On Jan 16, 2020, at 10:26 AM, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:_______________________________________________On 1/16/2020 10:07 AM, Hugh Son puqloD wrote:
On Jan 16, 2020, at 08:59, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun@gmail.com> wrote: This whole matter *feels* to me like, combining {-lu'} with {-wI'}, thus writing something like {leghlu'wI'}, which I don't *feel* as something actually making sense.I’ve heard arguments that something like {leghlu'wI'} *could* mean something like “one that is seen” (i.e., the {-lu'} “flips” {-wI'} so that the formed noun is the object of the verb rather than the subject, much in the way that {-lu'} “flips” prefixes), and I can sort of see the train of thought that leads there, but I am unconvinced that it actually works that way and I am nearly certain it’s not supported by canon.It isn't.
And this analysis relies on the idea that -lu' "flips" the subject of the verb to the object, when it does no such thing. -lu' simply means the subject is indefinite instead of definite. The object remains the same. The prefix "flipping" is simply an acknowledgement that, since there is no subject, the first and only argument to the verb to consider is the object.
jIH mulegh HoD The captain sees me is a sentence with a definite subject.
jIH vIleghlu' Someone indefinite sees me describes the same situation with an indefinite subject. There is no "flipping."
English passive voice "flips" the object to the subject, but this is completely different from Klingon -lu'. The grammar of a translation does not govern the grammar of the original.
-- SuStel http://trimboli.name
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