tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 28 20:41:00 1995

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Re: latlh




Fri, 28 Apr 1995 ghItlh peHruS:

> Since <latlh> is a noun, perhaps it acts as do <Hoch> and <pagh>.  See TKD
> p54 Sec. 5.2
> 
> >Numbers are used as nouns.

That means they can function as the subject or object of a sentence.

> >Numbers used as modifiers precede the noun they modify.

This makes numbers unique.  Neither nouns nor verbs do this.
{Hoch} is a noun.  {pagh} is a number.  Their use is somewhat different.

In PK, there is the phrase:  
{targhlIj yab tIn law' no'lI' Hoch yabDu' tIn puS.} 
("My targ has a bigger brain than all of your ancestors put together.") 

Here {no'lI' Hoch} means "all of your ancesters".  In this noun-noun 
construction, {Hoch} follows the noun.  But if I wanted to say "no or zero 
ancestors", it would be {pagh no'} because numbers precede the noun they 
modify.

Since {latlh} is a noun and not a number, if I wanted to say "another 
one of your ancestors", it would be {no'lI' latlh}.

> peHruS

yoDtargh



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