tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 22 12:46:56 1994
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Re: neH + Adjective?
- From: [email protected]
- Subject: Re: neH + Adjective?
- Date: Wed, 23 Mar 94 01:36:29 EST
>How would you combine "neH" and an adjective on a noun?
>According to the book, if neH follows a verb, it modifies the verb to mean
>"merely"; if it follows a noun, it means "just" or "only". I want to say
>"only the weak" (or at least, get that across), but I got stuck with
>"nuv puj neH", which, it seems, translates to "merely weak people",
A possible recast would be {pujwI' neH}. Still, if you do come across a
situation which calls for an adjective and the {neH} adverbial, it would look
better imesho to put the {neH} after everything:
jagh puj neH Suv qoH
DoS 'oH Duj tIn'e' neH
Notice that last example didn't use {neH'e'}. That's because {neH} is not a
true adjectival. This is one case where I don't think we should have to wait
for the grammarian(s) to take a stand since TKD says nothing on this subject,
and grammarians have no more lisence to correct than anyone else. When the
correctness or incorrectness of grammar cannot be proven, grammarians can
only go by their own instincts, which may or may not be better than someone
else's.
Some people seem to have mistaken grammarians for the something they're not.
Grammarians' job is to bring people to a better understanding of the *known*
Klingon language, and when a controversial area of grammar arises, all they
can do is formulate an opinion. Some believe the grammarians' opinion(s)
should be considered as good as Okrand's word. That's just not right in my
eyes.
Sorry, I've gone off the subject. I often do. I started on about adjectivals
and adverbials and now I'm talking about grammarians.
I have nothing against grammarians, where they stand now. They're important
to maintaining a standard in Klingon, and guiding the list discussion so it
doesn't go spiratic, like it almost has at times. That's all they do. They
have no authority to say whether the construction {yaS puq ghap} is singular
or plural in a sentence (which is something I asked about once, being that
there's nothing said on it in TKD). They have their opinions, which may be
better formulated than the next person's, simply because of their high level
of understanding of the language. But by no means do they have *the* best
understanding. There are a number of other people with just as much
understanding as the grammarians. The grammarians are the grammarians not
because they know their Klingon, but because *some*body has to have that sort
of responsibility, and it may as well be them.
And now I think I'll leave the country and live the rest of my life under an
assumed name, at least until all the heat I'm liable to generate from this
post has blown over.
Guido#1, Leader of All Guidos