I think the prefix trick was invented to retroactively explain Okrand’s casual misuse of verb prefixes when he translated according to the objects of the English original sentence in his early translations. The English originals all used ditransitive verbs.

Examples:

ghIchwIj DabochmoHchugh ghIchlIj qanob. (“I will give you your nose”: you, your nose)

cha'puj vIngevmeH chaw' HInobneS. (“Give me a permit”: me, a permit)

tIqwIj Sa'angnIS. (“I must show you my heart”: you, my heart)

It wasn’t invented to mimic English; it was invented because Okrand accidentally mimicked English, and then he needed to explain it.

The reveal of the prefix trick (almost 30 years ago) is also not, in any practical sense of the word, recent.

--SuStel

From: tlhIngan-Hol <tlhingan-hol-bounces@lists.kli.org> On Behalf Of Will Martin via tlhIngan-Hol

One of the more recently revealed grammatical constructions is the prefix trick

But since the prefix trick was probably invented in order to mimic English