
> maybe sound too technical?
>
> Would it be more useable to say
> a) - "this is a transitive verb"
> or
> b) - "this verb can take an object"
Web-based dictionaries will use either version. Merriam Webster is happy
to tell you a verb is transitive or intransitive, while Dictionary.com
says with object or no object. My physical Oxford American Dictionary
says trans. or intrans.
When writing a dictionary, remember that it's not just whether a word is
transitive or intransitive, it's whether a particular sense of a word is
transitive or intransitive. A translating dictionary will tell you that
*Suv* means /fight,/ but it may not tell you that it can be used
transitively, where the object is the entity being fought against, or
intransitively, where the subject is engaging in a general activity of
fighting, possibly against itself. It's not enough just to say "*Suv *is
transitive."
--
SuStel
http://trimboli.name
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