[Tlhingan-hol] Semantic roles with -moH... again

[David Trimboli]

On 2/8/2012 6:20 AM, De'vID jonpIn wrote:
>
> tlhIngan Hol mu'ghomDaq mu'meyvam lutu'lu':
> tuQ - v. wear (clothes)
> tuQHa'moH - v. undress
> tuQmoH - v. put on (clothes)
>
> chaq {lo'laH} rur {tuQmoH}.  mojaq ghajbogh wot'e' rurlaw' neH
> mu'meyvam, 'ach rurchu'be'.  chaq wotna' 'oH {tuQmoH}'e' 'ej "put on
> (clothes)" 'oS, vaj "take off (clothes)" 'oS {tuQmoHHa'}.
>
> HIp vItuQ - I wear a uniform
> HIp vItuQmoH - I put on a uniform (from {tuQmoH})
> jIHvaD HIp vItuQmoH - I put on a uniform (from {tuQ} + {-moH})

I am more and more convinced that {-moH} indicates a change in semantic 
roles, not syntactic roles, and that your above conjecture is correct. 
The subject changes role from agent or experiencer or whatever it is to 
cause. The object is NOT affected by the semantic change, but is still 
syntactically the thing to which the action as a whole is done.

I will use explicit pronouns below and use the thematic relations 
described in Wikipedia: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thematic_relations>

HIp vItuQ jIH
I wear a uniform (habitually or occasionally, not continuous or perfective)
HIp = theme
jIH = experiencer

HIp vItuQmoH jIH

The only difference is that we've added -moH to indicate that I don't 
just wear a uniform; I CAUSE this action of wearing. The semantic role 
of the object does not change just because I have indicated that the 
subject is the cause and not necessarily the experiencer.

I cause the wearing of the uniform (does not indicate who the 
experiencer is, so it doesn't say who wears the uniform—it could be me 
or it could be someone else)
HIp = theme
jIH = cause

jIHvaD HIp vItuQmoH jIH

Now all I've done is add a beneficiary to the previous sentence. I still 
haven't changed the semantic role of the object.

I cause the wearing of the uniform; I am the beneficiary (which most 
likely means that I am the one who gets the uniform put on him)
jIHvaD = beneficiary
HIp = theme
jIH = cause

Notice that these meanings are all habitual or occasional—they don't 
refer to a concrete act of wearing a uniform. If we do that, the 
semantic role of HIp changes...

HIp vItuQta' jIH
I wore the uniform
HIp = patient
jIH = experiencer

HIp vItuQmoHta' jIH
I caused the wearing of the uniform (the perfective applies to the 
wearing, not the causing)
HIp = patient
jIH = cause

jIHvaD HIp vItuQmoHta' jIH
I cause the wearing of the uniform and was the beneficiary of this 
action (i.e., I put the uniform on myself)
jIHvaD = beneficiary
HIp = patient
jIH = cause

What this says is that it doesn't matter what roles other nouns play in 
the sentence; they don't change. Only the subject changes from whatever 
its role was to become a CAUSE.

Does this also apply to -moH on verbs of quality?

jIQeHtaH jIH
I am angry
jIH = experiencer

jIQeHmoHtaH jIH
I cause (someone unspecified) to be angry
jIH = cause
There is no longer a noun acting in the experiencer role, so we don't 
know who is angry. Notice that the continuous -taH applies to the anger, 
not the causing.

yaS vIQeHmoHtaH jIH
I cause the officer to be angry
yaS = experiencer
jIH = cause

It does apply to verbs of quality, because there is ample space to add 
an object. It's an object not because it's the object of my causing, but 
because it's an object of the action as a whole.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what's going on with -moH, and that this 
is what Okrand had in mind when he created it. -moH doesn't flip-flop 
subject to object; it ONLY changes the semantic role of the subject to 
CAUSE. Everything else in the sentence is interpreted exactly as before.

quHDaj qaw 'oH
It (experiencer) remembers his heritage (theme)

quHDaj qawmoH 'oH
It (cause) causes (an unspecified experiencer) to remember his heritage 
(theme)

ghaHvaD quHDaj qawmoH 'oH
It (cause) causes to remember his heritage (theme); he (beneficiary) is 
the beneficiary
So this really does mean "it causes him to remember his heritage." It 
just doesn't mean it in a word-for-word matchup with the English version.

-- 
SuStel
http://www.trimboli.name/