tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Aug 07 12:46:33 1995

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Re: Re[4]: }}} Dialects (was:...

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>Date: Sat, 5 Aug 1995 12:27:05 -0500
>From: [email protected] (Alan Anderson)

>~mark writes:
>>If you think about it, compounds are about
>>the same in structure as N-N constructions, so a "SuvwI'be'" is a kind of
>>"be'", while a "be'SuvwI'" is a kind of "SuvwI'".  For what that's worth.

>A female warrior isn't necessarily a "kind of warrior" OR a "kind of
>female."  She is BOTH a female and a warrior.  Can we use a conjunction
>here?

>Could {SuvwI' be' je} "a warrior and a female" be singular?  ~Mark, you're
>"Mister Prefix" lately.  What do you think of {SuvwI' be' je yInuQQo'}?
>This is NOT meant to be {SuvwI' be' je tInuQQo'}.

Interesting!  I'd have to allow it... sorta.  It would sound somewhat
marked and poetic, and be subject to misinterpretation if the prefix didn't
disambiguate (i.e. in cases where the sing and plural objects use the same
prefix).  It would sound like English, "Never mess with a woman and a
warrior".  Yeah, in context it would be understood (like in "You are a
gentleman and a scholar") but sounds kind of stilted to me.  Not that
stilted is necessarily bad, depending on the situation.

FWIW, the Hamlet translation calls the King "ta'" and the Queen "ta'be'".
Yes, we know it sounds like "didn't accomplish."  Life's rough.  This
ordering works okay here for another reason: English (for better or worse)
doesn't distinguish between "reigning Queen" (i.e. a Queen who is Queen of
her own right and royalty) and "Queen who is royal consort" (i.e. a Queen
who is Queen because she happens to be married to the King)... and we *are*
translating from English.  And "ta'be'" can be interpreted in the genitive
sense--not strictly "king's wife"; that'd be ta' be'nal, but more like
"king's/royal woman".  And Gertrude is definitely the King's wife, not a
reigning Queen.

~mark

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