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