tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 09 03:12:46 1996
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Re: Esperanto
- From: "Mark J. Reed" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Esperanto
- Date: Fri, 9 Aug 96 06:12:16 EDT
- In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 8 Aug 1996 20:28:07 -0700. <[email protected]>
Tony Harris <[email protected]> writes:
\ law' <Esperanto> vIjatlhbogh puS tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbogh
Well, you lose the direct comparitive meaning of {law'/puS} . . .
Remember that the literal meanings of {law'} and {puS} don't enter into the
comparative construction; it's not a literal phrase. (If it were, then
all comparatives would look like your sentence here: the
{law'/puS} would come before the things being compared, and the things being
compared would be nouns instead of stative verbs). So while
<Esperanto> vIjatlhbogh QaQ law' tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbogh QaQ puS
means "The Esperanto which I speak is better than the Klingon which I speak",
law' <Esperanto> vIjatlhbogh. puS tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbogh.
means "The Esperanto which I speak is many. The Klingon which I speak is
few". That doesn't make sense to me; I don't see how a language can be
"many" or "few". Maybe {law' <Esperanto> mu' vIjatlhbogh}, if you're just
comparing your relative vocabulary knowledge. But since once you've done
this turning around, you're not using the comparative anymore, there's no
point in trying to mangle the meanings of {law'} and {puS} to fit. Why not just
say
QaQ <Esperanto> vIjatlhbogh. qab tlhIngan Hol vIjatlhbogh.
or something even more descriptive of what you're comparing?
--
Mark J. Reed |
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