On Fri, 22 Feb 2019 at 20:12, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
I prefer to use *-taH* when I'm talking about a movable object that may just happen to be somewhere at the moment, but not to use *-taH* when the object is fixed. *vaS'a'Daq 'oH puchpa''e' 'ej puchpa'Daq ghaHtaH Qang'e'.* But this is not an official rule and cannot be consistently demonstrated in the canon.
Here are the examples I found in canon of {'oHtaH}/{ghaHtaH}: bIQ'a'Daq 'oHtaH 'etlh'e'. DujHomDaq ghaHtaH. meyrI'Daq 'oHtaH gho'e'. pa'DajDaq ghaHtaH la''e'. pa' 'oHtaH vaS'a''e'. loS... qIb HeHDaq, 'u' SepmeyDaq Sovbe'lu'bogh lenglu'meH He ghoSlu'bogh retlhDaq 'oHtaH. No {-taH} on the location of the "1st Construction Site": tlhIngan juHqo'Daq tlhIng yoSDaq 'oH toQDuj chenmoHlu'meH Daq wa'DIch'e'. I couldn't find any other examples of {naDev/pa'/[something]Daq ghaH/'oH} though I could've just missed them. I believe the rule is fairly consistent. The location of "1st Construction Site" is a historical fact. It cannot be moved (barring time travel and changing history). OTOH, while we think of "the Great Hall" as a giant building, it's actually just a label for where the High Council usually meets. I guess we don't know much about whether or how often the Great Hall has "moved" in Klingon history, but on Earth, at least, a number of countries have moved their Parliaments or seats of government throughout history due to wars and whatnot. Another example of a label like this is "Air Force One": technically, it applies to any aircraft carrying the American President. But it's become associated with a specific aircraft, the one most commonly used for this purpose. As for DS9, arguably, it is in fact movable (capable of self-generated thrust). There may not be enough examples to extrapolate a rule, but there's at least a pattern. btw, questions never take {-taH}: nuqDaq ghaH ngevwI''e'? nuqDaq 'oH bIQ'a' HeH'e'? nuqDaq 'oH jengva''e'? nuqDaq 'oH puchpa''e'? nuqDaq 'oH Qe' QaQ'e'? -- De'vID