Generalized in email to tlhIngan-Hol Mailing List -  De'vID - 01 March 2019

[De'vID]> What about Dav "sway", Der "yaw", jer "surge", and jIm "heave"? Can these be applied to people or animals, or inanimate objects (e.g., something sways in the wind)?

Dav can be used if it's referring to movement by the whole body (or whole thing, if it's an inanimate object) to the left or right.  It's not used if the person's feet stay put but his/her upper body leans left and/or right (like the back-and-forth motion of the rod [inverted pendulum] of a metronome); for that kind of motion, the verb is ler, which can also be translated "wobble."

Der can be used for people (and other things) meaning something like "veer to the left or right while traveling or moving."

Maltz didn't recall ever hearing jer used for anything other than aircraft (or other vehicles), but he said he'd have to think about this some more.

jIm, when applied to people, is generally used for "shrug" (like what many Terrans do with their shoulders to indicate "I don't know").  You could say jIm SuvwI' volchaHDu' "the warrior's shoulders shrug," but most commonly volchaH(Du') is left out (and you'd just say jIm SuvwI' "the warrior shrugs"). You could also say volchaHDu'Daj jImmoH SuvwI' "the warrior shrugs his/her shoulders}.  (If the context is clear, you can leave out -Du' and/or -Daj.)