[tlhIngan Hol] using chegh without an object

[SuStel]

On 2/18/2021 8:09 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
> At st6, as soon as the dinner is over, and the klingons take their 
> places on the transporter in order to return to Qo'noS wa', cheng is 
> heard saying:
>
> DaH machegh
>
> I'd rather expect to hear {DaH wIchegh}. The {DaH machegh} gives me 
> the impression of cheng saying, "now we return somewhere unspecified 
> on something which is unspecified too"

*chegh* is one of those verbs whose object is automatically given a 
locative sense. The object of *chegh* is the destination to which you 
are returning. If you do not include an object, the destination to which 
you are returning is considered to be general or vague.

Let's remember that *DaH*/now/ is an adverbial, not a noun, and is not 
the object of this sentence. Let's remove it to avoid confusion.

*wIchegh* means /we return to him/her/it./ This is clearly not what 
*cheng Sa'* means to say: what /it/ does he mean? On the other hand, 
*machegh*/we return (to someplace unspecified)/ is exactly what he 
means: the person at the other end of his communicator knows exactly 
what he means, so he doesn't bother to say where they're returning to. 
He doesn't need to. He could say *Duj wIchegh,* but his transporter 
operator already knows that. When Kirk says /beam us up,/ he doesn't 
have to say /beam us up to the ship,/ does he? No.

Remember also that the verb imparts a locative sense to the object; the 
locative isn't dangling off the verb into space. If there's no object, 
there's no locative.*chegh* without an object means /return./

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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